The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

When you say slider do you mean glider? It looks to me like you really like Paccar trucks. Have you looked at what you could do if you went Freightliner, or say an International 9400? Here's my point I did a lease/purchase on this Cascadia that I'm in almost 4 years ago. The price with an apu already on it was $75,000 and the odometer showed 240,000 miles. I now have a truck that is almost paid off and when it is paid off will only have about 670,000-680,000 miles on it. In short I should have 1-2 years to save money before I need to think about a rebuild. What I have noticed is that Freightliner trucks tend to be less expensive, have more parts in stock and less downtime when in the shop. I want to make as much money as I can while spending the least amount that I can.

I know there are plenty who would disagree with me, but I got into this to make money, not drive my dream truck. I would expand my search to include trucks with fewer miles and fewer dollars. Here is an example of what I'm talking about: http://www.truckpaper.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=5133179

Truck paper lists a lot of trucks which is why you need to start with a business plan and have some numbers so that you know how much truck you can afford. Don't start with the truck and then attempt to build a business to fit the truck. Your goal should be to have a business long after you have said good-bye to your first truck. (Although my daughter has informed me that the Blue Lemon is never to be sold even if we retire her.)

 

Yep, it was supposed to be glider. Stupid auto correct got me on this phone.

Don't get me wrong, im not looking into this to have a luxery work truck....
I have 3 criteria for consideration, mpg, quality, and condition.
I want to find these criteria to be as favorable as I can possibly can find.

But this is just one consideration. And that's why I want to find my payment no higher than 200/week. I would then plan to escrow into a separate account on my own, the same amount for a repair/rebuild/replace account.

This is just off the top of my head. Also on a side note, that Peterbuilt Dealer just lost all future prospects of my business for life...whatever the value if that turns out to be.

Most likely, I will strictly aim for
a 30-40k priced truck, while saving up 25% for down payment, plus jump start to repair account.

So how do I get there from here? Probably in two years. Save up tax returns and anything I can scrape by, plus maybe take up the chance to train if offered.

 

On a background note, ny previous life was one of a student, studying to become a CPA. I made it to my last year. Lost my chance to finish.

So cost/benefit analysis is nothing new to me. I guess what I really do need, is a good set of specs to look for, favorable model/makers, good years and bad.

I would be perfectly fine if the functionality would be close to what i already drive.

I did check out the yellow freightliner you posted. It would be acceptable if I were ready.

 

I spent over a year preparing. One of the things I did was track my company truck just like it was my own. Here is a thought, if you have the patience and discipline put the same money into savings that they will take out for maintenance. That would be $.06 on all dispatched miles. If you do that you would put about $6,000 a year away for the future. 12 grand in the bank should get you a pretty good starter truck. Keep in mind that used prices really fluctuate. The trucks I'm seeing in the $40-50 range were about 10-15 grand less a few months ago. If you hit the market just as fleets start turning trucks in the market becomes flooded and it is a buyers market.

My background is in what the SBA would call micro business, but most of us consider small business. The type of thing where you own and run the business and have the occasional one or two employees to help. This trucking thing is the first one to really have some legs to it and now I can look at expansion.

 

My credit is worse than bad, I know that will effect my chances of going to a dealer, but if I put a larger down payment down is that possible?

 

Highly unlikely, and even if they did the interest would kill you. That's where I don't understand where some guys say "You'll buy two or three trucks by the time you pay the lease payments". It's like these guys forget banks charge interest. It's easier to get in and out of a lease arrangement. Bank note? You're stuck unless you sell the truck quick, and you need great credit and a high down payment.

 

Very good point

 

I'm not saying you should never do a lease from the carrier you haul for. I'm just saying it should be your last option and you need to be very careful about what truck you get. If you get payments over $500 a week it is going to be very difficult to make any money. There is a reason I let you guys see my year end settlement statements for the last 3 years. Start with a business plan that has some realistic numbers, that will tell you how much truck you can afford and then start looking for the truck and a way to purchase it, or lease it. I ended up paying about the same amount on my truck as I would have in a traditional loan, the only difference is that I haven't had the title and I haven't been able to take the truck elsewhere to this point.

Keep in mind it is possible to start a business with credit cards. It's not a good idea, but it has been done. The point is that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

 

The bank is not going to pull a violation out of thin air, negate the deal, keep all your escrow money and reclaim your truck to pawn off to another sucker!

Those horror stories are out there! I would agree that there's probably more to the story than gets posted online here or other drivers are willing to admit when they're talking to you face-to-face but horror stories are horror stories! Obviously something went wrong on one side of the aisle or the other!

As long as you're making the payments the bank is going to leave you alone! They don't care about DOT or any other violation that might cause you to forfeit your lease status and the monies that go with it! The banks are governed by a whole different set of laws and rules as opposed to lease with option to own trucking companies!

Trucking companies that lease trucks have no incentive to let you finish that lease!

They have every incentive to find a way to cause you to violate the lease, get the money that you have put in and then turn around and lease it to the next starry eyed driver who thinks there's some glory in being an owner operator! You are totally at the mercy of the company that may or may not be a moral place to work for. God help you if they're not! I'm not saying that Roehl transport is like that but there are some stories out there though that soil their image! Given all the anti-driver decisions they made the last 2 to 3 years it's anyone's guess if that's how they will treat lessors in the future. I'm sure if we heard both sides of the story it might look a little different but sadly I suspect that Roehl is going down the road that other less trustworthy companies have gone. I would have trusted them in a lease 4-5 years ago but not anymore!

 

The key is the contract. If you get your truck from Roehl you actually sign 2 leases. The first is with Roehl Leasing LLC and that is where you lease the truck from Roehl. The biggest gotcha in that lease is that you have to lease the truck with Roehl Transport LLC and cannot take it to another carrier. This lease doesn't change during it's entire term.

The second lease is where you agree to haul freight for Roehl Transport. This lease is automatically renewed yearly and that is also the point that they can change it. Your option is to accept the changes, or leave. Also either party can terminate the contract with a 72 hour notice. This is where you run the risk of losing your lease truck. In the end I'm proof that it can work, but it is a dance with the Devil and you need to wear a flame-retardant suit.

Let me point out something else about these deals. There are some companies that make a lot of money by re-leasing, but for companies such as Swift, Roehl, Schneider and some others their main income comes from delivering freight. These lease deals are a way to dispose of trucks that they do not want for some reason. In my case they put the Blume Cascadias out for lease because at that time they didn't want to deal with all the parts and different maintenance issues that came with those trucks. I was a year into the lease before they started looking at them as company trucks. When I first got my truck they didn't even know what the 5th wheel should look like when it was properly locked.