force lease

Actually, its not that Simple for some people. Some people can't get hired on with "those" companies you speak of.

 

That's what we plan on doing. When our lease is up in December 2012, if they tell us there's no trucks available to go back to company drivers, we'll just simply move on. It's no big deal.

It's not that we don't like leasing, its just that with soon-to-be 4 years experience, we'll make between the same, if not a little more driving a company truck over leasing because the company pay will be higher with our increased experience.

In a lot of ways, if done correctly, rookies can make more while leasing because starting company pay isn't all that great.

 

Well, with a couple months experience and a good attitude I don't see why not lease.

Seriously though, there is no way I would advise anyone to do this. It is a recipe for disaster. I have heard this about CRE and Trans AM both though have no first hand experience with either. IF it's true that they are pressuring people in to the lease deal you really got to ask yourself why? Because it's better for the driver - I doubt it.

 

Then dont. Honestly, there are a lot of people out there that should and should have heeded this warning because so many people dont fully realize what kind of responsibility they are getting themselves into.

Not necessarily. If done correctly, you really have nothing to worry about. My wife and I are living proof of that. Been doing it for almost 2 years. We're not in the hole. We're not livin' off of cash advances and Ramen noodles.

Well, no offense but unless you've lived it, you can read all these threads 'till yer eyes pop out of your head. Ive read them too.

As far as the pressuring, well, I guess that all depends on what your idea of being pressured is. I didnt feel pressured. If I did, I would've either waited for a truck or moved on.

For the "Better for the driver" part, that depends too. As I said, when you are just starting out and if you work hard, run lots of miles, take care of your truck, manage your fuel consumption, make your loads on time, dont take excessive hometime and save som money, you can make more money in that lease truck than you would driving a company truck because company starting pay isnt that much. When my wife and I started straight out of training, our truck only got 30 cents a mile, split to each of us. Granted, we got paid for total miles ran but at 15 cents a mile, it wasnt very much.

 

I'm glad it worked out for you! I sincerely am. But I just do not understand how anyone could work for 15 cents a mile. It just does not make sense to me. Perhaps it has to do with my age and life experience when I first got into trucking. But there is no way I would have worked for that type of money.

I realize that different people look at things differently. I'm sure if I was a young man, I would have a different outlook.

Now I saw somewhere that you are not going to continue with the lease after this one is up. So that tells me that things are not quite as good as they should be. What has changed?

I'm not trying to call you out, or even be a smart arse here. I know we have had our differences. But I am really curious.

 

Well, I guess that's just the nature of the beast when yer starting out with no experience. Our company pay starting out wasn't great, but it wasn't necessarily chump change either. If we ran the truck 5000 miles a week, we each got paid for 5000 miles at 15 cents per mile. I guess the way they look at it, its ok because you are getting paid for your co drivers miles also. If you started out as a solo, the pay would have been 30 a mile.

Well, it got us in the industry. Maybe England wasn't the wisest of choice on some things but hey, there's almost just as many "stay away!" and "Don't work here!" threads over in the other forums.

Nothing really has changed, its just the fact that now that we'll have a good amount of experience, I'd rather drive company and make the same or even more money than we are now and not have to pay for fuel, insurance, maintenance, all that good stuff. Once we get done leasing, the next truck I pay for and all the expenses that go with it, will be a truck I own.

Things are still good but the other reason why this will more than likely be our one and only lease with England, is because when I turn the keys in and when I say, "Will my next truck run at least 67 miles an hour, have the idle timer removed, guaranteed 13-speed, sliding 5th wheel, rev limiter reset to the factory specs?", after they ask if I want to sign another one, theyll probly give me a answer I won't like and then I'd say, "Well, if I'm going to again be treated like a company driver on a truck I'm paying for and buying the fuel for, I might as well go back to driving company."

It's cool man. You are like one of the few I can talk to about this without having the "company shill, recruiter, DM in disguise" card thrown at me.

 

You are truly the exception to the lease. Great job!

 

I fail to see the point of the lease option. You take the hit if the truck goes down, you're making the payment, and if I am reading correctly at the end of your lease you don't even own the equipment you've been paying for. This makes even less sense than drive to own programs.

 

It is great you have made a go of it. Still ask youself if you weren't team could you pay for the truck? If you weren't team could you make enough to live on.

There is no doubt a person can make it on a company mileage lease......................if he can run enough miles. The problem is he can't generally get the miles and run them legally as a solo operator.

 

If you were working form them one week and the next week they don't have a work for you then,That sounds lot like a layoff. I'd march right down to the unemployment office and see if you can't get C.R. England to payup a little till you find a new driving gig. If they had the choice they call you up and say yes we do have a company truck for you.
this doesn't mean Not to look for a new job because that is one of the stipulation of taking moneys from the state.
I said basicly this same thing on post #23 in this thread http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...from-new-drivers/155994-transam-trucking.html