Lease Questions, please don't attack

Discussion in 'Lease Purchase Trucking Forum' started by TruckerWifeBoogie, Jun 27, 2022.

  1. TruckerWifeBoogie

    TruckerWifeBoogie Bobtail Member

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    Nov 4, 2021
    Kansas City Missouri
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    Hi!
    I am very nervous about even posting this because so many people want to jump on anyone talking about lease and tell them why it's such a bad idea. Let me explain what we are thinking and please try to give the best advice you can with what you know. My husband and I started OTR with a company that paid .60/mile but unless you stayed out 3 weeks, the bring home was just not good. We would sit around for days waiting for 4am unloads on short trips watching the week go by with no miles and then get small checks with random high ones when they decided to give us miles. We switched to another company that claims to pay out big bonuses for total miles for the month ontop of your weekly salary payment of $1250 before taxes. We are fairly new to the OTR game but we are very efficient workers and work together to get every load to it's destination as quickly and efficiently as possible, always being early or at the least on time. We want to make more, as does I'm sure everyone. First off, we are not ready to buy our own truck. We want to down the road but not right now the way things are, personally and economically. So that's not an option. My husband is the one with the CDL, I travel with him and take care of all the other stuff as far as paperwork, navigation, Secretary, housework & photographer among other things lol. He has been a 1099 & W2, a local company driver, regional driver, and OTR driver. Like I said we want to own our own truck someday but not right now. It's just not something we want to do even if a company had the perfect setup. That being said, for all the people that say leases are bad and not to do them, what do you say to a lease that has you 100% covered? I understand telling people not to lease if they are responsible for maintenance on a truck that anything could go wrong on and instantly cost $10,000 or more and then you not have the money or means to fix the problem, or a lease that can get you stuck upside down and give you a nagative paycheck, or just a lease in general that has bad terms. Isn't that like anything in life? There's hundreds if not thousands of different options out there, some being wrong or right for all different kinds of people and some probably being bad for everyone. Yes being full and real O/O is probably the way to go to make the most money out of the trucking industry.....if you can support yourself to make it to success. If not, your just as liable to fail as easily as everyone that says anyone with a lease will. What is wrong with entering into a lease if you make sure that 100% of maintenance covered, it is a true walkaway with no extra payments or BS, and a guarantee to not ever have a negative check? If you cover yourself and make sure that if something goes wrong you can get out of it just as easily as if you work for a company as a company driver that's not paying what you'd hoped. How can you go wrong? If they are taking out $5000 out of my check and I'm bringing home over $2000/week or $3000/week, and only drove around 2500-3000 miles a week, how can that be bad? Yes an O/O makes more but is a bring home $2000- $4000/week lease still not better than a company driver making $1200-$1800 for the same miles? Is everyone that's O/O just against leases period because they think that's the best option? Is everyone against leases just not aware that there are some leases that actually want you to succeed? I'm just so confused at the amount of combative people all working in the same industry that just want to put down and try to discourage people from doing what may work great for them, especially by comparing it to what the other person is doing. It may not have worked for you and it may not be the same deal you had but that doesn't mean it won't work for someone else. I'm just looking for anyone that has had positive experience with a lease and what that experience was. We're driving almost 3500 - 4000 miles a week, making $1250 before taxes
    and then maybe another $200 ontop of that from mileage bonuses. Yes, we know that's absolutely terrible and we're looking for a way to make more without being O/O. Please if you can keep your negativity off the post, if you have viable information or tips about a real experience that's fine but general discouragement will get you ignored because your going to look like every single other person talking bad about leases. Thank you to those that understand and to those of you shaking your head, please move on.

    ADDITIONAL DETAILS - The things I am mentioning, I have seen so I'm not LOOKING for a lease that offers all that necessarily because I've already seen many that offer that. That being said...I am asking why everyone hates leases so much. If your not an OO everyone seem to dog every single lease and overall say DO NOT DO THEM. I am simply asking that if the things I laid out that I have seen in leases are all there then what can go wrong any differently than a company position not paying what you expected. I'm asking if I'm missing anything other than people just griping basically.
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2022
    Reason for edit: Spelling and to add details.
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  3. pavrom

    pavrom Road Train Member

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    @Chinatown pls finish your challenge with one leg stand and help the gal :)
     
  4. F4T6UY

    F4T6UY Medium Load Member

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    Very South Texas
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    If I read all that correctly (and to be fair, my ADHD had me chasing butterflies about a quarter the way through), you left the first job that was paying .60cpm because you weren’t getting miles. Now you’re at a salary job paying $1250 a week, but doing 3500-4000 miles a week which is .32-.35cpm. So you’re already not making sound choices as a company driver.

    But, you’re doing the right thing by doing plenty of research and asking plenty of questions before making your next move.

    I don’t have anything good to say about lease purchase, so I’ll leave it at that for now. But I will agree, much like anything in life, despite all the bad, there might be some good ones out there.
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2022
  5. Wasted Thyme

    Wasted Thyme Road Train Member

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    Honestly your not giving any real details. Even as long as your post is.

    To my knowledge. There's no such thing as a 100% covered lease. But with the low rate of pay. That might be possible.

    Where I was working/leasing and will be after dealing with cancer. It was roughly the below.

