Anyone leasing from Knight/ Knight Refrigerated: How's it working out?

Surfer Joe... everyone I've talked to about lease purchases have all said the same thing.. don't.

I know the appeal of "No money down, no credit check, low payments" is alluring, but in looking at them myself before purchasing my truck through Lone Mountain Truck Leasing all I can say is that ANY lease purchase from a carrier is designed to do one thing... make them money, not you. My wife used to date a guy who was a lease purchase operator for Swift (keep down the flames!) and she said even after she came into the picture and straightened him up they were still barely able to scrape a living out of it. In my orientation at Schneider it was myself and 12 other guys.... I was the only one NOT using Schneider finance to buy a truck... out of those 12 only 1 still has a truck and we talk regularly.. he's barely keeping his nose above the water.

Now, this is not to say that NO ONE can be successful in a lease purchase, I just think you have to be a very good business person, run a tight ship, and live by a very strict budget to succeed. I'm all for making the move from company to owner op, just remember to work smart, not hard. My truck was $3,800 down and $1,325 per month for 3 years.. very easy to save up the down-payment as a company driver (don't forget to have your maintenance account set up before you buy ANY truck... recommended $10k per truck you own) and $1,325 per month (as opposed to $400-900 per WEEK with a Lease Purchase) is very easy to manage.

To finish, do your research, talk to drivers, and have a rock solid business plan no matter what route you take to become an O/O. If you have questions or need help in learning/understanding I'm more than willing to help... just shoot me a PM here and I'll reply back asap. This goes for anyone! Best of luck in all of your endeavors and be safe, but not so safe you never have fun

 

Some people make it work. I think it is mostly about managing your expectations. If you are one of those dummies who gets into a L/P mistaking yourself for a true O/O then you are going to fail. You have to learn to straddle the line between O/O and Company Driver because that is what a L/P driver is a Hybrid Company Driver. You get a little of both worlds so you need to be efficient in both roles.