Lease operator for act(american central transport)

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by pete3871, Jan 5, 2012.

  1. full moon

    full moon Light Load Member

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    vote santorum. Romney hated reagonomics.just sayn
     
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  3. Stoney

    Stoney Medium Load Member

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    Ya, take that the political forum. Lets becareful not to highjack Petes thread here.


    Conservative to the Bone.
    R.I.P. Ron Paul 2012. Hahaha!!!
     
  4. pete3871

    pete3871 Medium Load Member

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    Its cool,I'm conservative to the bone also.Looked back on some older threads on ACT and saw a guy that just loved it till he quit then he went all negative.Said ACT sucked because when he got in the "whole"(hole) ACT wouldn't help him out.To me thats whats wrong with our new or maybe not so new culture,where everybody feels "entitled".Was it ACT's fault he went in the hole? I've been leasing for the last 4 yrs. and I'm trying to tell you guys and gals that its not for everybody.Alot of guys do it because they get a faster truck,able to turn down loads,fuel where they want and run whatever route they want.All thats true but you have to be committed to making it work.Most people fail because they treat a l/p the same as a co. driver position.They want to go home every 2 weeks and stay 2 or 3 days,then the wife or kid wants something and they stay another day.Well with this co. or any other,you just committed yourself to no paycheck for 2 weeks.

    Everybody knows what a dispatcher goes Thru to get you home.You've been home three days and call up at 0900 and say "im ready to roll",well they might and might not have a load right then,so there you are losing most of that day also.So now you're 3 1/2 or 4 days not generating any income.But like me you owe 700/wk.So now theres only 3 days left in the week.If you get lucky and get some good Ld's,you might almost make your truck pmt. not counting fuel,advances or any other expenses that come up.You roll into the next week and freight's not so good and you break even.Well thats 2 weeks no pay and the family's asking "where you at,when will you be home?"You tell the old lady you cant come home because you've got to make some money.You stay out another week,make 1000 bucks and ready to head to the house .The whole thing starts right back over again.

    If you've got commitments(wives,girlfriends,kids,parents) that you need to take care of(and you should)then dont lease a truck.Its not going to work for you.Be a co. driver and go home every 2 wks.You'll probably make double take home pay as you would leasing a truck.My situation is 100% different,Ive got no committments.Divorced yrs ago,no kids and no overhead.Thats why leasing works for me.I stay out 3 or 4 mos. at a time then take a week off.After taking a week off I know I ain't going to make crap for 2 weeks,but Im ready for that.I wont even look at my payroll till the third week so I dont get depressed.

    Theres another guy on a different forum named Bigkid that works for ACT,he lives in IN and gets by his home with a ld quite a bit he says, if you live where the co. you work for hauls alot of freight close by,well thats a different situation that might work for you.I live in FT WORTH and even tho I go to DALLAS every couple weeks,Im still 60 miles from home and a giant hassle to try and go there for 1 night.Between the fuel and time,it's not even worth it.

    Left OTTAWA IL this am and drove to JOPLIN MO,parked at sams,went in and had a nice dinner (ribeye and a lobster tail)at outback steak house.Was still early so I went on down to exit 1,the big new casino,and procceeded to lose 200 bucks playing blackjack.They've got a great truck parking area with security guards,cameras and they pick you up soon as you get parked and ride you back out again when you leave.Guess those rides cost me 100 bucks each tho.LMAO had a good time tho.Need to be in DALLAS around 1600 tommorow to del.early mon am,around 450 miles from here,so it'll be a nice easy drive tommorow.
     
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  5. BigKid2

    BigKid2 Road Train Member

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    When I go home I go home for about a week and no I won't get a check that week but I have always made up the negative balance and usually make at least $1000 the first week I am running again. I have never been negative 2 weeks in a row.
     
  6. pete3871

    pete3871 Medium Load Member

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    Yeah bigkid,thats what usually happens but like my post stated sometimes you dont get the good miles that next week out and then you're behind or even.I've leased 4 trucks and pretty much seen it all happen.What my post is trying to do is show other drivers whats involved with leasing a truck and what can cause a guy to fail.Leasing a truck works good for me as well as bigkid has stated in his post.3 weeks ago I ran 1400 miles.Its the time of year(I hope).If I had taken the previous week off I would not have had a check for two weeks.

