The basics?? Maybe or maybe not...

One of the questions you asked.

this is an easy one, take the price of fuel (let's say $4.25) and divide by mpg your truck is getting (let's say 6.5). Fuel would be costing you (4.25/6.5) = $0.65/mile. Which is a pretty average amount these days, mine is actually $0.73/mile this quarter.

I think you are right that there are some guys who mismanage money, fail, and then complain about the company. But there are also plenty of guys who are bad at math, get into bad lease deals and think if they run hard enough they'll make money. There are also companies who set these lease deals up with no intention of helping you succeed.

Think about this, if a company has to pay a company driver per mile and also pay work comp ins., payroll tax, and possibly other benefits as well as make all the repairs on the truck they have to bid freight to account for those expenses plus enough to cover office personnel, etc... If they can get a lease operator to remove all the risk and all they have to do is cover office personnel out of their percentage it makes the math pretty easy for them, doesn't it ? Do they really have a motive to bid freight high enough for you to make money ? Not particularly so long as there are more drivers willing to sign the deal. People are bad at math, if you don't run all the numbers it's easy to think that just because you are getting $4,000 and $5,000 checks per week instead of $800 or $1000 there must be more profit in it. And people like the idea of "owning" a truck. Some guys will never really do the math to figure out if they are actually making more money than a company driver, and most guys it will take them a year or longer to realize it.

 

Lone Mountain truck leasing. You'll need a business plan and a company that will lease you on before you apply to them.

 

I know you said your credit wasn't all that right now, but why don't you just drive company, save like you intend to, and repair your credit and just buy your own truck? It would still be in the same time frame-ish depending on how much you save. However, there is a whole new set of "stuff" to consider in owning as opposed to leasing. Read up on that also. There is a lot of good info on this board, you just have to wade thru the other stuff to get to it.

 

I agree with this. Even driving for a year as a company driver will make it much more likely that you succeed in a lease arrangement. My personal experience has made this quite clear, and even though I questioned my decision to go company starting out, I'm now glad that I didn't start out leasing.

 

Don't lease a truck from anybody that will not allow you to pull the truck and take it to another company if the deal goes south for you. Most of them will not let you do this. Therefore, they control when and where you work, and when you say no, you have no income to pay for that truck and guess what, they just take it back because your name is never on the title from the get-go, and you can't do squat about it.

Now, this might be OK if you had been paying yourself the same (BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF) wage as the company had been paying you to drive THEIR truck all along the way. However, you may have been pouring all or most of the money earned in the truck while you are paying yourself barely enough to eat, and after 2 or 3 years the deal goes bad and the truck goes back to them. Now you have just wasted 2 or 3 years of your life and have what to show for it? Basicly nothing.

Like others have said, go and learn to drive and enjoy the scenery a bit. In the beginning you will (I was) in awe of how awesome the land really is. After a while, it is the same old stuff. But I still want to do it. This was my sign trucking was for me.

 

Oh yeah! Circumstances at home have kept me off the road for a bit. At first I was ok with it, but I find myself looking at all the trucks on the road wishing it was me more and more! So, I am taking the plunge again with a new, smaller company next week. Keeping my fingers crossed because the call of the road can't be ignored (even if it does sometimes lead into the northeast-LOL)!

 

I was told by a non-attorney that most of those captive lease clauses are not legal and are unenforceable. Anyone know for sure?

 

a captive lease is pretty much not enforceable.

to the OP.

you are developing a business, NOT buying a truck. First and foremost, GET THAT THROUGH YOUR HEAD. Every penny you spend WILL have a consequence, good or bad.

This is nothing more than a service industry. Learn it. Driving the truck is only 15% of the job. And Minor at that.

What do you know about the regs? Length laws, bridge laws, permits, etc. Do you know WHERE to go for this information?

How about tax laws as they pertain to the business? Are you going to run as a Sole Proprietor? S Corp? LLC? and why?

Do you understand what a Statement of Cashflow is? Profit and Loss Statement? Balance Sheet?

How about component service life? Maintenance intervals? cost benefit of recaps vs virgins?

Do you know who your competition is? How to write a business plan? Why is a business plan important? What is part of a business plan?

How do you get your IRP plate? IFTA? HVUT? Where do they get filed and for how much? When are they due?

Do you understand the fundamental difference of an equipment lease vs an equipment loan? The benefits of one over the other? Amortized Interest?

SE Tax? Quarterly filings and when due?


Do you even understand half of what I just typed?