Owner Operator Contract or Agreement
 

Hello,

I am a new trucking company looking to lease on Owner Operators. I am determined to be one of the better ones in the industry. I am having a hard time finding a sample agreement of which I can modify to fit our needs, I really do not want to hire a lawyer to do this when I can find an agreement from Landstar or a larger company that can be modified to suit our needs. If anybody has one could you please email me a copy, I would be very appreciative.

If anyone has leased on drivers and knows of a link to purchase these agreement templates I would appreciate that as well.

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I think you would be better off getting a Lawyer. If you cant afford a lawyer, how you going to pay your drivers? Just my .02

In Response
 

I can afford a lawyer, I said I would rather not use one when I can find an agreement that has already been written by a company like Landstar. Do you think there agreements are wrong? I think they got all the bases covered.

So you think your operation is going to mirror someone like landstars? Your lease agreement should be structured for your own operation. There are federal regs that need to be complied with(usually called *truth in leaseing") Plagiarism won't get you very far if there is a problem.

try this

OOIDA is a good resource. Google "sample owner operator agreement" -- lots of hits.

AC120 is correct. OOIDA does have a sample lease. If you are a member they may make a copy available to you that you could modify for your specific needs. There are certain elements that you must include in any lease agreement. The federal website should have those things which must be included. If you want to see a copy of Landstar's agreement you might just call them up and ask to see one. In fact, OOIDA may have a copy of Landstar's lease agreement since they were in a lawsuit against them at one time about the contract.

Also the FMCSR's have certain requirements of any contract, and I wouldn't be surprised if a few big name carriers didn't fully comply with the FMCSR's:

All Regulations - Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

AND BURN.................

If any said company finds out you took their lease, such as Landstar, expect to pay millions in court costs because they are not going to like that, especially Landstar. I worked for them for 4 years and to be honest, they were prob the most pain in the ***** company I ever ran for. On-top of them taking all kinds of fee's and other things, they have a giant legal department. When I left them, I had just made my last payment on my 50T lowboy and they tried to take it back. After 3 years, and $12,000 in legal fee's I got to keep the trailer (thank god the judge also made them pay for my fee's) Dont mess around

Like everyone else has said, call OOIDA. Honestly you should already be a member owning your own company.

I read OOIDA's sample lease and placed it in the circular file. The lease is written 100% to protect the o/o you are trying to lease on and it does absolutely nothing to protect YOU as the carrier except ensure compliance with the federal regs. In fact, it was the turning point in our relationship when I’d realized I’d outgrown them in many respects. I still maintain a membership, but really don’t know why, since they do pretty much nothing for the small carrier.

I know you just got started 8 weeks ago and might be a little thin on spare cash, but you really need to consult an attorney. Not only does the lease need to be tailored to YOUR operation, but you must also ensure it complies with the state of Illinois’ contract law, which varies from other jurisdictions. Landstar’s lease would be not only tailored to their operation, but also to their own state, which would most assuredly have some differences in its contract law from Illinois. You screw up in your contract and lease on a bad apple, you could end up in a world of financial and maybe even legal hurt. Don’t be cheap and lazy and take unnecessary chances with your business. Just because you are incorporated doesn’t mean that you can personally be sued. More and more judges are allowing “the corporate veil” to be pierced in litigation.

You must comply with 49 CFR 376,every thing else must comply with your states contract law,unless it contradicts 376.