Fleece/Lease Purchase Program Info

C.R.England pays up to $1.50 per mile, not that that is enough either, but it is closer.

On a refer with all the waiting time at grocery warehouses? Good luck. Try planning on 2500 to 2800 miles per 7 day week. For a governed truck figure 50 miles per hour average. With 70 duty hours in an 8 day period you will spend at least 5 hours doing pre and post trips and fueling. You will also have to load and unload and do paperwork some of which will be on duty, so figure another hour per day. Leaving you with 55 driving hours at 50 miles per hour for a total of 2750 miles. If you have to wait for 8 hours one day to get an unloading appointment that will screw with your miles for the week.

10,000 miles per month will gross you $10,400. Figure $120,000 per year.

Better to figure on the higher amount. $650 for 52 weeks is $33,800.

I would sooner use 6 miles per gallon and a $3.00 per gallon fuel cost. Remember that when it is hot or cold you will be idling to keep cool/warm and that uses fuel. Also keep in mind that if you get paid for 120,000 miles in a year your truck odometer will probably read 130,000 to 135,000 miles because of out of route miles and such. Six miles per gallon for 135,000 miles is 22,500 gallons of fuel at $3.00 per gallon is $67,500 for annual fuel cost.

That may be a little high, but perhaps not. Hard maintenence like oil changes and tires will cost you about a nickel a mile. I also like to see you put away another 5 to 10 cents per mile into a maintenance rainy day fund for the eventual catastrophic failure. Tolls and other misc expenses could cost another 10 cents per mile for a total of $0.20 to $0.25 per mile. They cover most of the insurance and you only pay about $50 per week.
Maint $12,000
tolls/misc $12,000
insurance $3,000

Now some stuff you didn't include
Workers comp insurance. I would recommend a good health insurance plan for the self employed that will cover workplace accidents. $8500 per year.

Trailer rental. You didn't expect them to provide the trailer did you? $200 per week, $10,400 per year.

So to review:
Income $120,000

Expenses
$33,800 Tractor rental
$67,500 for annual fuel cost.
Maint $12,000
tolls/misc $12,000
insurance $3,000
$10,400 trailer rental
$8,500 health insurance

Total expenses $147,200.

NET LOSS $27,200.

This may be the worst case scanario. Now imagine that your $650 lease payment is due and you only ran 1,000 miles last week. $500 for fuel and you owe the company a $200 to $500 for the rest of your lease payment, trailer rental, and insurance.

 

Regardless of what any recruiter claims for any company, there is no way that you should ever consider being an owner operator untli you have several years of experience in this industry. There is no worse scam out there than to take someone brand new, with no practical experience, and put them into "ownership" of a truck. You need time to learn the job, you need time to learn the routes, you need time to learn so many things that are essential to the simple act of being a trucker.

I would recommend a minimum of 3 years of steady work as a company driver before I would ever even suggest that someone should consider buying a truck. This allows you time to get some experience, talk to other people that have experience, and learn the job that you are going to do. Then, by the time that period has elapsed, you have a reasonable chance of owning your own truck.

Also, very rarely does anyone recommend a lease purchase program, since they are usually structured very poorly for the driver and very much in favor of the company owning the truck. If you want to own your own truck, then the best way to do so is through a cash purchase or through traditional financing methods.

At it's very best, a lease purchase is a questionable deal, and the main reason is that you are handing too much control of your fate to someone else. The very same people that hold the lein on your vehicle also control how much freight you are going to move, the rates you get paid, and the miles you drive. it's too easy for an unscrupulous company to freeze you out at the end of a lease, leaving you unable to make the payments and losing your entire investment.

In my opinion, any company that comes into a training class of new drivers and offers to lease them a truck is not someone that I would ever want to do business with, regardless of how sweetly they phrase it. It simply isn't something that any reputable company would do.

 

I'm not going to rip this apart anymore, except for the fuel mileage. 7mpg? You are hauling reefer loads with a heavy trailer, expect 5.5-6mpg.

 

It's a scam. $1.04 a mile is a sure way to go broke while working hard. CR England is anouthe scam. Not only is $1.50 a mile not enough, but notice it says "UP TO". And I would figure on the 5-6 MPG figure.

 

You have been given some awesome advice here. You should listen carefully to what the guys have said.

In order to survive in this industry when all the costs fall upon your shoulders, you need several things.

Knowledge is definately the key.

Learn the industry from O/O's and personal experience. O/O's have no interest in glorifying what is truely involved in surviving. Personal exerience is priceless.

Things aren't always as neat and clean as the numbers seem to make it. There are always unexpected incidents and occurances that can make or break you.

K