Choice program on the West Coast - from company driver to IC

It's time for the next round.......

After 16 months as a company driver, I am transitioning to the Choice board as an Independent Contractor. If you want to read about my travels as a company driver here's the link:

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...194729-confessions-of-a-schneider-newbie.html

I start in Green Bay on Monday the 17th. I am driving there from Redondo Beach, CA, a total of 2150 miles. I decided to do this because I have been off of work for nine weeks and did not want to have to drive the truck right back to the house and pick up all of my stuff. I want to get right to work. The rental car is stuffed with all my belongings! Schneider paid for the car, I pay for the fuel and the two nights in the hotel on the trip up and over to Green Bay.

During the past week I have received numerous emails from the people at Schneider Finance and Schneider. Here's what I know so far:

Staying at the Settle Inn in Green Bay, WI. Asked for and received a single room. The room would have been free with a roommate but I will have to pay $35 a night for a single. Worth it to me.

My truck: I chose to go with an older truck. I am leasing a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia with a DD16 engine and 13 speed transmission for one year. The truck has a diesel powered APU and has 576,574 miles. Payment for the truck is $660 a week, payment to my maintenance fund is $220 a week. Insurance, tags, taxes, etc will make the weekly payment add up to between $1000 - $1100. I will have firm numbers on Monday, I can't find the email right now that has all that stuff!
I have worked closely the last two weeks with Dedicated Fleet Services, the company that reconditions and repairs the trucks that Schneider Finance leases. Tom, the service manager there, has been very easy to work with. He provided me with the complete download from the truck's ECM. He also provided the complete list of problems with the truck that they found and are repairing. The list is long and is costing Schneider Finance over $10,000 to bring the truck up to snuff. I contacted several people to have the ECM data and problems analyzed. All of them said everything looked good. My recruiter, Jolene, says I have asked more questions and been more involved in this process than anyone else she has ever worked with. Seems pretty common sense to me! I need to know what has been done to my truck and get a good baseline on it.

Itinerary for next week looks pretty easy. Monday is the long day, get the truck, sign lots of papers, etc etc. Tuesday and Wednesday show only one hour each day at Schneider. Thursday from 8 - 12 is Choice load board training. This will be cake as I have been using the load board for almost 3 months now, thanks to a fellow board member here (thanks you know who you are!)

I have to say I am excited, nervous, and anxious. Big step. I could have gotten a new truck on a one year lease, or a new truck on a three year lease. Really, i could have done whatever I wanted, my credit is excellent. I considered just purchasing a truck and going that route, but I am not quite convinced I want to do this for the next 5-8 years (time to pay off a truck) so I will lease for one year and see what is what. My wife and I are doing a cross country move in June, from CA to upstate NY. Once that is done, we are settled, and I finish off my one year lease I will see what is what. If I continue driving and the truck has done well I will probably finance the remaining residual and purchase it.

I will update as I go along and as I start my adventures. Time for a good night's sleep before I drive the first 800 miles of my trip tomorrow. At least the weather looks good for the three day drive!

Stay frosty!

 

Yes, oil sample was taken. I will be required to send one in everytime I do an oil change, part of the catastrophic engine insurance or some such thing.

 

It took them about two weeks to get the truck into the shop, once it was there I got the ECM in about two days. Truck was there last Tuesday, the fourth, for the first time.