do you own the truck after leasing?

Stevens drivers seem happy, and the company seems to have great looking equipment. But that probably means they spend more money on their equipment than their drivers, and probably more on their trucks than trailers. Every time I see a training session going on(usually backing), it is almost always a Stevens truck, and they seem to take it seriously.

I'm on my third lease, and I plan to make it stick. C.R. England was pathetic. Trans Am was a tiny bit better(and the trucks had awesome fuel economy) but I quickly found out that the reefer schedule just didn't suit me, and the miles weren't there. I'm now at Celadon. They're a slightly better version of Swift. My Prostar is kicking tail in the fuel economy, and there is no such thing as a negative paycheck. The worst you can do is zero. Any deductions that don't go through get waived until a couple weeks down the line, and then payroll might double up that deduction if you have a good week. I'm now at point where I can still put away a hundred or two in my bank account on a flimsy week of 1,000 miles or so if I watch how much I put in before payday cutoff. But most weeks are about 2200-2500 miles. I think Celadon trains. All the new trucks coming in have the battery powered APUs and a "start stop" feature that turns on the truck to charge the batteries.

I've heard 50/50 about Prime. Some say they make good money with their lease, but I'm also not sure if it's a "to own" type of lease.

 

You'll do well with a trainer!

I'm done with ya......

 

All the best leasing programs would do a credit check and require money down. Dart Transit gets many complaints and even they check credit. Everybody else will either give you "gently used(nudge)" trucks or trucks spec'ed like company trucks and give them to you on good faith that your work is your credit that you'll stick around.

Prime's weekly truck payments are outrageous(via their main website) and they claim a four and half cent per mile variable charge. On the other hand, their pay packages are percent of line haul. Whatever that means.

John Christner sounds like it has a good lease program. But I've passed on reefer and their safety score leaves a lot to be desired. However, they have a dollar buy out.

 

Why is 30,000 your magic number? Trucks can go on for much longer than that and still be in good shape. 300,000 seems more like it in terms of when a truck starts showing its age, but I've mostly dealt with Swift's clunkers at this range. My truck I'm in now still squeaks(new truck smell is gone, though).

 

Just save yourself a hassle and make an account at classadrivers.com. It'll fire off pre-applications to different companies all at once based on area and experience. You can also pick out stray companies that strike your fancy that aren't in their database afterwards.

 

Celadon's website seems to be out of date. I could've sworn they started a new training program, but their website still mentions 9 months of experience and 22 years of age.

 

there are a couple options without going to the company you drive for to hold your truck note as well. you can be a company driver for a couple years with a reputable company, save up, and pay cash for a used truck. you can go to lone mountain leasing...not sure if there are other companies out there like this one, but this is the one i know of that does lease purchase. bad credit is supposedly ok...im sure the interest rate is higher than youd get at your local credit union, but if you have bad credit it is an option. betcha the interest rate is at LEAST competitive with any youd get from a company you drive for.

as far as finishing a lease and starting another... some companies do a lease plan for a set amount of time...say 3 years for instance. since the cash price of the fairly new truck you get is set at 90k for example, lets call interest 14%, and in 3 years you pay only 62.400 (at 400 per week). you have a balance of lets say around 60k. you may have an option of paying off the balance and owning THAT truck. or you may also have the option of taking a certain amount of credit for that 62k you paid and transfer it to a new lease. lets say they give you 75% credit. now youve got 46k credit toward starting a new lease. if again you have a truck with a price tag of 90k, now all thats left on it would be 44k at 14% interest. that lease would be paid in full before the end of a 3 year lease, thus you would end up owning the 2nd truck.

other reason some do a 2nd lease...maybe they paid off the 1st truck and own it. now they hire a driver to drive THAT one, while leasing a 2nd truck to drive themselves. those are the 2 reasons i know of for doing a 2nd lease.

would make more sense to hire on with a starter company as a company driver...no lease. get some experience, research the job of the owner operator during that 1st year, save as much as you can, and look into buying a truck for cash or at least going to someone like lone mountain. and then you can hire on as an o/o with a company that will treat you right, not look for ways to help you fail.