"New Driver Fee"

[Streakn1]

New drivers beware, you may be penalized just for being a "New Driver". Yep,thats right! Why not give your new boss a few hundred dollars of your wages per month to drive their truck. Never mind the revenue they're going to make on the freight you haul in their truck.

Recently a driver told me that the fleet owner they drive for charges $200/mo (taken out of the monthly settlement) for a "New Driver Fee". Its purpose was not clearly explained other than the owner holds this money in a supposed escrow account.I have to wonder if for what ever reason the drivers of this fleet owner choose to leave this fleet, do they get this money back? Afterall, if the truck is turned in clean and undamaged I'm to assume the fleet owner will give the driver back all of the escrow collected to date plus the interest earned while held in escrow? Maybe this owner could share with all of us how this works. Inquiring minds want to know.

Maybe I should have posted this topic in the Newbies forum. I want to hear from fleet owners or drivers as to if this is a common practice within expediting fleets. I've not heard of this practice in the past. Before getting our own truck we drove fleet owned trucks (several brand new) and never had to pay any type of escrow to drive their truck!

 

[arkjarhead]

I drive for a fleet owner and if he would have told me he was going to charge me a new driver fee i would have told him to find another new driver.

 

[davekc]

I have never heard of a "new driver fee"?
Some do an escrow account but that is returned with interest. Escrow accounts are designed for an owner to cover a loss associated with damage to the truck or abandoment.






Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[cheri1122]

An escrow account is something an owner is entitled to insist on, but if the purpose of the money withheld isn't clear to the driver, (do they not have a contract? Did they not read the contract?), then the driver needs to be a little more inquisitive, sounds like.

 

[younglobo]

From an owners standpoint I can See how this would be a good thing, had a Class A driver work for me 2 wks and did more damage than i ever made off the truck while he was drivin, including backing into another truck at a truckstop. Bet the drivers' owner you are refering to has been burnt in the past and is just trying to cover his co. from loss.

 

[x06col]

This to me, sounds like coffee table BS. Why would you type it, getting it second hand, or first without any facts like who, what, why, etc. Who knows what motivates this type of thing, or, if it is a fact. Sounds like hearsay to me. Dunno