How do the owner/operator lease-truck-back-to-company programs work?

I've read a lot of negative stuff about leasing trucks from trucking companies you drive for, but have read virtually nothing about buying a truck, then leasing it back to the company you drive for. Is this another form of owner/operator arrangement? It's my understanding that being an owner/operator commands more money per mile since you've committed to the additional expenses of truck ownership, but not necessarily getting lease payments from the trucking company along the way. What advantage is it for a trucking company to lease a driver's truck? About what percentage of drivers do this, and why don't more do it? Am I right that there are at least two forms of owner/operator arrangements, one involving the lease back, and one that doesn't? How many arrangements are there and why are they all needed?

 

Any time a truck sells you a truck and leases it back from you, it is because they get you to run said truck cheaper than they can hire a driver for it. They do not sell or lease you a truck out of the goodness of their heart.

 

The advantage to the trucking company is their money is not spent on buying/repairing/insuring the truck but with a lease of a truck/driver they have a guarantee a truck will be available, if needed.

 

One of the primary reasons why drivers sign up to lease a truck from the company that dispatches them is because they have poor credit. A typical lease arrangement like that costs about $1000 a week. It is a way for some drivers to repair or establish credit and get their foot in the door at the bottom rung of being an owner operator.

If a driver has good credit, then leasing a truck from a company is a better option. You can then lease it on with ANY company that hires owner operators. If you don't like the situation at XYZ Trucking you can delease it and go to ABC Express. That isn't an option if you lease the truck from the company that dispatches you.

Many owner operators do lease their truck from a leasing company. They like the idea of a warranty and in some leases they can get a replacement truck if their truck goes into the shop for an extended amount of time.

Most owner operators buy their truck. This requires having a down payment and sufficient cash reserve for maintenance and repairs.

 

This is the best one I've found. I haven't done the lease purchase or owner-operator.
Click here > Greatwide Truckload | Owner Operator Jobs | United States ...

 

Dont thank me ....just find this hour to finish the video , you can start at 3:30

 

Given all that you described...., are the following scenarios right or wrong, just to name a few of them?
Hypothetical "Ted" is thinking about becoming some form of an owner/operator and he's open to being dispatched by anyone, but needs to know their offerings and pay scale before he signs on the line. With each and every trucking company he 'researches,' he has to find out the following, and maybe more...before even considering benefits, how and where they operate, etc.

1. If I lease a truck from you, what are the payments and terms and how much do you pay me to drive it?
2. If I lease a truck from Trucker Leasing Co. and do your runs, but you have no need to sub-lease the truck from me, how much do you pay me to drive it?
3. If I lease a truck from Trucker Leasing Co. and do your runs, and you want to lease the very truck I'm also leasing, what are the lease terms you'll give me and how much will you pay me to drive it?
4. If I own a truck outright, but you don't lease it from me, how much will you pay me to drive it?
5. If I own a truck outright, and you lease it from me, how much lease money per month do I get, and how much will you pay me to drive it?

Just to name a few. Does Ted avoid all this mega-research, (using up his off-time for 6 months calling trucking companies), by first deciding what his relationship with his truck will be, how he wants to use or share it, then calling company recruiters and telling them what he has, what he'd like to do with it, and they give him a pay scale? It seems to me that looking into companies with so many variables yet to be determined would be overwhelming at least, and tick them off at worse cause they won't have time to play 'what if' games all day.

I'm starting to think that trucking companies who list the pay rates on their web sites (i.e. a penny more per mile for each year you work for them) are only showing the first page of the first chapter of the book entitled "Here Are Your Options."

 

Personally, I would never lease my truck with a company that pays by the mile. I would rather lease with a company that pays 80% or more of gross revenue (anything billed to the customer). I would want to know their average billing rate per mile and be in a non forced dispatch situation, where I can choose my loads.

Companies that pay a fixed rate by the mile are dirt cheap. You see many companies advertising a buck a .ile plus fuel surcharge. It's enough to make good driver wages, but there's no profit. Your goal is to make $2/mile or more for all miles, including deadbeat.

 

A lot of guys are lured into the Flease Purchase rig because they don't know any better.

 

Something else to think about....If you lease a truck from a trucking company that requires that you haul for them and only them you're locking yourself into position with few options.
If the trucking company you're leasing the truck from is running their own trucks with their own drivers who do you think will get preference in dispatching and good paying loads? They'll keep you going enough so that you can make the lease payments but the high dollar freight will be on their own trucks.
You'll always be one breakdown away from not being able to meet your payment schedule. What happens then?