lease purchase, the real skinney
 

Ok, I have tried to read and find out, but its hard to sort the real deal from the "i'm pissed at the company so no one should drive for them" folk. I am looking for a lease purchase program that truly gives me a chance to come out on top. I know its hard work, long hours but never been afraid of that. I just have had a run of why am I doing this jobs and want to get on the road.

I would appreciate any and all who have been there and done that to reply. Here is the kicker, CR England, has the most logical layout of their program and seem very up front. The problem is have you tried to find a good word about that company that is not tied to their own site !!! Are they really that bad and who is better?

Thanks.

Re: lease purchase, the real skinney
 

get out of trucking would be my suggestion

No Lease Purchase deal is good for you as the driver/"fleecee".

Its been beat to death on here. Use the search feature.

They are all a rigged game . Even IF everything goes right and you run a ton of miles makeing a bunch of $ for the company you earn a bit more than a company driver while taking on significantly more risk.

Re: lease purchase, the real skinney
 

With the exception of a home, leasing/renting anything is a total rip off. All your doing is making a truck payment for the company. Save a good 20 to 30 thousand and make a good down payment on a used truck, your better off that way.

explain why you want to do a L/P deal insted of saving for a down payment and buying your own truck?

Actually leasing can be a good business decision for many reasons and companies do it all the time. Free up capital, no hassle return of depreciating assets... etc.

BUT...with regards to LEASE/PURCHASE it is mostly a bad deal. If you want to lease, why not lease from a national leasing company so you can switch companies if you need to?

The reason many do the L/P is that their credit is poor or they don't have enough capital to fund purchasing (or leasing) equipment on their own. And since nothing is free in this world....you've got to give up something to get into these L/P deals....and that is freedom: you are at the beck and call of the company you did the L/P with...they own your miles and you.

My own opinion is that if you can't afford to buy or lease your equipment independantly then you should think long and hard before going with a L/P. Remember....the company offering L/P's is doing it for a reason and your financial success is not it!! Ask yourself why they wouldn't simply use O/O's? There's a reason.....[/b]

Re: lease purchase, the real skinney
 

I don't understand why you would think that CR England or any other carrier has a good fleece deal. You have no experience in this industry. You have no way to adequately evaluate any fleece program. Do you know what it costs to operate a truck? For you to be able to evaluate one of these programs you would need to know what it costs to operate your business. You need to know your personal limitations. The only way to do that is to drive for a while. I don't understand why you would want to put yourself in such a position as to jeopardise your financial future by getting involved in one of these fleece programs. I have yet to see one where you can make as much as a company driver. If you truly want to be an owner operator, save your money and buy a truck. If you gain some experience and buy a truck you will have a much greater chance of being successful. This is a demanding business. It can take a lot of money to operate and keep the fires burning. To give you an idea, two weeks ago I spent almost $7,000 on one of my trucks. Yesterday I spend $2,700 on another one. I always recommend that anyone who is thinking about buying a truck to have money set aside for emergencies. Trucks break down. It doesn't matter whether you have a new truck or older one, they all will break. When you lease a truck from a carrier, you are usually responsible for all maintenance expenses. If something happens you are the one who must pay for repairs. Keep in mind that not everything is taken care of with a warranty. Don't be in such a rush to become an owner operator. Learn what you are doing first.

It's simple math. Lease $7-1000, $5,000 for fuel, add to that....insurance, taxes, etc... leaves nothing for the wife and kids. The only way that I have seen to even make money is to buy your own truck (used), do a good bit of your own PM (if possible) and you still have to drive you head off. The only way to make money is to have a small truck payment READ big down payment. I am not in the business but so far from my research it doesn't take a rocket scientist to run the numbers and figure out that lease/purchase is a huge scam.

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?

Now, I finally found an article that seems to tell the truth in a way I believe.
http://www.landlinemag.com/archives/...ures/I376.html

ok folk, you win. Back to company driving.

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.

