Company or Lease???

I can answer yest to both those questions(ran a restaurant for 7 years) and I still haven't found a lease worth doing.

 

Where should I start.. lol.. There are many companies out there that offer the ability to drivers to be a trainer at various random amounts of experience. In all honesty, you will see that the majority of drivers that have been driving for a while will disagree with how much experience a driver should have before becoming a trainer vs the companies that allow these trainers to be trainers.

In my personal opinion,. I feel, if any intends to be a trainer. I think they should have no less then 3 years of driving experience. Also with that, during that time, they should have an almost impeckable record. Only because in your first year of driving, you are going to be prone to doing some things incorrectly. Your going to be learning how to live on the road. Your going to be learning how to get from city to city. Plus many more things eg: how to back up your vehicle in a safe manner at every given moment. I do not personally understand how someone with 6months of experience can train someone. But to each their own.

Based on what I stated in the above, is reason to my next opinion. With leasing or owning, theres really no difference between the two. Your going to be your own boss, have your own expenses, and dont forget your still going to need to include the expense of paying yourself. I don't understand how someone can afford to pay themselfs while hauling freight for $0.70/mile. But to each their own. Anyways, being your own boss can be very rewarding. But, because of limited experience, I would honestly reccommend getting a couple years of experience first. Just so that you can focus on learning the industry, the highways, and form safe habbits that can carry you through your trucking career as a o/o or lease/op. Lease op can be a little tricky. Do your research first, make sure its a reputable company. Because some will reward you with fines and expenses that are ridiculous to say the least. Don't sign anything for a lease with out asking questions. Make sure you have an exact understanding of what your signing. A lot of times what a company says their leasing process is vs what is written is different. So make sure you have this understanding in place.

With being a company driver for the first couple of years allows you the opportunity to form safe driving habbits. It also allows you to focus on you and the learning of that handy green DOT book. Make sure you know your rights, and soak up as much information as learning curves as you can from your fellow/fella drivers. Plus, if by chance you back into something as a company driver, it doesnt make your insurance rate increase. This time frame would also allow you to save up money, for an escrow account, maintance account, payroll account, etc. Its a good idea to have some money saved up, because you never know if what may break down when. Also you never know when that bad week may come.

Just my 2 cents.

 

If you have enough over the road experience you will then realize that leasing is not a good option. This is why the mega-carriers target the newbies. They know that they have know idea what they are getting into.

You want figures on leases here you go:

Truck payment, insurance, permits etc... Cost $1000.00 a week.

On top of this payment you must pay for fuel, tolls, scales, breakdowns, health insurance, all your personal expenses etc...

You must drive roughly 1800 miles a week before you break even. Usually after about 1800 miles is when you can start to make money.

One or two good breakdowns can usually put you in the negative for life. Once you get a negative a paycheck it is very hard to climb back on top. For solo drivers leasing is next to impossible.

If leasing were such a profitable money making idea then believe me the company would let you have no part of it. They would be having that all for themselves. It is far more profitable for you to assume all the companies risk which is why they have the lease program. Once you have gained enough experience out there on the road you will know this for certain.