I’m posting this to give a heads-up to any driver considering a lease-purchase with Mercer — or any carrier that ties your trailer lease directly to your settlement checks.

I leased a brand-new Great Dane flatbed through Mercer Transportation and ran under their authority for years. I made consistent payments, took care of the trailer, and was nearing the end of the lease when they suddenly terminated my trucking contract, claiming I’d been “abusive” to dispatch (completely fabricated — no documentation, no warning).

Because the trailer lease was tied directly to my Mercer settlements, once they cut me off, I had no way to make further payments. I tried to resolve it. They refused. Then they repossessed the trailer — and sued me anyway, not just for the remaining balance, but for the full trailer value PLUS $60,000+ in “legal fees.”

And here’s the kicker: they filed a Texas abstract of judgment with a completely fabricated, handwritten amount — one that no court ever awarded. That lien is still sitting in public records, even though I’m now in litigation trying to unwind it.

This isn’t a case of “I didn’t read the contract.” I read every page. I paid every week. And Mercer used the contract structure to:

Terminate at the worst possible time

Prevent me from curing any supposed default

Seize the equipment

Sue for more than what the trailer was even worth

Weaponize the Texas lien process with a fake number to try to shake me down

I’ve since done more research and found multiple similar lawsuits filed by Mercer in Texas courts against former drivers. This is starting to look like a business model — not a fluke.

If you’ve been through anything like this, or even just seen Mercer play games with lease returns, settlements, or post-termination charges, I’d be interested in comparing notes — publicly or privately.

We talk a lot about lease-purchase being a raw deal. This one was legal warfare disguised as a lease. Drivers need to know.

 

Man, that sounds rough. I cannot believe how they handled the whole thing. Tying your trailer lease to settlements already puts drivers in a tough spot and what you went through is next level. Thanks for sharing this. Stuff like this is not easy to find out until it is too late. I hope you get that lien cleared and the lawsuit sorted. Definitely a warning for anyone thinking about a lease purchase.