    I asked the managment at ACT "why do your drivers quit" when I started and was told by two people that its 75% lease drivers and that they get to making a little money,start taking more and more time off,fall behind on payments, get frustrated and quit.Same scenario at other co's.There's driver out here that lease thru England,Prime,Swift and lots of other co's that have really tough lease terms,and they make it work for them.Thats the key"make it work".

    ACT has the best lease I've found,so thats why I work here.Along with great office personal,good attitudes and nice equipment.I was told at ACT that last year 34 drivers paid off their trucks.Thats amazing for a 300 truck co.I bet none of the mega-driver mills,can boast that number.So yeah, miles are a little slow right now but It dont get me down.Left JOPLIN 0730 this morning and just got to DALLAS for my 3 stop deliveries in the early morning.Kicked back watching the wild card games
     
  7. LandShark

    LandShark Road Train Member

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    ok so lets see if i got this right
    your averaging .46cpm PRE TAX
    so after you pay your 25% taxes that leaves you making, about 35cpm, less than most company drivers make...WOW WHERE DO I SIGN UP FOR THAT
     
  8. BigKid2

    BigKid2 Road Train Member

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    .46 is less than company drivers make? What company are they working for? Do they own their company truck after a few years also?
     
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  9. LandShark

    LandShark Road Train Member

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    Ok now REREAD my and the other post. He said he averaged 46cpm BEFORE taxes. 25% taxes on 46cpm is 11.5 cpm now it's down to 35.5 cpm which is less than what most company drivers earn.

    Which is WHY it's refered to as a "flease purchase".
    Just saying

    You won't own that truck after a few years either. You have to pay what did he say. Oh yea a $12,000 balloon payment or refinance it.
    Maybe it works for you.
    Hope your married and your spouse carries medical insurance for the whole family. One big catastrophic break down or medical tragedy and you are out every thing.
     
  10. pete3871

    pete3871 Medium Load Member

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    Like I said theres guys on here that bash Lease purchases and try their best to give false information to drivers who are trying to learn or research something.What landshark happened by mistake or ignorance, forgot to say,is that a co. driver is making.35 cents a mile driving for co. X thats not take home pay that is also pre tax.Landshark must be under the assumption that if a co. says they pay .35 cents a mile,you go drive 1000 miles for them then you get a check for 350 dollars.As far as insurance,I have my own, pay 185.00 a month.Dont need somebody else to pay my way,I make plenty to cover all my expences,or what would be the point?

    I'll go over the warranty once again,maybe landshark did'nt get it the first time.

    My truck had 210k miles on it whan I leased it.The factory warranty from kenworth is 500k miles,ACT also has added an additional 100k to that warranty that is included in my lease payment.Thats a total warranty coverage of 600k miles.I figure that my average driving miles per yr will be around 100k.Land shark the way a warranty works is that if you do have a catastrophic failure,It will be repaired or replaced by the factory (kenworth).The really good thing is that warranty also covers everything else like a/c,electronics,condensors,emmision systems,and of course all drive train components.Should any thing fail it will be repaired or replaced with no cost to me unless I failed to properly maintain the truck.

    And last,like I stated a few post ago ACT had 34 drivers pay off their trucks this yr.out of a 300 truck fleet.If things were like you said and obviously dont know what you're talking about.How could this many drivers buy a truck they've been driving and maintaining for the last 3 or 4 yrs ever happen if it was such a ripoff?

    This is a post about what I'm going thru at a new co. that I choose to work for and am trying to give the best and most honest account that I can.

    P.S. Landshark,everything you stated in your 2 post was wrong or completly false.The place for your kind of post is in the bad trucking company forum.
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2012
  11. LandShark

    LandShark Road Train Member

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    Like I said maybe it works for you.
    But let's just say you have a scored piston which did happen to me once on a brand new truck with less than 200,000 miles and still under full warranty. Engine manufacture refused to honor the warranty. That happens.
    You know the odds are not in your favor. You just might be one of the less than 10% that actually complete the program. By design it's set up to make the carrier money and afford them less operating cost. Believe me I am not knocking what you are doing. I want to be an O/O again. I have researched every lease purchase program out there and have yet to find one where the purchaser actually can Profit over 50k a year after All cost and Taxes paid. Which for me makes no sense to make the move to L/P to inherit all the headaches of running a business and making less per year.
     
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