Those that need/want to Fleece Purchase from a carrier

I have successfully paid off my so called fleece truck, 2 as a matter of fact. Why didn't i do traditional financing?. I didn't have credit, not bad credit just no credit. Never bought things on credit . I have flexibility to take trk anywhere i like for repairs. Buy fuel where i want and have no governor on trk. I even ordered this last trk the way i wanted it specs color etc. Did i have bumps along the way? Yes. I learned from them and moved on. Not every company is out to screw the driver. But the individual has a lot to do with the success or failure of l/p deals. My interest rate was only 3% and trk payment was 522 a week for 208 weeks. For a kw t660 with studio sleeper and all the bells and whistles. Interest less than traditional financing. So to all the nay sayers what's wrong with that?. Yes i do all maintenance myself.

 

Sounds like there are a couple of success stories out there for LP deals.
So, instead of making folks guess, why not tell people what company IS doing it to where the driver wont lose his butt?? May as well tell everyone what they pay, what they require for escrow, maintenance fund, and so on too. Referral bonus' could be coming to the folks who fill in the blanks.
IIRC, no one has out and out said that XYZ Company is a FAIR place to do a LP arrangement, reason for that?

Martin

 

So, is Prime one of these good companies? Years ago when I completed Training with them, my Trainer who by then had completed I believe 2 leases and was on his third, highly recommended I, as a Solo driver, go the lease route. What do you current or former Prime Lease drivers say?

 

Because it just sounds like Fleace advertizing, more arguments, etc...and I definately do not want to get accused of that.

Personally, I think ANYONE thats going to get serious about running a truck on the thin profit line of a L/p, should educate themselves well in what is actually out there. Doing this will reveal the good vs bad, as well as give a person a better chance of sucess. My advice,...Get some L/p contracts up front to read from a few companies,...If they will not let you do this,..walk away,...Abruptly,...and move on.

 

Here is a list of some of the things to avoid the most...

Any deal where you pay based on the miles driven. These are the worst of them all, but sadly the most inviting to newbies.

Any lease where the term, interest rate, truck payment, and/or final asking price is not set in stone.

Any lease that does not have a clearly defined payment schedule.

Any lease that does not have a total asking price for the truck.

Any company that does not give 100% of collected fuel surcharge back to its owner-ops, or that does not provide fuel surcharge. This will put you out of business fast.

Any company that does not offer a fuel surcharge that is fairly close to the current average going rates.

Any lease that has no defined 'cap' on maintenance or other escrow account withholdings.

Any lease that does not allow you to pay off the truck early relative to what you owe.

Any lease where the interest rate is high compared to the interest rates of other sellers.

Any lease where the asking price, before interest, for the truck is higher than what the truck would sell for in a truck sales magazine.

Any company that does not allow you to take the lease-purchase agreement to someone else for a second opinion.

Any lease that forbids you having upgrades or improvements done to the truck to improve its fuel economy and/or lower its operating costs. It is ok for them to have an 'Undo' clause if you fail your lease, but limiting you from improvements is like saying that you aren't allowed to make a bigger profit. This defeats the entire reason for owning the truck in the first place.

Any lease that limits who does PM and/or repair work to your truck, especially if you are willing to pay for that work yourself out of your own pocket.

Any lease that has large penalties for missing a truck payment.

Any lease that has a lot of long term administration fees.

Any lease that does not guarantee you a free and clear title to your truck at its end, especially if you are willing to make your 'Balloon' payment.

Any lease that forces you to pay for a truck warranty, or that forces you to have all work done at the company shop. This is typically a scam to keep taking back the money you have earned from them already.

Stay well away from companies that try to put students or rookie drivers into brand new, or fairly new equipment as lease-purchase operators. These are definitely slave labor companies.
Run like hell as fast as you can away from companies that push their lease-operators to trade their truck back in and start over at the end of the lease. Not only will you end up perpetually leasing, but you will never have a truck to show for it.
Stay away from companies that take fuel taxes out of your settlement pay based on 'Average' or 'fleet wide' rates. If you are going to be dumb enough to sign on with a company that makes you pay fuel taxes, then be absolutely sure you only pay fuel tax based on YOUR individual fuel purchases only. If you get really good fuel mileage, and the rest of the fleet does not, then you will end up paying taxes on their bad driving habits.

