Trying to get a truck , need some advice

Common lease purchase scams:

Tire funds. They will charge you so much per mile and put it in a tire fund, HOWEVER, you cannot decide when and where that money is spent. Some times, they will pull the tires off a company truck and put them on lease trucks and charge new tire prices.

Maintenance funds. If you are driving a company truck and when you pull on the yard, some tech can go through your truck, what happens to the lease guys is, when that tech goes through his truck and decides you truck needs something, they will raid your maintenance account without your consent. This is what usually make lease drivers walk away.They wipe $7000 out of your maintenance account without telling you. And if you walk away, they’re going to go after everything in the maintenance account.

Weekly truck payment. You will pay a premium price for the truck, but get garbage loads to where you will realize that you are making, if everything goes well, exactly the same money you were making as a company schmuck. Lots of breakdowns and shop time (beancounter tune, remember?) company schmuck still gets paid, you don’t.

 

I would think a trucking company with a fleet can get a bigger fuel discount than a 1 truck owner. If the company is making money operating the truck, and their costs per truck are lower than costs for a 1 truck operation, the company wouldn't allow driver to buy those trucks, the company would keep operating them and take the profit.

IMO, the company is trying to unload trucks, before the maintenance costs really begin, to inexperienced owners who may not recognize a bad deal from a good deal. Lots of trucking companies take advantage of first-time owners' enthusiasm and hope to make more money. It may not be a good idea to buy a truck from the company that also assigns loads and dispatches drivers. Imagine someone wanting a job at McDonald's and McD telling that job applicant "why don't you buy the cash register, counter space from McD Corp and you can have all of the revenue left over after you pay all of the expenses." You can dream about making lots of money, much more than as an hourly employee, but that doesn't mean you will make as much revenue as you are hoping.

Do you have experience operating a business before this opportunity? Are you assuming that once you start paying for the truck expenses you will always have as much work as you want? My guess is you are obligated to pay all of the truck expenses but the company is NOT obligated to give you enough work to pay the bills and keep more than your current paycheck. Used car lots are full of "opportunities" but that doesn't mean every "opportunity" is a good deal.

 

I have always said that a lease purchase is a glorified company driver. You take all the risk and all the expense, and the lease always favors the company, and most don't make it. There are a few here that have made it. Lastly the rates are still cheep, guys that have been doing it for awhile,and know what they are doing are making it, but a lot of owner operators are hurting.

 

One thing I would really think about.
If you’re out on the road and get empty and there’s 1or 2 Co. trucks around close, who is going to get the best loads?
Just something to think about!

 

Monthly Fixed Cost - $4,100.00
Monthly Fuel cost - $9,230.00 running 4,000 miles a week getting 6.5 MPG using 615 Gallons @ $3.75 a gallon
Monthly Driver Pay - $4,000.00 You have to pay yourself and or your driver ( This is conservatively low) a hired driver will not work in reefer world for a grand a week
Monthly Maint & Fix fund $4,000.00 (minimum)

I have left off other cost such as equipment depreciation, taxes, cell phone, load board access and so on

So you have to gross a minimum of $21,000.00 per month/$5,250.00 a week before you see a profit. And by your own admittance you have to cheat the system to make money...think long and hard about this.

 

Yep exactly. There's no money in this way for the guy driving the truck and in the lease but there's a never ending line of guys willing to sign up giving it a go. They're charging back almost $2,000 a month for him to pull the trailer! They can't just take that out of their regular cut whatever that is? Wow, awful generous of them to have their lease purchase drivers making payments on their brand new trailers! Some numbers have been posted but as always the most important ones are left out. Rates? How much income can you make? Doesn't matter. We all know why that top secret info is never put out there by lease purchase companies. Because it's a joke and would ruin the dream. And for the fifth or 6th time it's worth mentioning again 500,000 miles is the end of the profitable use of fleet trucks. They're 500k mile money pits that all look great when washed, cleaned and polished.

 

All you have to do is illegally change your log books, get lucky with maintenance, compete against your employer for loads, and run 6,000 miles a week to maybe possibly sorta do better?