My experience in Prime's lease program so far.

crocky · Jun 12, 2018

Army91W said: ↑

Either way I was more complimenting your work ethic and at the same time pointing out to a would be newbie you were out 6 months.
Turned out to be 2 to 3 months at a time.
That's a long time.
Number one thing I hated about my first year trucking was restarts on the road.
Now I don't do them.
My suggestion get a job in the oil patch here in Texas.
Live in the man camps or a truck for three months at time.
Make $2,000 a week plus with health benefits.
Never sit at a grocery warehouse again.
Good luck.
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Texas is too dusty and hot for me.. lol

As for going elsewhere, Im still 1st year so I still owe Prime 2 months on my CDL school, but also most non mega companies require 1 to 2 years experance before they will hire you. Im just trying to maximize my 1st year earnings before I move on. My intention was to run hard till the end of the 4th quarter then take a nice long break before deciding what to do next. This arm issue screws me a bit on that so Ill have to see how it plays out, but I planned to stay a full year at Prime to cover my cdl training but also to show driver stability.

ulenie · Jun 12, 2018

Army91W said: ↑

Either way I was more complimenting your work ethic and at the same time pointing out to a would be newbie you were out 6 months.
Turned out to be 2 to 3 months at a time.
That's a long time.
Number one thing I hated about my first year trucking was restarts on the road.
Now I don't do them.
My suggestion get a job in the oil patch here in Texas.
Live in the man camps or a truck for three months at time.
Make $2,000 a week plus with health benefits.
Never sit at a grocery warehouse again.
Good luck.
Click to expand...

What company would pay a newbie 2k a week? You need experience

Army91W · Jun 12, 2018

ulenie said: ↑

What company would pay a newbie 2k a week? You need experience
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He has six months experience. Driving brand new equipment and slow prime trucks his psp score should be good to go.

It wouldn't take a day or two of driving around Midland/Odessa before having a job. And by chance the pay isn't close to the $2,000 a week mark, being in the area he'd quickly find out where to make that money.

crocky · Jun 13, 2018

Army91W said: ↑

He has six months experience. Driving brand new equipment and slow prime trucks his psp score should be good to go.

It wouldn't take a day or two of driving around Midland/Odessa before having a job. And by chance the pay isn't close to the $2,000 a week mark, being in the area he'd quickly find out where to make that money.
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I saw a report on housing there and the prices had skyrocketed for rentals if you could find anything. That's one of the problems with boom spots. People start making lots of money and more and more people come in and cost of living goes through the roof then you get stuck in a situation where you aren't making as much due to expenses.

Experience wise I'm closer to 10 months. Had 3 months of team driving, 1 month company and was in my 6th month lease. Regardless, I still have to go back to Prime for at least 2 months to satisfy my cdl training requirements.

skellr · Jun 13, 2018

Shale Country Is Out of Workers and Dangling 100% Pay Hikes

Hmm.

trucker28truck · Jun 14, 2018

crocky said: ↑

I saw a report on housing there and the prices had skyrocketed for rentals if you could find anything. That's one of the problems with boom spots. People start making lots of money and more and more people come in and cost of living goes through the roof then you get stuck in a situation where you aren't making as much due to expenses.

Experience wise I'm closer to 10 months. Had 3 months of team driving, 1 month company and was in my 6th month lease. Regardless, I still have to go back to Prime for at least 2 months to satisfy my cdl training requirements.
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So when your truck was broken did Prime paid you anything? for being out of service? Did they cover hotel? or you paid all yourself? Truck was under warranty? or you paid your money to repair?
Why you need to come back to P? As far as i know you can just pay them for those 2 months that left after CDL school to reach 1 year.
P not the one to work for, 1k a week blood sucking company. As SpriMo office guys were saying, lease gets paid as a company driver but diffirence is - Lease driver drives less.
crocky with your attitide run run run you will make a lot of money but not at P.

ulenie · Jun 14, 2018

trucker28truck said: ↑

So when your truck was broken did Prime paid you anything? for being out of service? Did they cover hotel? or you paid all yourself? Truck was under warranty? or you paid your money to repair?
Why you need to come back to P? As far as i know you can just pay them for those 2 months that left after CDL school to reach 1 year.
P not the one to work for, 1k a week blood sucking company. As SpriMo office guys were saying, lease gets paid as a company driver but diffirence is - Lease driver drives less.
crocky with your attitide run run run you will make a lot of money but not at P.
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Well why dont you tell him where he can make enough money to cover the tuition fee + what he was making at prime

redoctober83 · Jun 15, 2018

crocky said: ↑

The problem is leases are in general bad deals and its something I agree with. It is however possible to make more money then you would as a 1st year company driver. No 1st year company driver is going to make what Ive been making in my 1st year. On the flip side its also quite possible to lose your ### if you arent on the ball.

What Ill say is my break down gave a lot of confidence in the fact that if something bad happens that puts me out for a week or two its not going to put me out of business.

Other than loss of income, I came out of my breakdown in good shape. My arm issue, sucks and the last thing I wanted to do is stop for a month, but due to being a walk away lease, Im able to turn the truck in, go home get better and come back.. If I bought the truck on y own from a dealer, Id be making payments even if I couldnt run..
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If you've turned your truckin already, ignore this. If you still have your truck, go talk to Pam in leasing. They have a processin place for guys that leave because of medical where you don't loose all your tire find and completion bonus you've accrued so far.

mover man · Jun 15, 2018

crocky said: ↑

Yes is expensive but that's including my opperating costs. Fuel is usually $1k of that. To be fair its usually around $2.8k with $1k being the fuel then there are tolls, tire fee ect..

Not trying to justify it but when I say $3k its including all my costs for the week as a average, not that the lease its self is $3k. Meaning it cost around $3k to run the truck each week.
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Lease, rent, buy, own, whatever, no matter how you slice it. That is about $1000 a week minimum more than it should be. No with that said, if it works for you that' all that matters. Even better if it works for your plan of where you are, and where you want to be.

mover man · Jun 15, 2018

johnnyman1099 said: ↑

With the high weekly payment, the Prime Lease is a time bomb waiting to happen. If you get sick or have personal time off for 1 to two week, you will be negative thousands. Sooner or later, the truck will have issues and only Freightliner Dealership can work on it. The wait time to be seen may be many days. Many of the truck mechanical issues will be covered by warranty but dealerships put warranty work as their last priorities. Just because a truck is new, things could still go bad. And if you lease a used truck, the chance of mechanical issues will be much more. With $3k a week as expense, it will be very hard to get to the positive side.
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I agree with you, however we all had to start somewhere and pay our dues into the club. The op has a plan (instead of the typical winging it) that so far seems to be working for him. Also he said his 3k per week. Is his average RUNNING expense. Meaning deduct $1-1200 from that when truck is down, or he is off duty. Still to much but $1800 is less than $3000

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My experience in Prime's lease program so far.

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