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Originally Posted by iowarider
I give up. No need to keep this thread going, Every company is out to take every driver. No dispatcher ever tells the truth. All truck drivers are doing it for free, They just keep beating themselves in the head because it feels so good when they stop for a minute.
The question was are any better then any others. Yes my credit sucks. Yes I cannot make enough to save a down payment at the moment. I know I trade freedom for the lease. I'm willing to make that trade for a new start. I would think it goes both ways. The company needs to keep miles for you to get the rig payed for. Of course there in it to make money for themselves, that is the definition of a business.
Now that your all probably peed off at me, can anyone help with my trying to make the best of a bad situation?
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Just to set the record straight about a couple of things. Not all dispatchers lie. I had a good one once. Dispatchers are no different than the general population. The problem many of us have with them is that there are too many who have never driven a truck. They don't have an understanding of what it takes to be an over the road truck driver.
Most truck drivers earn an above average income. The first year can be somewhat difficult, but after the first year your income should begin to rise. This is a demanding profession and not everyone is designed to be successful as a driver. It takes a certain personality. You should enjoy your own company. In other words, you need to be able to spend a lot of time alone with your thoughts. I enjoy that aspect of this business. This business has been good for me and my family, as it has for many others.
You state that your credit sucks. That is unfortunate, but a fleece will not solve that problem. It may actually make your credit worse. There are leasing companies who will lease a truck to an experienced driver who has some dings in their credit. There are several problems with the carrier based fleeces. The first problem with them is that the lease payments are too high for your income. Some can run as high as $800/week by the time everything is added to the payments. You can buy a truck with a monthly payment of this amount or less. In addition, you have fuel, tires, maintence, etc., to purchase. The second major problem with most of these programs is that the carriers, for the most part, pay low mileage rates. You simply cannot generate enough money to make it worthwhile on those low rates. Some are as low as $0.90/mile or less. You may also get a fuel surcharge in addition to this figure, but it is still not normally enough. Your weekly payments are due whether you run or not. If you take a week off, you still owe the weekly payment and deduction amount. The third problem is that the carrier controls your income. You cannot leave the company unless you leave the truck. In addition, some will not allow you to take your maintence fund with you unless you complete the lease.
I have posted this previously but will do so again. I have been in this business since the early 1970's. In that time, I can only recall 3 people whom I have met who have actually completed their lease and gotten their truck. These drivers were leased to Dart, USXpress and CRST Malone (one from each of these companies). I have never met anyone with CR England, Prime or any of the other carriers who do these programs, who has actually completed their lease agreement. Some say that they were starved out by the carrier. When they got close to completion of their lease, the carrier reduced their mileage, preventing them from generating the income to pay for the truck. I have looked at most of these leases over the years. If I were to choose the best one, I would say CRST Malone has the better lease program. There are a couple of reasons. First, the payments seem to be lower than others that I have viewed. Second, they pay percentage, which enables the lease operator the possiblity to earn more income than someone who runs for mileage. One owner with whom I spoke, was able to do well and pay his truck off because he also trained drivers. Note that I am not recommending this program, but you asked for the better or best one. It is my opinion that they have one of the better lease programs, but I would not recommend any of them.
In fairness to the carriers, most people who become involved in these fleeces have little or no driving experience, no money and bad credit. They have no way to properly evaluate the lease or what they are being told by the carrier. Some will not plan and save for those inevitable breakdowns. Others will take a week off now and then which will put them behind in their obligations to the carrier. Rather than getting involved in a fleece program, you or anyone who is thinking about one of these contracts should instead work on learning the business while you get your credit cleaned up. Save some money. If you have a couple of years experience, decent credit and a good down payment, you can probably get a truck financed. I am not picking on you specifically, iowarider. We see people asking these same questions over and over again. No one wants to see you fail. We would rather see you become successful. If you truly want to become a successful owner operator, you can get a lot of help on this and some other boards. You see, there are no shortcuts to becoming successful. It takes a lot of planning and hard work. You must be desciplined. It takes descipline to get your finances in order once they have been damaged. You can do it, but it won't be done over night. Your credit didn't get messed up over night. It won't get healed over night. Once you get a couple of years experience, you will know if this is something that you want to do. In two years you should be able to make a dent in getting your credit cleaned up. During this time, you will also be learning about the business and should have saved some money. Good luck to you.
