Is becoming an owner operator after getting fired for having an accident the only course of action?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by xzmpt, Sep 27, 2024.

  1. xzmpt

    xzmpt Light Load Member

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    I am not fired, this is just a question. I do however have minor incidents on my record. A slow backing incident with another driver with no damage. And a ticket for speeding. If one were to get fired. Are there companies out there that would hire you on a lease truck program with your incidents? I spoke with one driver and he said he got fired from another company for being late for deliveries and got hired by another on a lease program. Don’t you pay your own insurance when you lease so accidents wouldn’t matter to the company right? Also, he said he was only making like $500 a month after everything was said and done. Is that the norm for leasing?
     
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  3. Mnmover99

    Mnmover99 Light Load Member

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    Look for insurance first before you commit to buying a truck. Then decide WHAT you want to do, OTR, local, regional, flatbed, containers from a rail road yard or port, van or reefer. I would wait a while and let the system even out before buying a truck. Too many trucks and not enough freight at the present time.
     
  4. OldeSkool

    OldeSkool Road Train Member

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    I don’t think clearing $500 is the norm for leasing. I’ve never done it, but from what you read on here about it, the norm seems to be going totally broke.
     
  5. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    Lease-purchase is not the same as owner-operator.
     
  6. 201

    201 Road Train Member

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    One of the main reasons I bought my own truck, was I was tired of company junk, and wanted a nice truck to drive. Companies seem to have loosened the regs for hiring, and even ex-felons get hired, so I wouldn't buy a truck today just to get around that. Fact is, I wouldn't buy a truck at all today.
     
  7. blairandgretchen

    blairandgretchen Road Train Member

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  8. Ex-Trucker Alex

    Ex-Trucker Alex Road Train Member

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    Exactly. I'd classify anybody on a company lease program to be either a 'mercenary' (soldier, but only for as long as the company wants you..), or more like a 'serf' (a person who is technically free, but due to obligations to his overlord can do no other work, but must do the work he is told and can only go where he is told until his indenture is paid-off in full). So, yeah, you'd be more a "Serf-Trucker" than an "Owner-Operator"....
     
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  9. TripleSix

    TripleSix God of Roads

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    The driver making $500/month is an idiot. He had performance issues as a company schmuck. But suddenly, as a lease op, these issues are to suddenly disappear. It doesn’t work that way. Not even for owner ops. Thinking the planets will align and money starts rolling in just because you can call the shots is plain foolish.
     
    tscottme and Concorde Thank this.
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