Leasing at Prime

Ironpony was right, to be successful as non-company driver you really need to know how to run a business. That means keeping rack all the paperwork, your numbers, making sure prime or whoever you are leased to is paying you right and not just assuming they are. Another driver I knowt that is lease was just going through his numbers and on the settlement statement from Prime it showed his gross almost 30,000 more then what the numbers add up to. He is know going over every settlement statement for the past 7 months with a fine tooth comb. The reason that number is important is because that's the number reported on your 1099 and if it's more then what you actually did, it would make your taxable amount look higher after expenses. Paperwork sucks, but if you don't watch every detail you'll miss important stuff. Just looking and seeing you got paid and are in the positive isn't good enough.

 

"Paperwork sucks", I'll second that notion those settlements are 20+ pages long and take me quite awhile to go though line by line, it SUUUCKS! But I've caught things that I wouldn't have otherwise, that would have costed me money so I have to do it.

 

Ok I am 16 pages into this thread and I have a question about the gas tax/rebate. I cant remember where it was but there was a link to a website that shows you (I am assuming) the tax you have to pay. My question would be; isn't the tax included in the price of the fuel. Can someone explain to me how the rebate and fuel tax work. It honestly confused me.

 

Are these still available? My email is raynunez91@gmail.com.

Thanks in advance driver.

 

I know this thread is super old so hopefully I get a reply... My husband is just about to finish his 1st year as a company driver at prime and is thinking about leasing soon, the thing is I'm hoping to get my CDL and team drive with him. How would that work? Would we both be on the lease and basically be making the same combined as he would be on a lease driving solo, whatever % per load and just be able to get more loads in a week? Would one be on the lease and the other company, if so would we be making the same overall and I'd basically be his employee (or him mine if it's under my name)? Or would we make more just both being company team driving? We're trying to figure out what makes us the most in net income so we can spend the next 2-3 years saving. If/when he leases/I team with him I'd be in charge of all finances/accounting, so I want to make sure I do it right!

 

DO NOT get into that lease. You take on all the liability with zero security while the person you pay for the truck dictates your revenue. Nah.

Tell him to stay company and to become instructor certified so he can train you if you want, and then you go through the program. Drive team as a company truck at Prime if you guys are digging the company, or go to any of multiple companies where you two can gross 180k.

If you guys are hellbent on running a business, save up 25k and go buy a nice little 2003 pre-emissions truck and then go make some real money. But do NOT do that lease.

 

Your Hubby as a L/O would employ you if you wanted to team with him. He would be paying your wage and other expenses like workers comp and over mileage charges because the truck is running more miles. Not that over mileage is a big deal, just expect it to be there.

I think you two would be better to lease as a team rather than go the company route. Like the difference between PSD instructors and TNT trainers with Prime. The PSD instructors generally do better as company drivers and the TNT trainers usually do better as L/O because the truck is running more.

I really don't have L/O experience @ Prime so I can't tell you much, just the basics to inquire further about.

 

Leasing is not wise under any circumstance.

 

They should at least read through this thread from the beginning.

 

Why does your husband want to lease?

I team drive here with my wife as company driver's, so I will tell you a little about that. We run a dedicated route that runs just over 4,000 miles per week and we go home two days a week. That's a very soft run for a team, otr we averaged closer to 6,000 miles per week. On our run, we each make $1,500 a week ($3,000 combined), we run it year round except vacations, so $150,000/yr between us.

Primes company driver team benefit is 20 cpm on all miles over 3,000 to the truck per week, so you make a lot more for the miles over 3,000 then under. If you run OTR and pull a 6,000 mile week y'all will be splitting $4,000+ for the week. All the while enjoying company driver benefits.

The guy that trained me at Prime was a lease-op, and is now an owner-op, and told me I should lease a truck and have my wife work as a company driver for Prime, for insurance and what not. I would be paying her out of my settlements but essentially she would be a Prime employee. I'm happy where I'm at so I have stayed company for the past five years.

Leasing may be the right move for you and your husband, I know people who are successful at it. There is another team that runs the same account as us and they lease, they are happy here too. Believe he has been at it for 9 or 10 years and wants to retire doing this.

If your husband has good reasons for wanting to lease, I say go for it. If you aren't sure, and you are going to be joining him soon, I would join him as a company driver. You can get your dispatcher to give you the line payments on loads so you can see what you would have made leasing (before expenses) to see if it makes sense for you to go that route.