Lease purchase

[night_rider_06]

Hi,
Can anybody please give me info about becoming a lease/purchase operator? I've gone over the details with a company, but most of the information I do not understand. Will I really make good money leasing a truck? Or will I lose my you know what.

 

[guest]

You can try Pat and Tim Hopkins Out of Ohio, they have trucks on with FedEx Custom Critical. Pat and Tim are good people and I know they Do a lease purchase for drivers. Hope this helps

Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/1/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[Blondie n Dag]

We are currently doing a lease/purchase agreement. Some months the money is great and others you just pay the bills.(Depends on the amount of loads you do and time off you take.) Its is a good idea to have some money in savings to help with the unforseen things that will come up. Depending on your lease/purchase agreement, you maybe responsible for paying all costs involved in operating the truck plus a percentage of the trucks income. You don't want to get in over your head with a big truck payment or something that might nickle and dime you to death. Before we decided to do a lease/purchase program we drove for an O/O. We kept track of all the repairs, maint.,fuel, tolls, asked the O/O how much insurance, qualcomm, prepass, truck pymt, base plate, yearly hwy and fuel tax were. We took the amount that the truck had made for the year, subtracted a percentage of the trucks income and all the expenses and then saw what we were left with. You will have to decide if it is worth it for you. However if you are not understanding how the company lease/purchase agreement works DO NOT AGREE to anything. I have heard horror stories about drivers not being able to cover expenses and end up owing more than they make a month to the lessor. Not many make it to the end of a lease/purchase agreement so make sure that you understand what you are getting into from the start. Good Luck!

 

[davekc]

Excellent advice. I as well have seen few of these ever go to term.






Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[night_rider_06]

Thanks to Blondie and Dag, Dave and all of you for your advice.
I have drove for several companies as a company driver and to be honest, I have not found a company that tells the whole truth yet. And i'm sick and tired of not being the one in the drivers seat, if you catch my drift. This is why I have decided to become a lease/operator. I have tried team driving and after my experience with my co-driver I literally threw him out of my truck within 2 weeks. He nearly killed us 4 times in one week! I trust my driving, and have never had an accident. It's all about common sense. Anyway I'm going to try this lease/purchase to see for myself. It is a no-fault walk away lease, so hopefully I have nothing to lose.
Thanks again!

 

[RichM]

Jeff , if you are going to run as a solo driver it might be very difficult to come up with the payments each month. The HOS rules and mileage limitations that affect a solo driver severely limit your income.

 

[night_rider_06]

Rich,
Thanks for your response. The lease/purchaase that I'm thinking of doing is designed for a solo driver. It is a six month lease with the option to walk away at anytime, or I can renew the lease every six months or go for a 3 year lease. Naturally i'm going to try the six month lease first to get a feel for it and see how much money it makes me. Also because of my credit this company does not do a credit check nor do they require any money down. They pay for base, tolls, scales, and the bobtail insurance and other insurance required amounts to about 270.00 a month. The truck payments are automatically deducted along with insurance, and fuel before I recieve any money. The company also takes out .05 cpm for a maintenance escrow to pay for repairs. And if i choose I can add any amount to that escrow. The money I have left in escrow along with any money I have personally saved up can go to purchase the truck at the end of the lease. I'm still not sure about all of this but being another company driver is not an option for me so it's either this or I plan on getting out of trucking, as much as I love to drive.

 

[TheGoodGuy]

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you want to be in the drivers seat as far as ownership goes, save your cash and buy a truck....If thats not feasible, then your chances of suceeding in business are abysmal. If you own your own truck, you are a business owner first, and driving the truck will be just one of the hats you will be wearing. I would suggest a new line of work, preferably one that won't be exposing your assets,(if you have any), to risk.

Lease purchase equals "set up for failure", PERIOD.......

God Bless America

 

[night_rider_06]

Goodguy,
Have you already done the lease/purchase deal? If so please explain why it is a failure. I never made much money as a company driver, mostly because of very poor dispatching. The dispatchers had no idea how to trip plan and always seem to think I was driving a jet aircraft when the company truck was governed at 65mph. When you trip plan you never go by how fast your truck will go because you will never average that speed. Also I didn't like the forced dispatched that comes with being a company driver, yes some companies advertise they have no forced dispatch, but when you turn down that one run you either can't make or do not want to make your miles are cut dramatically. I've played the company driver game long enough.
Thanks.

 

[ATeam]

>Hi,
>Can anybody please give me info about becoming a
>lease/purchase operator? I've gone over the details with a
>company, but most of the information I do not understand.
>Will I really make good money leasing a truck? Or will I
>lose my you know what.

Your words, "...but most of the information I do not understand." are a huge red flag. Stop now and think hard about what you are saying. Would you advise a good friend of yours to enter into an agreement he or she does not understand? This is the time to be your own best friend, not your own worst enemy.

 

[LDB]

The first, second and third rules of lease purchase are You do not lease/purchase from the same company that loads/dispatches the vehicle. It is a well known scam in OTR companies to lease a truck to a guy and keep him moving fairly well so he makes payments and keeps rolling then near the end to quit running him so he has to turn in the truck and walk away. The truck is then scammed, I mean leased, to the next sucker who comes along.

