Owner-Operator Reserve Account

It can not be forced, as in, we won't lease you on if you do not agree to this reserve account

 

Every contract has terms and conditions.

 

If you want the O/O to have a way to cover your equipment, just have a line item that details that coverage in your contract, and add something to their settlements to cover the cost. I'm an I/C, and I wouldn't want to pull for a company that didn't cover their own equipment. You can't require an O/O to escrow his own equipment, but you could offer an escrow account for them, as an optional way to produce liquid resources. $.05 or $.10/mile, whatever they'd be comfortable with.

 

I dont even have a truck payment, but many are living a lot more pay check to paycheck then i am.

 

Yes they do, but a maintenance reserve account can not be anything more than optional.

 

Our insurance is $1,000 deductable and that is what we charge (or actual amount of repair if less than that). Only time we have charged more is when a trailer was returned with serious damage that clearly came from seperate incidents.

 

Is this a state specific thing? While I would never want to implement something like this, out of all the expensive conversations with lawyers they have never mentioned that we can't do something like this. And we did spend a good amount of time discussing the legal way to establish an escrow account.

 

Do you have any links to back up your claims? Or is this just TS counter talk?

 

371.12 (K) (1-6) covers escrow accounts. Can be anything both parties agree on.

 

It goes back to the old truth in leasing regs. There is a very clear definition between an employee vs independent contractor. Its kinda like paying a driver on a 1099, small outfits can get away with it for years, but only takes one irs agent, or one lawyer that thinks you have enough assets worth pursueing.
Also consider, if it was legit, wouldn't all the mega carriers be doing it?