Question for lease operators

not sure how it is at Prime, i dont work there. however most companies pay you ever week after you scan/send/mail int your your trips for the week. if he didnt get paid eihter he didn't scan his trips in or dint have any.

 

OP, it sounds like you are in the middle of a mess. Don't know if you are officially seperated (with paperwork), but it appears to me that you might be going at this wrong, and calling someones company is usually not recommended.
If you and the X are not in some kind of trusting and amicable agreement on everything, it is usually best to let the courts and shysters do their jobs.
Good luck

 

I'm not a lease operator either, but from what I heard. They take those expenses out of his check, and or maintenance account. They will let him run the truck and if he owes them money they take it out before he see's anything. It's not unusual for a lease guy not to receive a check for a week or two. If he is not getting any miles. His truck payment and other expenses are still coming out. He probably just doesn't want to admit he's in the hole and trying to get out. Or like you said he quit, but not sure why he wouldn't tell you if he did.

 

Not sure about the prime way of leasing. I was lease at TransAm and the way they did it was if you were broke down then you covered your stay where ever you happen to be. In my case my wife and I were stuck in Albuquerque, NM for a week and a half. Once you submit your BOL you get those miles on the following weeks settlement. In most peoples case that I stumbled across was. if you broke down then someone else would,d come take the load to the receiver. But trying g to get paid for the miles you ran was a pain in the ###. Being lease if your wheels aren't turning you will only go in the hole. Also being a lease operator you take full responsibility for the truck. So if its not covered under the warranty you pay out of pocket/maintenance account. If he doesn't have it then they will take it out of his next settlement.

so if he didnt run any miles and the bill was 3k that wasn't covered by warranty. then he will be in the hole what he ran for fuel/tow(if its not covered under the warranty), the fixed cost of the truck, lodging if he couldn't afford it, and the bill. Say his cost were near mine at 1300ish/wk+500 for fuel/tow+350 for lodging(50/day for 7days) and 3k for the bill. That would put him in the hole for 4150 before tax. He won't be seeing a check for a few weeks.

What he's saying could be legitimate but I personally would let the courts figure it out if you can't come to an agreement on your own. But knowing the courts (prior pre-law student) if you go that rout and you are trying for alimony, child support, exc. They will go off of his current income. If he proves he has a major loss in his business(being a L/O) that will reduce what they will make him pay.

Good luck!

 

As a lease operator at Prime, I can shed a little light here.

If the tractor is off the road, he won't be generating any revenue. So the last settlement check he got that could possibly have any income on it would be the last week he was running before the truck went in the shop. All of the repair expenses would be covered by Prime at the time it was in the shop, and anything that was his responsibility would be billed to him after the truck came out of the shop. While the truck is off the road, his fixed expenses still occur- truck payment, plates, etc... so those expenses would still be charged against his settlement, along with any other costs he incurred during the week he put the truck in the shop, offset by any revenue. Most likely this settlement would be either negative or at best break-even. The following week would be a negative settlement with fixed expenses charged to him.

Once the truck is out of the shop, the repair expenses would be evaluated. Much of what goes wrong with a tractor would be covered under Prime's warranty agreements with the manufacturers, but depending on what happened, he could be charged for anything that is considered operator abuse rather than equipment failure. For example, I had a turbocharger go out on me that was covered under warranty... including the tow I paid $130 for shop expenses. If he trashed a transmission, that might be totally charged to him. Prime does pay its lease operators dealer downtime pay for periods that the truck is in the shop. It kicks in after the first full 24-hour period, and is paid in full 24-hour increments. It's been awhile since I got any, and it was $175 per day at that time. It's enough to cover your fixed expenses, plus a little. You get it AFTER the truck has come out of the shop, and the repair expenses have been evaluated.

Lease operators at Prime are independent contractors... not employees. Prime has no responsibility for their expenses while in the shop. So he's paying his own meals an motel expenses while he's off the road. If he happened to be broken down at his "home," then this would offset his potential losses. From what I've posted above... Prime doesn't provide him with a paycheck. He's an independent contractor, so he generates revenue offset by business costs. What's left over is his net profit before taxes... from that he needs to pay himself, his bills, along with any non-trucking business expenses. He's not an employee of Prime... that's a major distinction that you need to understand. According to the IRS he's a legitimate 1099 independent contractor. That means the gross revenue figure on his 1099 form for tax purposes only shows his gross income- he doesn't get that. He pays his expenses that are true business costs that offset that revenue. His income (and what you're entitled to) come from what's left over as net income after deductions and taxes. If those deductions exceed his gross revenue for any period, he gets nothing... until the expenses are paid.

The upshot here is he could go a couple or three weeks with a negative settlement check, depending on what happened to the truck. No money- he'd better have a good positive bank balance or a seriously positive emergency fund- or he's living on ramyen and sleeping at the dealer... if they'd let him. The week after he gets back on the road, he'd see the repair costs, the full negative balance and DDP revenue on his settlement, plus the revenue and expenses from any completed trips that week. In my experience, he'll be lucky to break even on this. DDP pay does not make up for the lost revenue- because the truck was in the shop, not on the road. It's meant to keep the operator whole so his fixed costs don't eat him alive while the truck is broken down. So, the second week after coming out of the shop is the first week he'd be likely to have anything approaching the kind of settlement that he'd be accustomed to while running.

Remember... he's not an employee, so it doesn't work like he has an 8-to-5 job.

 

It's not they are holding the settlement checks he has not made enough to clear what he owes. Hey might have some pretty good runs, but the one big run that would clear everything up. Doesn't deliver till the day after the pay week ends. So he is still in the hole and has that last run that will go on the next weeks check/settlement. Remember Prime get's there money first. If he was a company driver he would see some type of pay each week. But because he is renting the truck. The MAN takes his cut off the top.

I truly hope this guy isn't putting some new chick over his responsibilities as a Father!! That truly turns my stomach. You should be in the loop about what's going on. Even when my wife and I were going through our divorce I always let her know if I had a bad week and if the child support was not going to be fully taken out. Don't let this guy juice you. Get to the attorney's general office and put that dude on child support. I'll keep you and your family in my prayers. I truly hope he gets his act together and 1 get out of that lease purchase, and 2 treat his wife and daughter with respect.

He could also be getting advances and that could keep him in the hole as well. If he is tell him to get an advance to help you and his daughter out.

 

Prime doesn't "hold" checks. Amy money he's owed (after expenses) is paid at the end of the week it's turned in. If he's not running, he's not earning. If he didn't turn the tractor in, he's digging a financial hole... that could be covered from his emergency fund... if he has one.

When did he start the lease?