 

I see nothing wrong in educating the interested parties about the best LP deals out there, unless there are things to hide.
If you have the PROOF that you got compensated well, didn't get ripped off, I see no harm in it. What is the difference in your "advertising" that company for being good, vs someone asking what ABC is like and being told that they are good?
Here I'll start it for you....
I am leased to Midwest Specialized out of Mn. Haul oversize stuff, last year averaged $2.44 on all my hub miles, and ran @30-40% of those miles empty. Been with them for @9yrs, and on my third truck while being leased to them. No, they dont lease trucks, but they take guys who have their trucks already.
There, I started it for you. So if anyone is to get whined at, it's going to be me not you.
Mind, I pay my own fuel taxes too, so I must be dumb?
Got to watch those blanket statements bud. If I am willing to admit that there may be a couple of good LP deals out there, I see no reason for anyone to call me dumb because I actually pay my own fuel taxes, instead of the company I am leased to automatically taking them out of everyones paycheck. Believe me, you are paying fuel taxes in one form or another, I just get compensated more for what I do vs someone that gets their hand held and told they have no fuel taxes to pay etc.

Martin

 

Does making lease payments give you good credit? Does your company report to credit bureaus or "whoever" makes for individuals gaining good credit, that you're making your payments regularly and on time? It appears that you've paid off two leases and if they're like your third with a duration of 4 years each, I'd think that you would have really REALLY good credit by now, having made 416 weekly payments total, covering the first two trucks! Originally, you didn't use traditional financing. Now, if your company allows you to buy your own truck, you can, right?

If you have gained good credit by now, and for those who establish good credit by successfully completing a lease, I'd think you all could possibly go buy your own trucks and do even better than the leases you've been successfully completing. $522 x 208 weeks equals $108,000. If your company cycles a lot of trucks through their lease program, they're probably buying that t660 pretty inexpensively at their fleet rate. Your company buys that t660 for maybe $100k or less, gets it back from you in four years after receiving $100k principle from you, and maybe the truck has 500k miles on it or so. So they're at least broken even now and can resell that still nice and loaded (all the bells and whistles) t660 for maybe $40,000 (comparing prices on trucktrader)? Really good deal for them to lease to you cause they make good money on the back end, and good deal for you because you keep leasing from them over and over so you must be making money. MIGHT be better to buy your own next time, either through your company IF need be, or from a dealer... Then you make good money on the back end too, or keep driving the truck beyond four years with no more payment!

Most companies who sponsor lease programs would probably like you all to get into and remain in the cycle of leasing trucks over and over... Instead of getting caught in this cycle, maybe lease one truck, if you don't have good credit. However, if during that first lease, you do gain good credit, utilize it if your company will allow you, take advantage of it the next time! If you've been able to operate profitably during that first lease, next time buy your own truck! If you can buy it through your company and they are a business PARTNER and want to help you succeed, maybe they'll give you a discount buying the truck from them below what you'd have to pay for it from a dealer. Then pay the sucker off and keep it!

The company won't lose out. From what I know of Prime's lease program as of a few years ago, drivers re-upping time after time after time for new leases, becomes a badge of honor for drivers: "I've completed three leases! How many have you done?" And it seems like I remember that Prime makes it slightly more advantageous for a driver each time they re-up for a new lease. There'll still be plenty of drivers besides you who are willing to continue to make a company's lease program successful and especially profitable for the company!

Is it as simple as what I've layed out? I don't experientially know anything about it. Just trying to do the math and apply some logic...

 

then I will get brave as well,...I do in fact haul 53-foot dry-van, bottom of the barrel 'Cheap Freight' and proud of it, no doubt,..Definately not going to make the average joe rich, but I squeese EVERY dime i can get out of it, and am good at that. My profits are not so much from the per mile pay, but mainly from the fact that my expenses are so low. I don't have to pay for much of anything. The Diff between pay vs expenses is pretty decent for a larger carrier. Can I make more elsewhere?,..Definately, but that would include more headaches and things to keep up with. I just don't want to have to deal much more than driving and maintaining my truck.

Lets see here,...

They will sign on trucks into their O/o program as long as they qualify,...
No age limit, but needs to be cal. compliant because they run all 48 states.
Short wheelbase, because its required by many of their customers
Looks half decent
can carry 45k in dry-van without being overweight.

I am NOT force dispached at all, and can go/do anything I want to with the truck when not connected to one of their trailers.

I could have signed the truck onto ANY other carrier or company I wanted to while I was making payments. I had to pay a 10k deposit if I wanted to do this, but there were no fees or penalties if I had done so. Matter of fact, I found out that there are quite a few carriers that will front the 10k for you to move over to them.

They gave me the L/p contract, and the O/o agreement, witch were seperate agreements, and told me to spend a few days looking it over, suggesting I have our family lawyer look at it as well, to ensure it was what I wanted. Their lease is/was NOT a walk-away lease. They want you to be responsible about it, and not take it lightly. On the other hand, they do not want the truck back either. They want you to finish it, keep the truck, and hopefully, keep driving for them with it.

