RoadRunner Lease Purchase

Due to the lack of information I can find on here regarding it, and my willingness to jump right in on things, I've decided to start a thread detailing my experience with RoadRunner's Lease Purchase option with their Terminal to Terminal LTL Linehaul division.

A bit of background as to why: I haven't taken care of my record as I should have, in the past three years I've had a speeding ticket (15+) in my personal vehicle, failure to obey a traffic signal (dropped down from an over height violation on Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel in Chesapeake VA (no collision just turned around in the middle by local LEO, and a speeding ticket (6-10) in a truck.
As you all can gather i'm sure, it made it hard to go back on the road after about 6 months at home. Roadrunner was willing to give me a chance with the lease purchase, so I figured i'd give it a shot.

Business wise:

I don't need to make much of a profit. the bills at home can be covered by my SO's income easily leaving just a few miscellaneous bills for me to take care of (my pickup insurance, second electric bill for the barn, and a rent to own Big Screen TV.

I jointly own two other businesses with a friend that together have a gross revenue of 128k a year and due to our commitment to creating jobs (we employ 3 people between the two) the profit is minimal (about 9 grand for each of us after all is said and done).

Driving Experience:

I can hear the comments already but yes I started just back in 2015 with Millis Transfer out of Black River Falls Wisconsin. I spent about 6 months there on the regional gig making about 500 a week after taxes and schooling repayments. On my 2nd day in a truck with a trainer I was involved in a right turn accident, a week before my last day I was involved in what was considered a no fault accident in Indiana making a sharper than 90 degree left turn.

I was scared of driving a semi for a bit and went into expediting in a cargo van and got my first experience as an Independent Contractor with Panther Premium Logistics out of Medina Ohio driving a Cargo Van. I made about 500 a week after fuel and other expenses. I did this for 6 months until a guy from my area started flashing BIG MONEY and HOMETIME at me.

So I went back to Tractor Trailer hauling a dump bucket locally dumping coal 6 times a day. I was making about 800 a week after taxes. Shortly thereafter, he lost the contract for hauling coal and offered me an OTR position with a dry van paying 28% of the load. I did this for 2 months without a paycheck.

Beacon Transport out of La Vergne TN was my next stop as my Mom worked there (and still does) and loved it. Extremely laid back company, no touch freight advertising 60% drop and hook. I enjoyed the hell out of it. I was taking home about 700 a week on average after taxes, insurance, and Child Support.
I did spend about 6 months in the shop learning how to work on the trucks, (new Volvo VNL 670s)



Where I'm at with RoadRunner:


I put in an application for lease purchase March 15th, 2019 and got a phone call on the following Monday. After about a half hour on the phone I was informed of average truck payments for both the 3rd Party leasing company and for RoadRunner Equipment Leasing. The latter being the fallback if you don't get approved for the 3rd party. I received their rate sheet detailing which lanes pay how much for all the lower 48 states, along with a breakdown of each deduction from your settlement.

That day as well I got the forms signed online allowing a background check, MVR, PSP etc... (all the usuals)

About 3 days later my recruiter called and had the foresight and respect to let me know he was going on vacation the next week and passed me off to another recruiter. He also told me the good news that RoadRunner was willing to overlook the speeding ticket in my PV and the Failure to Obey a Traffic Device ticket. Later that day the second recruiter called me and got my information to do the credit check for the leasing company.

I called this Monday to check up on things and make sure everything was flowing the way it should and was set up for orientation in Decatur, GA and was brought up to speed on the actual L/P situation.


I wasn't approved through the 3rd party leasing company, and RR is holding a 2016 Volvo VNL 670 (woohoo I know how those work) with about 315k miles on it. Still under warranty for a while so that's a bit reassuring.

Tuesday was an off day for me contacting RR as I was getting things set up for me to leave with my other two businesses.

Today I called and got the skinny from Brad at the home office on a few things. 95% of loads in this division are linehaul, Terminal to Terminal. The other 5% are covered by the $95/month backhaul fee (optional). When booking a backhaul, RR only takes 5% of the load as you're already paying a trailer use fee each week.


The only hiccup so far (which has been resolved) is that when changing my license over from IL to MO, apparently the IL license shows as it is still active on the background check. I quick call to IL Secretary of State and having them fax a letter to RR has the issue fixed.



I'm sure there are many things I left out as it's 10:30 at night and I've been up since about 3 am this morning. Next post will detail Settlement deductions.

 

Deduction Detail:

Truck Payment: 800-600/ week depending on whether you go through third party lessor or RoadRunner Equipment Leasing

Physical Damage Insurance: $2.95 - $3.80 per $1,000 of value depending on year of tractor and deductible

Workman's Comp: $167/month

Cargo Insurance: Paid by RoadRunner

Non-Trucking Liability: $50/Month

Backhaul: $95/Month (optional)

ELD: $199 for the unit
$40 for a case for the unit
$40/month for the service

Plates: $50/week till paid for

Trailer Rental: $235/week

 

@D.Tibbitt I appreciate the words of encouragement and Plan on keeping this thread full of information for those curious about L/P in general, and RoadRunner specifically. Thank you for subscribing, and for anyone else that may stumble upon this, PLEASE, feel free to ask questions, I tend to omit stuff that I forget, but once a question comes up I immediately remember

 

That's to be seen, certainly the numbers aren't ideal as my operating cost is about 85cpm with all the deductions, but I plan on this being an educational thread, so snide comments aren't welcome here.

 

In a truly incredible turn of events, Roadrunner shut me down out of the blue. Plane Tickets were already purchased, Hotels were already booked. I received a call this morning at about 11:30 from wendy in recruiting to be told that after everything was already given the green light, safety was rejecting my application due to the 15mph speeding ticket in my PV.