My recent experience with QUALITY LEASE PURCHASE and CELADON

People still come here and cry and it's always because of " leasing" you guys should learn from one another that leasing you're not an owner op you're a slave making pocket change. Weekly payments are a joke.

 

Personally, I think Elton's remake is better than the original.

 

HERETIC!!

 

Eltons was "good" original better.. ugh.. another walmart "blitz" load... lol

 

Original was monotone, IMO.

 

Not bad if you use it to make a down payment to get a new truck . In a yr or two... the lease long term is aweful.. u pay less getting a new from dealership.

 

I'm a celadon lease operator and honestly it could be a profitable situation if you had the support from the company. I read a lot of comments about leases are horrible but the thing is its a good way to see if you really have what it takes to have your own truck before actually going in debt. our daughter graduated college and moved many states away for a rn job so honestly we wanted a change in our life's (me and the spouse) so we decided to go over the road. we are a little different then most drivers as we could go purchase a semi by financing it thru our bank but the spouse wasn't on board with that until we actually seen how it was to be a owner op. I had always been a company driver for past companies.. . I've been in the trucking industry since 1999 and it's changed A LOT over the years...lol I miss the days of paper logs

first off and I'm just trying to be honest to anyone with questions about celadon.
if your top priority is home time (spouse,young kids at home) any lease is not right for you.... you gotta run and run to make ends meet...

secondly I've heard people talking about freight rover load board (celadon only tested it for the company it's not just for celadon) you pay 7.00 a week for this app but the downfall is if you do not have a trailer you cannot get a load off from it... and honestly most of the time your lucky if they are 4-6 loads to choose from...its not really a good tool or worth the money.

3rd I want to honestly say dispatch (driver managers) are horrible... terrible attitudes... (remember they do not care if you sit or not they still get a paycheck) I only have spoke to my assigned dm 3 times in the past 3 1/2 months when u call in the wait time let's just say I hope it's not an emergency (30-40 plus minutes) I have spoke to everyone but my dm and the sad thing is almost everyone I have spoke too will tell you they do not normally handle owner op drivers and can't answer the question but tell u they will send your dm a message for call back which u never get. celadon is horrible in this aspect and needs to clean house and bring in a new crew (just being honest)

THE BIGGEST DOWNFALL you can never get a trailer... this is a common issue and is well known.... you can and will sit for days to get a empty trailer (company or owner op) it's that bad....

the thing I told the dm in the beginning was we wanted to be out for months at a time. we wasn't worried about home time as our daughter was raised and we locked our home up and set the alarm...lol even when the hurricane hit Jacksonville FL (home for us) we didn't swing by till 2 weeks later to check on our house.

as far as quality leasing (Indianapolis ind) that was a trip.. I have never seen such a thing... they are drivers lined up at the entrance gate waiting for when trucks are brought in.... it took me 3 days to finally get a truck and honestly it wasn't what we wanted (2015 international lonestar 197,451 miles still under warranty) Im not a international fan.. the apu unit's on the internationals are terrible. do not think your going to get a kenworth because your not... as the guy told me we have 2 out there brand new but they are for sale not lease.... but you'll get to see the 3 ring circus if you go thru them (which honestly if u do it go in with a open mind) and like us tell yourself it's not a lease I'm going to finish...lol

OK so to finish up with celadon lease...
*if you have a family and need home time - honestly the trucking industry isn't for you (being honest)
*if you have to take a advance before u leave the terminal then the lease program is surely not for you.... (you need money in the bank guys... just like right now we are in chattanooga TN broke down truck is at kenworth garage and it's a major issue with the truck warranty will fix but it's down for 2 weeks.... hotel expense, car rental, uber, food, ect you have to pay celadon doesn't.... if u have no money put back you are screwed and honestly in trouble...
***always be prepared***

so if your single or empty nester like us... money in the bank.. and have always wondered how it wold be to actually be a owner op then a lease is the best way to experience it without taking the risk until your ready to actually buy and finance a truck...
or you may find out its not for you and to just go back to company driver...

honestly we are not going to do it much longer with celadon as we have realized it's not profitable and we do not enjoy the stress of fuel costs, truck maintance, trying to figure if the loads offered is profitable, trying to find a trailer and most importantly we do not enjoy rudeness.... that's the biggie with us concerning celadon...

this is a honest statement from a current celadon lease operator... any questions I'll try my best to answer

but please really think about your finances before you do this... ourself's if our daughter was young and still at home no we would not do a lease with any company.... insurance remember you do not have any as a lease owner op

so if anyone has any info on a company driver position with a decent (all companies have there ups and downs) company that allows spouse (rider) and a 10 year old mini dashchund dog (pet) let me know as we are going to start the search

 

Thank you for your post. It coinsides in my belief no lease is good unless u lease/purchase/buy with a bank or large institution. Lease to one freight company makes me wary.

 

I'm with you Buckmanmike but my spouse would not go with it till we actually experienced what it was like to be a owner op thru the lease. lol
we had looked at several of the large semis with the camper style living quarters as our plans was to buy a rv when we retired. but when the spouse seen the price tags was like we need to understand owner op better before we make an investment like that. what we have learned honestly is we do not enjoy it with all the worries. lol

 

So sorry for your experiences you are having.. I am a company driver, and ive been with a DM who has been with the company thru it all: over 20 years.. she does EVERYTHING she can to keep me moving.. shes awesome.. weekends and nights suck! They have reduced coverage soooo much at night and on weekends; i hardly ever even attempt to contact them; if at all possible.. they are trying to cover a board with hundreds of trucks on them then.. its crazy! I ask for preplans thru the weekend if at all possible; or work in a reset then...