Company or Lease???

id stay away from lease until you get some time behind the wheel to learn the job. too many drivers get in over there heads with a lease quickly. last company i was at really pushed the lease option on new drivers which i thought was wrong.

 

Start out as a company driver. You need to learn the job before getting into business in the industry. As a lease op, you are in business. Get the hang of it as a company driver, and if you really want to own, don't do it with CRE.

 

Go company you will do just as good,Have workmans comp and without the headaches

 

First of all, if your profile is correct you are a student. As a student, you don't know the job well enough to even THINK about being a trainer. That is one of the biggest problems I see in this industry is the lack of quality training....with too many companies it is more a matter of the blind leading the blind than any level of actual "training". You've got to know what you're doing before you can teach others how to do the job.

Second, why would you want to enter into a L/P where you have to have inexperienced driver after inexperienced driver taking turns tearing up "your" truck as you "run the hell outta" it while training them in order to be "successful"? Even if you DO manage to complete the lease and get the title to the truck, it'll be a worn out POS by then and not worth the paper the title is printed on.

If you want to drive a truck, be a company driver. If you want to own a truck, work as a company driver while you save your money and learn all you can about the industry...and then when you are ready, buy one.

 

I've read numerous posts about lease ops, owner ops and company drivers. Without sounding like an idiot, i was hoping someone could clarify a few things for me?

I've owned my own truck, financed thru either a finance company, or bank, I pull a companies trailer, so obviously I am an owner op. I get that LOL

But as a lease operator, you work for "Happy Trucking Ltd" they own the tractors and sell one to you to use, pulling there trailers. Ok got that...
But say that said truck is financed for 36 months and in 34 months, you get an offer from another company, you cannot pay out the remaining balance of say 10,000$ or whatever it is and jump ship? Or can you?

I've seen alot of these ads in Truck News etc, and it sure 'sounds' good... brand new truck, payments are small (I've done the math and it looks like its the never/never plan for alot of them) and usually if it sounds to #### good to be true, it is....

At the end of the 4 or 5 year term, or longer? the said truck is worth 15-20K, maybe enough as a down payment for another new truck. I am guessing thats what most people do when they enter the lease op programs?

The lease op program is definately popular on highway applications, I heard of one crooked oil hauling company where the owner would "lease" this old Mack to a driver, run it for 30 months, he'd be looking after maintenece etc.. then old Fred would starve him out.. take it back.. rumour had it, the same truck was leased 5 times LOL the old crook knew how to make himself rich. Sold his business to Mullen for 20 million about 10 years ago.

Regardless, everyone has to realize, no company is out here to make "us" rich, provide us with a living, dangle the carrot every so often so we run a bit harder than normal, pat us on the back, give us a few free drinks and supper at the company xmas party.

 

ENGLAND STANDS FOR:

Every
New
Guy
Leaves
After
Ninety
Days

That's not a joke. It's advice. You have no business teaching anyone how to drive a truck until you've got at least 2 years experience, 5 would be better. If you don't even understand a recap you will fail miserably as a IC, BCO, LO, OO, or whatever the company your with at the time calls it. You need to understand math and things like ROI, fixed cost, variable cost, revenue per mile driven, depreciation, per deim, ect. Buy you a satellite radio with your first check and then listen to Kevin Rutherford until things start to sink in before even thinking of doing anything other then driving a truck for a paycheck.

 

To answer your question it varies by lease program. Some companies do and some don't. This would be one of the questions a prospective lessee should be asking before signing the bottom line.

 

as a new guy dont do lease idk how many lease drivers i see with swift that cant even back stright up into a whole. without taking em 15mins... the ones that wanna run 67 mph cuz they LIKE going fast not that they have too. Waste of money and fuel. its not worth it i make more then what these lease people do out here as a company driver(MOST) i dont take advances out at all. only time i take money from company is if im in a terminal and i got no cash on then i go to company atm to grab 5-10bucks for wash... if u do lease i bet u will not have a pay check for more then 100 bucks.... i hear it all the time. get like 2-3 years or more behind ur belt then really think about it.

 

Seems like the program with England is a cheap way to have teams running & get the truck paid for & get new people trained, at the expense of the guy who thinks he's and 0/0.