    Pay was 1.04/all miles + FSC loaded miles.
    Lease was 650-750/week. Depending on age of the truck.
    All trucks are under warranty.
    Small %/mile maintenance fund.
    You pay fuel/tolls.
    You set how much for a home time deduction. Taken each week. So you can cover your lease payment. When you take home time.

    No forced dispatch, home time as often or as little as you want.

    Based on averages. Typically my first 1100 miles covered my expenses. The rest was profit. I was easily running 3k miles a week. So roughly 1900 in profit. Before the IRS get their share.


    Fixed. Fat fingers hit post. LOL
     
    Last edited: Jun 27, 2022
  6. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    Henderson, NV & Orient
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    I don't know of one that meets all that's on your wish list.
    USA Truck lets lease-purchase drivers dispatch themselves and run off USA Truck load boards. You choose the loads you want and run where you want to.
    Click ---> Lease Purchase
    CDL-A Lease Purchase Truck Driver Partnerships with USA Truck Offer:

    • $1,500 transition/down payment assistance
    • Fantastic freight options w/load boards to keep you full
    • Self-dispatch (you know how to work)
    • Increased pay packages (ask our recruiters for details)
    • Plenty of miles
    • Performance bonuses
    • Fuel discounts
    • No forced dispatch
    • Free E-ZPass
    • Complimentary lumpers
     
  7. Ray-z

    Ray-z Bobtail Member

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    Jan 25, 2020
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    Prime worked good for my husband. He leased with them on 2015. Made about 2.5k, 3k and sometines 4k every week before taxes. They lease brand new truck or almost new low miles. They are under guarantee. You are responsible from maintenance and tires ( if you have flat tires etc.). They pay % on loads. You are not responsible for trailers repair. You can ride with your husband. My husband did a lease purchase with them that work very good for us. We paid the truck in full in 2 years. Every situation is different. And leases work diferente for everyone. You are in negative only when you are off still you have to make the payment.
     
  8. TruckerWifeBoogie

    TruckerWifeBoogie Bobtail Member

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    Nov 4, 2021
    Kansas City Missouri
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    We made the best choices we could at the time. I'm not trying to make the post 3 days long and explain every thing about why we took what job and why we left what job, just trying to find out of anyone has anything good to say about leases, which you don't so that's fine, but we haven't made any bad choices. Again you can only do so much with what information and reviews you are given on a company before actually working for them. The main complaint about leases is they aren't what they say they are, with that logic applied to company drivers (because alot of them end up with the same complaints) then there isn't really a way to make a solid guaranteed decision.
     
  9. F4T6UY

    F4T6UY Medium Load Member

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    Very South Texas
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    Ok, since Prime was mentioned, I’ll just give my ‘outsiders’ perspective on that one.

    I have 2 friends that were with Prime. Within the first few months, they started getting pressured to lease. They were even getting less miles and told that they would get more if they leased. They both leased and it didn’t work out for either one.

    So the first question is sometimes the most obvious. Why would a company that has thousands of company drivers work so hard to get them to lease purchase?

    It’s not because they love you. It’s money. So if you accept the simple reality that it’s more profitable for the company to get you to lease, where’s the extra money coming from? The rates are the same. Price of fuel is the same. The extra money can only come from your pocket.

    Stay company and put the money away weekly and go put a healthy down payment on a truck in a year or two is really the best way.
     
  10. F4T6UY

    F4T6UY Medium Load Member

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    Oct 24, 2017
    Very South Texas
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    And you’re right. And I’m not trying to beat you up. I want you to succeed at whatever you do. I just want to remind you to keep your eyes wide open and ask questions that lead to more questions and find your answers before you commit.

    Good luck to you and your husband in your journey.

    Success is there. Go find it.
     
  11. TruckerWifeBoogie

    TruckerWifeBoogie Bobtail Member

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    Nov 4, 2021
    Kansas City Missouri
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    Thank you for the info. I wasn't necessarily trying to include details on anything other than asking other people for positive info on what leases they have encountered or are currently on. I stated what things I have seen offered in a lease and am asking people if there's anything were missing of a deal like that is on the table. What's wrong with a lease like that etc because everyone seems to dog them so hard, but when compared to a company driver job what you bring home is seemingly much much more with a lease, regardless that their taking $6000 out of your check, we don't care if we're bringing home $3000/week and only driving 3000 miles. That's what matters as long as your not trapped into a deal and can walk away if anything happens.

    The company you were/are with sounds pretty good.

    The amount that goes into the maintenance fund is that all you have for maintenance or does the company pay or cover maintenance at all?

    We have been looking at about 3 different leases that say they cover your maintenance 100% (unless you do something on purpose to the truck), offer walkaway with no strings attached, a couple offer .99/gal fuel, home weekends or when you decide plus one even guaranteed you'd never have a negative check.

    Basically the amount of information discouraging people from leasing is absolutely overwhelming when someone is trying to find positive information (aside from the company offering it of course). We are just trying to find out as much info as we can before we find out after it's too late. Just trying to basically understand if all this negative feedback all over the internet is just a bunch of disgruntled people griping about the lease programs they know of unaware of what else is out there, or is it real people with real issues that didn't research good enough the first time, or if there's any truth to it or if it's just a combination of every option. Learning that it's just everyone's opinion on a certain type of lease, and for some reason the other leases that have safety nets and guarantees are lesser known.
     
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