Theres got to be a good lease program

I got mine in Arizona as well. Right now Arizona has a state economic stimulus so there's no sales tax on mine either.

That's why Schneider and other people moved there.

You need credit as well. If your credit is bad, forget it.

There's a guy in Phoenix called Michael Most Trucking.

He may make you a deal. He does a super regional out of Phoenix.

 

save up your money then buy a truck

 

For a down payment you need to borrow money? You now owe me a keyboard for the one destroyed by me spitting out my coffee! I am going to sound like a broken record here and tell you exactly why. AFTER you purchase your truck, buy the tags, pay 2290, and insurance. You will NEED a MINIMUM of $20k in cash reserves. Case in point, I purchased a truck from a private seller, Paid my 20% down, made the first 2 payments, plus the $500 origination fee ($6k total), paid my IRP, 2290, and insurance (another $2,200). That was nearly $9k BEFORE I pulled a single load leased on to a carrier. Well my "Well maintained" truck cost me an additional $12,000 in repairs/maintenance in the first 3 months. We are talking nearly $21,000 in expenditures in 90 days out of the savings.
I purchase a new to me truck or trailer roughly every 90 days, I will be adding my next power unit and trailer again around August. Guess what, unless I have nearly $20k set aside again for that combo I will not even think about making a purchase. This is no joke out here, you had better have your #### together.
You want to get in on this game? you had better know how to hustle, I can guarantee you that even a brand new truck will cost you the same or more. People hate me because I am honest, I will not lie to you or anyone else. If you are not able to save up $10k for a down and the additional $20k for everything else, do not even think about getting into this business.
You will fail.

 

if you you do tankers I have a few

 

You do need money and credit to be successful. The repair bills are astronomical
For used trucks unless your a mechanic or really good friends with an independent shop that’s honest.

 

if you really don't want to own a truck but want to be a owner operator (just call yourself one ) then go ahead and lease a truck from a carrier you still have someone tell you where to go and tell you what to do and when but he will say you are a owner operator. ...... now if you want to really be a owner operator and.. you need to borrow a down payment you won't be successful in the real oops world anyways .... it's really better to have the maintenance $$ up front but if you're lucky for a couple of months you can get buy but you need to have some luck and hold most of your money back till you get the 20000 or 30000 you should have in there I started with my first truck with about 1500 for maintenance after the down payment but I got lucky and didn't have any major issues .. I think sometimes a lease might be better to start with and some Warranty is nice heard good and bad about stone Mountain but that's an option to check out .... I think it's a whole lot safer to lease on to a carrier at first as some of the initial expenses like permits insurance can be deducted weekly out of your settlements if you want to pick and choose your own loads go to landstar or Schneider if you just wanted miles just about any body can give you that ( better to work smarter than harder but to each his own ) you can make a profit of 1500 on 3000 miles or make a profit of 3000 on 1500 miles .... you have to start looking at the most net profit from the least amount of work you just need a little different mindset. ..I don't think it's a great thing to try to start off with your own authority unless you have a lot of cash reserves if you are on a shoe string and get a slow/no pay it can put you out of business quick ... would be ok if you wanted but after you get established and isn't necessary to make good $ and when you are talking a new truck with the factory warranty it's nice but a newer truck is usually in the shop more than an older truck and it seems like any warranty work the truck is in the shop for a week or more and the big payments still keep coming in ... I seem to have my best luck with trucks with 250oo0 to 450000 miles on them I got plenty of $ for maintenance so I don't pay extra for a warranty but maybe that's something for you to think about

 

Did you really just put landstar and schneider in the same sentence? Put the crack pipe down.

But everything else you said is pretty darn solid.

 

lol actually I have been leased to landstar for over 2 years and I am not going anywhere ... I think it's better than Schneider. .... but haven't worked there so giving them the benifit of the doubt lol .... from what I've gathered the main difference between the two is Schneider is all on computer you click on a load and it's yours and landstar you call an agent if you see a load you wanted ..plus at landstar works kinda on the good o boy system where quite a few good loads never make it to the load board .... nothing wrong with that and you can't blame an agent from going with the people he knows he can count on .. I think networking is the pc term ... I use the load board for half or more of my loads and usually have 2 or 3 loads booked ahead and when I am going to an area I know who to call and a lot of the time they know that they have a load coming out and don't know enough details to put it on the board but will just call me on it when they have the details ..... sounds like Schneider is impersonal way to click your own loads .... they must not have brookered loads .... and Schneider has a lot of company trucks and don't like that ...... and last I knew they haul a lot of groceries tmfal ..... too much fcking around loads lol ... landstar doesn't have any company trucks (some agents do have trucks that are leased to landstar ) and I think landstar has better paying loads ... and I really don't want to pull around an orange trailer. ... and it's too cold in green Bay ... to me I don't think I want my own authority and go that route don't think you net any more money in the long run ..... unless you are a pumpkin puller lol

 

You will never get a straight answer on this subject from most on here. It's very simple. All you need is a pencil, paper and a calculator. if you know your "real" potential, non pie-in-the-sky, revenue as well as all your expenses to include your maintenance reserve and what amount you will pay yourself. If you can honestly see that you can meet "all" of your weekly financial obligations, then it's a good deal for "you." It's not complicated. The failures and horror stories come after someone without experience listens to a recruiter or someone on this page and not do his/her due diligence. Some of you guys make this subject way more complicated than it should be

 

If you lease a truck from your carrier ..the only way you will ever own that truck is to stay with that carrier the length of the lease ....how many drivers stay with a carrier 3 to 4 yrs just those numbers put the odds against you . There are many great companies or deals to lease your truck on to there is not one that is worth the risk of leasing a truck from .