My biggest fear is not driving in winter weather but driving in it with people around me who are freaked out about it or just plain idiots. I can control what my rig is doing but not what they are doing around me. I happened to be with my wife yesterday when we got hit by snow coming home from Wally World in her new AWD Fusion. I figured, great, we get to see what this thing can do now. Did great but I can't say the same for the 4WD SUV's that were in the woods from going way too fast for the conditions. What bothered me was the people blowing by us, I was afraid they would lose control and take us out with them, or the dummies who kept slapping on their brakes in front of us while running 25 mph.

If you feel uncomfortable, park it and tell your dispatch that it is unsafe to continue and will not move until the weather and roads clear up. If they don't like it, call your safety dept. and they will take care of dispatch. No load is worth wrecking a truck and your career if you hit bad weather.

Leasing a truck from a company is not the same as owning a truck, If you lease a truck this way you will never own it. The only way that I buy my trucks is to go to the dealer and buy it.

As for driving in winter, just slow down, take your time. Leave yourself extra room, if something happens ahead of you and traffic is stopped you need more room to stop in bad weather. If something was to happen, such as your trailer starts to jackknife, the slower you are moving the more likely you will be able to correct it.

Ice is what you should be afraid of not snow, I always watch the tires of other cars or trucks that pass me, if you don't see any spray coming up from the tires and the road looks wet, it means you are probably on ice. You don't want to be braking or accelerating suddenly if the road is like that. If you see ice building up on your mirrors or your mirror arms, it means that there is ice on the road as well

I think you should follow your heart, I know alot of lease operators who gone through the system and now they own the damn truck and its all good, people telling you not to do it on here are most likely repeating what they here.. they might not ever tried to lease a truck and maybe if they did and their telling you not to, well its not your fault they are a failure.. maybe you are better than them and can lease a truck and be sucessful.. wwo really knows unless you follow your heart and try what you think is best for you, if you fail at the test then you failed and its okay you can start over again.... Don't listen to people who fail and think you are gonna fail, I think your smarter than that..

Driving in snow is okay, first if you are not sure park the truck and wait. Now if you try driving in snow just go slow and get the feel of the truck, don't pay attention to other drivers flying past you, just go as slow as you feel is safe, if not park the truck... all in time you will find a comfort zone for snow driving, I my self grew up in snow and find driving in snow is better than on ice... just go slow and you will learn how to drive in snow.

Re: Fear of winter driving
 

My wife grew up in South Florida. She never saw snow until she was 16 years old. Never drove in it, until she started to drive a truck. There is both, good news and bad news, when driving a truck in snow and on ice. First of all, you have far more traction with a loaded truck than with a car. Second, you NEED every bit of that traction in order to control that much weight in motion. Respect the weather conditions for what they are. And NO SUJDDEN MOVES WITH THE THROTTLE, WHEEL, OR THE BRAKE. The worse the roads get, the slower you go. But make sure you have some inertia go help you pull yourself up a hill. Not having enough speed at the bottom can mean you SPIN-OUT half way up.

Two years ago, my wife and I teamed a load from Portland, OR, leaving there at 5 AM on Tues, and arriving 50 miles north of Miami, FL by 9 PM that Thurs. She took her turn driving and went through some of the worst weather conditions you can imagine. Quite a number of trucks, and far more cars, were off the road, rolled and jack knifed. She has more faith in driving a truck in those conditions than a car.

Learn to READ THE ROAD and RESPECT the conditions, rather than fear them. You just might surprise yourself. And good luck to you.

I have never leased a truck and never will, Any trucks that I have owned I bought them on my own through a dealer. These deals are for people who don't have good enough credit to actually buy a truck on their own. If you don't have good credit and can't buy a truck on your own you really shouldn't be owning a truck. I don't really see any advantages to leasing a truck from a company. I think someone would be better off to just drive a company truck than to lease one of their trucks, you would probably end up making the same money anyway

I'm not saying that someone couldn't be successful doing it but if you really want to be an owner operator you are better off to save some money for a down payment on a truck and do it the right way, not do some company a favor by paying the lease for their truck that you will never really own anyway

There is a reason that these companies push these lease deals, and it is not becasue there is any advantage to the driver, the only one who gets any kind of advantages is the company themselves

All I am trying to get at is if you think your gonna fail then why do it, people on here are making it look like you will fail, how do you know if I or anybody will fail? all the LPO,s I know have suceeded in paying off the truck and are happy with the purchase...The only failures I heard of are on this board... that explains it all... All the FFE LPO,s I know are all happy, all the Swift LPO,s I know are all happy....and I know a few CR England LPO,s and hey are happy too....

Some people will fail, like before I read not all have a grasp of this industry, and if you don,t a good time to learn is to jump in and try.... I think if you really had your mind set on a Leased truck then go for it, do your best and try to suceed and chances are you will, don't let others bring you down because they are not you at all, we all are different in ow we do things, if your gonna run in a race and know you will loose then why run at all?

I have never driven a t/t in the snow either and really haven't even seen much rain. I wouldn't think to step on the gas if the trailer starts to come around me, I probably would have just stepped on the brakes. But I guess it does make more sense to accelerate. Someone told me once too that if I blew a front tire that the worse thing to do would to brake.[/qu mars.usually dont get to that point.but once on 97nb passed goldendale wa at 10pm i topped hill at 25 mph and trucks were on the side so i touched the brakes and trailer was across the road ! black ice! throttled it straight,now im going into klickitat canyon. i felt the need to go slowly.and repeated the manuever several times.once i tried the trolley and same result.i finally got to the bottom and people on the cb were sure i blocked the road and were cursing me because they got chained up and the wsp that followed me down was laughing at me.i drive in snow every year and people razz me for going so slow down the hill