Listen to Gman,

and don't feel bad Iowa, I heard all the recruiting stuff when I was going to school. Fortunately, I could remember in my childhood when my aunt and uncle came to town trying to get my parents to do Amway! That memory never left. When England came to our school i had Amway Flashbacks. During my year here at CFI, I have often sat (for whatever reason) and looked at the trucks around me and wished I could have one I could call my own. I even considered a fleece program, for about 10 hours. But I came to my senses with the help of some on this board. I could add up the pro's and con's all day, but I don't like statistics and all the pro's would be based on a small percentage of people who might have made it. I still haven't met one at a truck stop yet. If you want a truck, you will get one. If you want to pay a company to drive their truck, you can do that too. If you want to buy some cleaning supplies, well I can't help you because my Aunt and Uncle's business went belly up about 6 months after they tried to get my parents to join.

If you lease purchase for3- 5 years

You will probably have at least 10 dispatchers on you journey

Some of them may be first class aholes

Who may never get you home when you want

Or keep you running the 5 boros of NY

Or unrealistic schedules that give you service failures

They can make your life miserable

guess what?

you can't quit

and they know it.

So in five years you will own a stupid truck.

Save yourself3- 5 years of a wasted life

save up and buy yourself a 5 year old truck now

same difference

Geomon

If I had a shipper contract that would cover a full service Penske etc
lease. I would do it in a second.

Thanks for the wake up. You all do make sense. I guess I just grew up in the day when people kept there word and worked on the idea if you let them make money they will make you money and all is good. Damn at 50 you would think those rose colored glasses would have cleared up by now.

Most carriers will allow you to earn as much as you can as a company driver, and without the headaches or obligations of leasing or owning a truck. If you start as a company driver and save $200/week for 2 years, you can pay cash for a good used truck. You will still not have a reserve fund, but could pay cash for a truck. If you save $200/week for 3 years you would have the reserve fund and a paid for truck. In addition, you will have your most important asset, experience. If you save more, then you can buy a truck sooner. The great thing about paying cash is that you don't have to worry about making payments. You may not realize it now, but it is a great feeling to have a truck paid off. I paid cash for my first truck and trailer. It can be done. I know of others who have done the same. These are not necessarily people who have poor credit either. One poster on this forum recently purchased a good used truck for $12,000. I have seen it and think that he got a good deal. He will buy a trailer after the first of the year and will likely pay cash for that, as well.

I have met a lot of company drivers who have been owner operators. They went back to driving a company truck because they decided the responsibilities or headaches were not worth it. They would rather let someone else worry about repairs, payments, etc., When they go home, they don't have to concern themselves with repairs or anything else other than resting or visiting with their family and friends. Some are earning more money as a company driver than they did as an owner operator. There is a very high failure rate among owner operators.

i have met a couple drivers here at jct who actually paid off their lease on more than 1 truck. they said it is tuff and they had to run like he*l to do it. we have several guys who have paid off their lease on their current truck. so far here, i have been treated fairly. but yeah, the lease is gonna get paid first, bottom line. i have to run about 1900 miles a week to break even. that don't mean if i run 4000 i made 2100 for me tho. i still gotta pay fuel, .05cpm for maintaince and .02 cpm for tire account. then set aside for taxes. but i am making more than i did as a company driver. i also have not much home life being a widower and kids are grown and out of house. i have also learned to do a few repairs myself and my foodcosts are only $60 a week. i also have my own accountant not the company guy. if i had a family or wife to support l/p does not pay enuff extra to be out this long for them so i would stay a company driver. i took 5 days off and my paycheck was a minus $800. i expected it tho. had a few trips not turned in yet. make sure you know just what you need to make for your family every month and how much you need yourself to live on. also find out how much it will cost to walk away from the lease. some / most want the whole lease paid. a lease/purchase can work. tho the legit ones are hard to find. best of luck. get some exp. as company driver and figure out what it costs every week to operate your truck for a year or so then decide if it is worth the extra hassle. for me it is.