It sounds as if your background is 53' OTR driving not expediting. Those are two different worlds. You mentioned poor dispatch and trip planning. That is fairly rare with a good expediting company. They will dispatch you based on a reasonable speed like 47mpg or thereabouts. You still won't make it sometimes when you get caught in a 12 mile backup for a fatality accident or such but they will adjust times as needed.

I strongly urge you to reconsider until you can study enough to fully understand the lease purchase process. Drive for an expedite owner/operator for a few months to learn the expedite business. During that time read and research l/p arrangements. Talk to all the drivers you run across and see if any of them are doing a similar thing and if so how it's going and how it's set up. Don't dive in when you don't know the depth and can't see the bottom, it's a potentially paralyzing move. Good luck to you.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 4958, 5447
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[Streakn1]

Everyone thus far has given you excellent advise. Take it to heart. As for the walk away lease you mentioned, that is an clue. The lease holder in many cases is hoping you do exactly that. Afterall, they get their truck paid for (by you) for 6 months or whatever, you on the other hand loose all you've invested. Sure, you dont get your credit ruined if you turn the truck in.

Bottom line is you should never go into a lease/purchase until you know without a doubt you can see it all the way through. Also, find a reputable small fleet owner to do the lease through, stay away from the large company lease programs if you can. Most importantly, once you decide on a deal do yourself a huge favor, ask for a blank copy of the lease. Tell your future lease holder you plan to have your attorney look the it over before you sign the lease. Spend $100-$200 to pay a business lawyer to advise you regarding the way the lease has been written. He/she will tell you if your interest are protected or if its a scam. If the lease holder is not comfortable with you taking a copy of their lease to your attorney, then these are definately not the people you want to trust and do business with!!! Good luck.

 

[night_rider_06]

I would just like to thank all of you for your advice. You have made some really good points that I should check out. I have backed out of the lease twice with the same company, mostly due to my gut feelings. Perhaps I should just go back to being a company driver but i'm so reluctant to do so because of the lies they tell as well.
Anyway thanks again to all of you out there!

 

[Moot]

Leo is absolutely right with his three rules of lease purchasing. There is an old saying: "Never lease from the man with the strings in his hand."


Many truckload companies in 1970's and 1980's made more money moving drivers through trucks than they did moving freight. If you want to do the company driver thing again try a smaller or medium size carrier. You should be able to find an honest company.

 

[tec1959]

Jeff i think your with the wrong company,You said disp don't disp you in the right way.You said your have other problems also,I'd fine me a company i like and trust and an O/O to work with and then maybe find a O/O that may lease you a truck,But i think you will need to run as a team to make money....

 

[romoore245]

Seems like these days you could make as much driving for an honest fleet owner as you could leaseing a truck. We almost signed a lease once with Exepidite Solutions out of IN it was a nitemare. They wanted 2000 a month plus 15% of gross off the top plus all weekly fees imangable, then I was told "Just sign the lease, and I will fill the numbers in later." I had worked for them a year and had counted at least 2000 they had shorted my pay, but the lease offer was the last staw, we quit that day. Any time you sign an agreement for a length of time its like saying you can rob me for this long. With fuel cost rising there are a lot of fleet owners offering fair deals just to keep their trucks rolling. Most compainies can tell you what fleet owners they deal with and how much turnover each has.
Good Luck...

 

[night_rider_06]

romoore,
Thanks for the advice. It is very hard to find a company driver position that pays more than 31 to 37cpm. I've even been paid as much as .40cpm and still didn't bring home much money because the companies that pay good give you fewer miles so they don't lose their butts.

 

[night_rider_06]

Thanks tech1959,
I have ran teams in the past, it's hard to find a driver that i'm willing to put my life in their hands. I only trust my own instincts when it comes to driving. Also because i'm a single father with custody of my son I won't stay out for more than 14 days. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

>Thanks tech1959,
>I have ran teams in the past, it's hard to find a driver
>that i'm willing to put my life in their hands. I only trust
>my own instincts when it comes to driving. Also because i'm
>a single father with custody of my son I won't stay out for
>more than 14 days. Thanks for the advice.


Hate to go all Dr.Laura here, but something sounds off. I'm a huge advocate for a dual parent family, but know things happen. Why be a truck driver if you're a single parent?

 

[night_rider_06]

TennesseeHawk,
I decided to become a truck driver because where I live, East Tennessee, very few jobs pay over $8.00 per hr. I have been searching for a local driving job but the ones that i've found want to pay slave wages. There is no way I can pay my bills on anything less than $12.00 per hr. And even working for that amount would make me live very tight. Going to college to better my education is not an option either, first i'm 44yrs old, second I would have to take a local job working for slave wages and would go in debt really quick, third, it would be very hard working full time while going to college full time, and then trying to take care of my son full time, it just wouldn't work. I have no family to take care of my son, and I don't trust anyone I don't know to take care of my son. I pay a live in nanny, whom i've known for 20+ yrs to take care of my son. It's a very difficult situation i'm in.