US Express Lease Purchase

[Fuzeme]

I know most drivers, and truck owners are against lease purchase from certain companies, and I hope this is the right place to ask this question. But has anyone heard anything good, bad or ugly about US Express and their lease purchase program?

[allan5oh]

US Express Lease Purchase Program (I think this site is just and advertisement)

Details on the site are weak, especially any sort of buyout. Almost makes me think there isn't one. I've never understood the logic behind escrows, and they have two of them equaling 7 CPM (5 CPM maintenance and 2 CPM tires). Do you get that money back with interest at the end of the lease?

Weekly costs:

* Fixed Cost Century
* Tractor Payment $ 444.23
* Physical Damage Insurance $55.38*
* Bobtail Insurance $15.00
* Occup. Accident Insurance $32.77**
* Satcom Rental $15.00
* Highway Use Tax $10.58
* Weekly Fixed Cost $572.96

I'm assuming the asterisks mean you can purchase these elsewhere. So we have a monthly cost of $2,291.84.

Assume you can get 10,000 miles per month and that's 23 CPM. Add in the two escrows and you're at 30 CPM. Fuel right now at 6 mpg will cost you about 45 CPM, now we're at 68 CPM.

Looking at truck paper there's tons of century's in the 25-40k range in that model year. The total lease payments equals $23,100.00 plus buyout(whatever that is...)

Owner Operators - U.S. Xpress, Truck Driving Jobs, Class A CDL Jobs, Hiring Drivers, Truck Driving Opportunities, Contracotrs, Lease/Purchase

Seems to be the correct website, with a better explanation of compensation. They use a sliding scale system like CR england, and the pay is not very good.

Lease/Purchase - U.S. Xpress, Truck Driving Jobs, Class A CDL Jobs, Hiring Drivers, Truck Driving Opportunities

"Average 91 CPM plus FSC"

What is the FSC? Average price right now is 2.65. Using the industry standard:

(2.65 - 1.25) / 6 = 23 CPM

91 CPM + 23 CPM = 114 CPM

$1.14 CPM X 10,000 miles = $11,400

$11,400 - cost (10,000 miles X 68 CPM) = $4,600 or 46 CPM, which is about what a good company would pay including drop pay.

What if you have a 6,000 mile month?

Your fixed costs shoot up to 38 CPM + 7 CPM escrew, add in fuel and you're at 83 CPM cost. That leaves you with 24 CPM, doesn't sound so good now does it?

I don't see any mention of drop pay, multiple drop pay, border crossings, do you pay tolls or do they, on and on.

If that doesn't convince you to stay away, here are the steps you should take:

1) Get a copy of both the lease agreement and o/o agreement. Have a lawyer look over both. If you don't understand the difference, we can explain that to you. If they won't give you copies, don't bother. Keep looking.

2) Do a monthly cost analysis. Use 6,000 miles, 8,000 miles, and 10,000 miles. How much did you make at the end of the month? If it is equal to or less then what a good company would pay you, what's the point of the extra risk? If it is more, how much more, and is that worth the extra risk?

3) Do a cost analysis on the truck. Do you get the truck at the end of the lease? Is the truck in good shape? Are they trying to lease it to you way above market value? Would you be better off just buying the truck on your own?

[geeshock]

I can't speak from personal exp, but I have a friend that was in it and him and his team mate have yet to make a profit in 4 mos

[Fuzeme]

Yeah the company says that they no longer have any Century's around for the lease program, but are using the volvo's and Pete's, '08, '09, 010.

I now drive a ,02 Century an old Interstate truck with auto shift, and ISX cummins rated @
435. The truck can do 70, but I run primarily around 63, and on my worst days for fuel milage I get 7-8, and my best has been 10.5, light load, not much in the way of hills. The owner of this truck has a 386 Pete, with a Cat and 13 speed, which he is selling, because the best that truck will do is 5-5.5.

If I am accepted into the program I would go to Tunnel Hill for orientation, and maybe get my truck there. I guess a lot of drivers are getting into this program, but I want to look at everything before I jump with both feet, my present company has changed their payroll and it now takes 7-9 days to process one round. We are out only 7-10 days, primarily running to the Carolinas.

[geeshock]

I will tell you this much, he did prety good as an independant contractor but he had a good wife manage his money at home. He has no patience for that stuff. right after they seperated, he went team with another lady and it all went down hill from there. Might be his fault but I would think since he runs his butt off he should be able to make a profit somehow. He said they aren't running him enough and he even had to turn his truck back in.

[Fuzeme]

Well the guy that I work for started out with only 2 trks, he now has 27, he says you have to know your costs, budget hard, and not try to out run your expenses, you never will. He told me if I ever do buy my own truck, I have to run it as a business, not like I did as a company driver, I have to know my risks, be good at planning, and try to keep the truck in good shape.

Buy a truck that will make money for you, spend less than you take in, over time if the truck is giving you problems, upgrade.

I know lease purchase is very risky, but some folks are making it work, but a lot have failed.

[mike3fan]

but some folks are making it work,

Bet you can't get 5 to post positive experiences at a fleece purchase with one of these mega carriers. Let me ask you this. If it's so great why isn't there hundreds if not thousands of guys on here or any where else singing the praises of L/P deals? Surely enough have tried.

