How is Prime Inc. Advanced Fleet Program?

You do realize you resurrected a thread that was 4 years old right?

But in response, I run on the advance fleet and enjoy it. Lots of work having your own authority. The past couple of weeks I've been running broker loads outside of prime's network just so I could stay closer to home for some personal stuff. Now I'm on my way to sprimo with a load I booked from Landstar that'll deliver in Kansas on Thursday. It's a dry load and I'm using my trailer for this one. Have someone lined up to rent it from be next week. That Driver is over at Landstar and will use my trailer there.

It's nice having the options to get other freight outside of prime when they can't help get you home and back in a very short time frame. I was needing to leave and come back in less than 8 days. Not easy to do from the Seattle market. So I reached out to a few brokers I know and pieced together $6000 in revenue for that 8 days. Not to bad for staying close to home.

 

Yep, Mark......

@redoctober83 is your man to talk to about that side of things.

Have known him personally for few years & and can vouch that he knows his ####.....probably too well! Always has everything covered down to the very last letter & decimal. Good dude to boot, that's always willing to help out the deserving newbies.

That said, I got's to hurry my butt up & get outta here before he gets here to SpringMo.........ha ha ha!

(Kidding, we're both going to do some truck shopping when he gets in).


Carefully with that weather your heading into.

Peace

 

Peace to you too brother. I tell you god is good. I set a goal and god sends people in my life for guidance. Always good to have someoneto answer questions. I have 3 years driving experience with Prime but 29 years of experience in trucking. My grandfather owned a trucking company and he took me under his wing, when my parents split and my father pulled a permanent Houdini. LOL!!! I'm real old fashioned Italian we work from kids. So I would go there after school do my homework then he'd teach me the business. I did this all the way up into my early twenties (I'm 38 now). By 16 I was negotiating freight and freight contracts. I dispatched, worked in the safety dept. You name it I did it. He moved me around purposely so I can learn every aspect of the business. To make a long story short when he died my father and my uncle shafted me. You know what though a smart man walks around with his eyes open and his mouth closed. With the life experiences I've had in this business, I still walk around like I don't know anything. You never stop learning in this business. A know it all attitude gets you nowhere in this business and in life period...I wanted to start a small fleet under Primes "umbrella ". Now I ran the numbers for what it would cost me to operate under my own authority under Primes "Advanced Fleet Program", with covering the insurance Prime requires being a new authority is gonna be phenomenal. Unbelievably expensive. Your talking between insurance, truck payment and paying a driver, his benefits, workers comp. About $1.15- $1.20 overhead. I was thinking it would be more beneficial and profitable for me to go under Primes numbers and do either ACE leases then go to a bank and refinace their lease or just go outside to begin with and get trucks that way. But the problem with that is now you get your trucks outside of Prime and you have to add their safety features (Roll-Stability, Meritor etc.) What do you suggest???? What business model should I use??

 

I do lol!!!! I just didn't feel starting a whole new post!!! We're lazy reefer drivers we back into a dock go to sleep and wait for a

Not bad at all bro. I figured on this resurrected post it would save me from creating a whole new thread. I'm a lazy reefer driver you know!!! Lmao!! I back into a dock go to sleep and wait for a phone call!!! Lmao!!!! Redoctober read my response to FullMetalJacket, see if you can chime in. I just want to say thank you and I really appreciate you guys for going out of your way for your knowledge.

 

LOL, yes we are so "lazy"! I must be doing something wrong then becuase I seem to be working to #### hard. But then again I am not a company driver but a business owner which means I make my own success, there is no luck here like people keep say.

If you went out into the market looking for insurance as a new entrant you're looking at a $15-20,000 a year per truck. Now a secrete is that Prime offers insurance to help you get your authority set up. The catch is you have do 75% of your revenue through Prime. For me about 95% of my freight comes through Prime. For example right now I am pulling a load from Landstar. The past 2ish weeks I have been doing brokered loads from TQL, CHRobbinson, and Coyote.

So the insurance through Prime's insurance people would be the most cost effective way to get going for the first year. It should be around $11k per truck with all the coveages they require.

I enjoy wokring on the advance fleet. I had my authority and a dry van for a couple months before I came across the advance fleet program. It's a good place to let your authority age for the first year or two.

 

Gotcha I knew there had to be a catch. How do I get around the high truck payment with Primes lease purchase? I know I can get a truck at a dealership and have a $650 a week truck payment but then I'm going to have to pay thousands for the safety feature nonsense (Turning the truck down to 65mph, Roll-Stability etc.) How do I get around that? It's like I'm ###### if I do and I'm ###### if I don't.

 

You don't need any of that stuff on the advance fleet. There is no speed requirements or onguard stuff. You are running under your own authority and insurance.

UP until Feb 20th, I was paying Prime's high lease payment for my truck and making it work out. I just refinaced it so my payment is now cut in half, I am very happy!

 

You do your own IFTA and Road Tax or does your accountant? Thats sweet man. Lower truck payments are always a plus.

 

I just sent you a PM

 

Even tho it's your #s prime doesn't require any e- baby sitting..?

Just a call every now and then to update the load progress?