The used trucks they offer so far, all I have seen, are equal to magazine pricing, but there is NO interest on them. Price is set in stone, so you know exaxtly what you will be paying for. They will also buy outright, a truck for you that you find from an outside source, dealer, etc. and lease it to you if it qualifies their O/o program.

You can do what you want to with the truck, no govenor, etc. no limits, upgrades are ok, as long as it passes D.O.T., cal., etc. and still qualifies their O/o program. You do have to get approval for large murals or decals tho. If you fail the lease however, they will charge you to undo anything that lowered the trucks worth. More than fair if you ask me.

They try to filter out drivers they do not think are capable of leasing, and will not lease to new/student drivers.


0.92c/mile, ALL practicle miles empty (Even empty miles to/from the house) and loaded + 0.06c/mile for 2 drivers having HAZMAT = 0.98c/mile
FSC this week (goes up and down with going rates) = 0.41c/mile

== 1.39/mile.

Deep discount on fuel because its a large fleet. as much as .78-80c/gallon at some places, but can be as little as 0.30c/gallon = reduced fuel cost.

Deep discount on ALL truck parts including Tires everywhere I went. Less than half price.

Flat rate of $65.00/hr on labor if I wanted to use company shop, but was not obligated to (I only used them once to fix a air leak I couldn't find myself. They changed an entire 4-point solenoid assy, and its base, costing me $115.00 total w/labor).

Company pays 100% of the following...
IFTA/fuel-taxes
All Permits
Tags & valorums
Tolls
Scale tickets
lumpers
Parking fees
etc...

I paid while still making lease payments...
$5.00/week prepass-easypass-pikepass-sunpass, all are covered in one fee. They pay all tolls.
qualcomm rental = $17.00/week (comes with full qualcomm warranty and free repairs at all thermoking facilities)
Insurance on 2 people AND the bobtail truck = $97.00/week for both (went down, used to be $127.06)
$413.29/week truck payment for a 2011 prostar/ISX-15. Got it Brand New, had 13 miles on Odo.
0.05c/mile into maint. escro, capped at $5,000, then nothing.

I generaly ran 7 weeks out (by choice), one week off for 2 years, averaging 186,756 miles last year as a team w/wife. I do not like to work too many miles a week. I like my weekly resets and time with wife. I could have easily run more miles if I wanted to.

I get good fuel mileage, combined w/ discount = Fuel Cost/mile = 0.441c for the year.

here is a link to EVERY one of my settlement sheets for last year while making truck payments. That will give someone a laugh I think...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/153727783/pay-2012


here is the company I am still hapily an O/o for. they have been good to all the owner-ops, but I cannot vouch for their company drivers, or how they are paid/treated. I hear good and bad about them.

http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/companysnapshot.aspx

put in the code 273818

I have seen them pay for very expensive repairs on more than one occasion to help drivers get going again after like say 'Hitting a deer', and things like this. Good profitable drivers, they go out of their way to help.

Do ppl fail their lease program?,... Yes,...Why?,...they have no business sense, and cannot manage fuel and repair costs on their own, running off to the nearest dealer whenever a light comes on in their dash, and driving 80+ miles an hour all day.

 

Good on ye!
Sounds like you did pretty good there as a team.
So, one question for the majority of the folks who consider this deal, would it be as good for a solo driver? I know that some companies are great for teams, bad for solo's, and vise versa.
Anyone else can feel free to brag on a company that did them right, recruiting bonus may be in the balance!
Like myself and Rawze though, dont just give some basic "I love my LP deal", but details.

Martin

 

To answer the question: It's hill bros in omaha. Several threads on here about there l/p program. They pay tolls, prepass, maintenance escrow is up to you the amt you set aside, you get fuel surcharge based on doe fuel prices. Every tues they notify you the fuel surcharge rate. Plates, 2290, insurance, is on you. They pay all permits, they pay fuel surcharge on all mi. Everything is outlined in l/p contract. I do believe contract is on the web site. Is it easy no!, you must pay attention to costs. If you choose to do it and take a used trk they will repair anything mechanical on trk you identify as long as it's a valid request. Tires and brakes will be 50% or better. If not they will replace them. You do get a discount on parts and fuel. Sometimes fuel discount is 20-30 cents off pump prices but average around 10-15 cents. Everything is listed in contract payment schedules and etc. They will support you but they won't hold your hand. If trk is in shop for a extended time for repairs they will generally take the payment and fixed expenses and move it to end of contract.