Leasing vs. company vs. own authority (power)

I'm bored right now lol so I'll share some info I gathered about leasing, lease purchasing and using your own truck using your Mc number (power only).

First off I'd like to say I'm a company driver and never leased but I talked to a lot of drivers and people in the power only division and at successful leasing so this is a ROUGH template for those who have zero info.

Again my numbers are very rough ball park numbers and I'm sure tons of guys will come on here and rip them to shreds but I encourage it.

Now that being said I'm going to use my personal numbers (46 cents a mile) to do a comparison.

Before we get started I'll explain the options they have at Prime.
- Company driver (self explanatory)
-Lease driver (72% of the load, your fixed payments will be roughly 1k to 1200 a week, NOT including diesel)
-Lease purchase (same as a lease driver, after the 3 yr lease you have the option to buy the tractor with a balloon payment of $72,000 and $14,000 down, that's what I was told from Pam at successful leasing). Let's take a minute to do the math; 14k down plus 156,000 (I'm using only 1k for weekly fixed costs for 3 yrs) plus the 70k balloon payment means you're paying $242,000 for a $150,000 truck.

And lastly you can bring your own truck to Prime.
If you have your own MC number (motor carrier) you can go to the power only division at Prime. (Think Earl Henderson and the other guys your see pulling Prime trailers). They get 77% of the load. The requirements for that is a 3 yr old tractor or newer with a wheel base of 244 or less.

You can also bring your truck and lease it to Prime using Primes Mc and you get 72% of the load, you get to use Primes insurance (truck not health), if you go power only obviously you need your own insurance. The requirements is a 4 or 6 yr old truck or newer (I forget) to lease it on with Prime, same wheelbase restrictions.

So naturally the next question is ok what is 72 or 77% of x (the load)?

I was told by a guy who might not wanted to be named at the power only division that the overall load is $1.80 (this is where guys chime in saying that's hogwash).

So at 72% that's 1.296 a mile.
Time to do the comparisons.
I average about 2300 miles a week right now so as a company guy that's ($1058 gross).

If a solo guy leased, let's say his fixed cost is $1100, if he averages 7mpg and pays $1.85 for fuel (that's what peoplenet said) so that's $607 for fuel bringing total expenses to $1707. His gross will be $2980-$1707= brings his net to $1273.

Now that's not your true net. I was actually a true owner operator before and I would put away 40 percent for taxes and miscellaneous things. So $1273-$509 (40 percent) brings your true take home to $764.

So going solo, you make more or less the same as a company driver with way more headaches. I had 3 breakdowns so far, I'm a company driver so it costs me zero except for the lost revenue due to the downtime. Also if you take monthly home time you'll probably end up making less than a company driver.

Now let's do the math if you're a trainer.

Let's say you guys average 4,800 miles a week. Your fuel costs will be $1234 plus your $1100 fixed cost so that's $2334 for your weekly costs. 4800 miles x $1.296 is $6220-$2334 (costs)-$800 (what you'll roughly pay your student) = $3,086 (which is the number I got from talking to a lot of driver trainers) so $3,086×40 percent(taxes and miscellaneous), your take home is $1,852

As a company driver trainer, 4,800 miles times .37 cents you're gross is $1776 so your net will be roughly $1332 depending on your tax bracket etc.

I'm not going to discourage or encourage anyone from doing anything, I was just bored and wanted to share some research for those completely clues less into leasing but interested

 

Thanks, I'm not a trainer, not yet anyway. When I wrote that I wasn't waiting on a load but on my 10. I was hoping that guys who actually do lease would have chimed in more but oh well lol