Never be indebted to a company for anything more than a job.

I would ask for 5-10 phone numbers of current L/P operators and get first hand experiences from them.

[no_worries]

Lease purchase or not, you'll make more as a company driver if they're going to pay you $.91/mile.

[GMAN]

I spoke with an owner operator a year or so ago who told me that he paid out his truck at U.S. Xpress. Those who seem to be failing the most right now are those with big truck payments. $2,000+ is a big payment to make each month. If you take any time off your payments will continue. I don't understand why you would want to put your future in such jeopardy. There are good trucks on the market for much less than $20,000 that are in good shape. A guy told me today that he knows of two that the owners want to sell for less then $5,000. According to him both of these trucks are in good shape. I believe one needs 4 drive tires. You don't need a big truck payment to be a successful owner operator. You don't need a new or nearly new truck to be a successful owner operator. You need to buy something you can pay for and that is in good shape. There are many trucks on the market that you can get into for way less than you will pay for the USX truck. You will pay too big of a payment and rates are not sufficiently high enough for you to make decent money.

I have owned a number of trucks. I have yet to lease a truck. There is a good reason that I have never leased a truck from a carrier. I have looked into quite a few of their programs. You will pay much more for one of these trucks than you can go out and buy one outright. If your credit isn't good enough to buy a truck on your own then you don't need to buy one until you can either get your credit in good shape or save enough to pay cash. This is a business. A good businessman doesn't pay more for a piece of equipment than he must. There are thousands of experienced owner operators who are having difficulty making it in this down economy. I may have mentioned it on another thread but I have had 2 former owner operators who lost their trucks after making payments for 4 years. Both had nice 379 Peterbilts. They only had 1 year left before their trucks were paid off. When the economy tanked they could not make the payments. I really felt for both of them. They bought their trucks when the economy was doing well. In all likelyhood, neither managed their money well when things went well. Or other factors could have come into play, such a a family illness. In any case, they both wound up with trucks that they could no longer afford. If you want to become an owner operator you need to keep your payments as low as possible. You should be able to get a payment around $500 with today's economy. You can pay for a $500/month truck. If you do decide to lease one of those USX trucks I hope you will come on and give us an update as you progress.

[Fuzeme]

One thing is for sure though, lease purchase does work with the right company, and a driver that has a good business sense. Yes I agree more folks have failed at lease purchase than those who have made it work, now is US Express lease purchase any good, don't know, are they trying to make money off the driver, of course, that is why I am doing the research.

Lease purchase programs are not all created equal.

[Fuzeme]

Thanks Gman for the info.

[GMAN]

You are welcome, Fuzeme.

[mike3fan]

One thing is for sure though, lease purchase does work with the right company

really? which ones? just because someone completes the L/P doesn't make it successful.

Yes I agree more folks have failed at lease purchase than those who have made it work

by a surprisingly wide margin I bet

now is US Express lease purchase any good, don't know, are they trying to make money off the driver, of course, that is why I am doing the research.

I don't know for sure either, but I know for sure I am not willing to bet my financial future on it, save some money and buy your own truck and be a true O/O, not some money maker for a stupid mega carrier.

[knightscastle55]

the other thing that u have to consider is knowing how to keep the truck running without putting all the profits into repairs. a little knowledge in mechanics goes a long way........

[Rev.Vassago]

Bet you can't get 5 to post positive experiences at a fleece purchase with one of these mega carriers. Let me ask you this. If it's so great why isn't there hundreds if not thousands of guys on here or any where else singing the praises of L/P deals? Surely enough have tried.

Everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule. Sadly, they aren't. It's the probability fallacy. Our brain wants to convince us that we are a unique and beautiful snowflake, and even though everyone else failed, somehow we're different and will see a better result. But we're not unique, and the odds of succeeding are just as crappy for us as they were for the last guy who failed.

People use this same logic when buying a lottery ticket. Fast fact: The odds of winning a Mega Millions Jackpot are 175,000,000 to one. The odds, as an American Male, of being Tom Cruise are only 150,000,000 to one.

[Rev.Vassago]

Lease purchase programs are not all created equal.

No, they pretty much are.

[chris1]

I believe most that would do a L/P would also fail if they purchased a truck outright. Little or no credit,no cash,no idea.

[zipy46]

A US Express fellow helpled me blindside a while back and then we got to talking about

trucking and what not...he was not doing to well leasing with those guys

Always having to cook his books... he gave the impression they play dirty pool

But then I have yet to come across a dispatch system that didnt ...

So it takes 2 to tango as they say

good luck

[zipy46]

the other thing that u have to consider is knowing how to keep the truck running without putting all the profits into repairs. a little knowledge in mechanics goes a long way........

I just got a complete 'P/M' on the truck I am driving...

That Includes Tractor Serv and Trailer Maint and top quailty filters and oil for 280.oo

Do it every 20,000 miles

[VPIDarkAngel]

Here's another question to ask before doing a lease program. Why drive this truck, when you can drive a similarly equipped company truck?
Another way to approach this is to save up X dollars each week, and don't touch that until you get enough (and then some) for a decent truck. Use some to buy the truck, and use some as spare cash for repairs, PM service, tires, etc. Even if you lease, rather than purchase, always keep some savings in reserve in case the crap hits the fan (which it will).