Kevin, I learned the hard way about business I had almost 20 years in the auto body biz and was tired of "making money for someone else" so I stuck out on my own. After 3 years of feast or famine (mostly famine) I said enough is enough. Morel of the story? Just cause you can do the job , that doesn't make you a business man!
I understand you want to be your own boss and make more money , but sometime's the two just don't go hand in hand. Think long and hard on this one. BTW your student loan would probably be due IN FULL if you quit

just let him do it, some people have to learn the hard way heh

You make a good point, repete. I have known some good drivers who simply were not cut out to be in business. They just could not quite make it as an owner operator. It sounds like a simple thing to go from a company driver to owner operator. For the most part it is simple. You run into problems when you try to make a profit. There have been some who have posted on this forum who have leased or bought a truck and just could not make it. I have had both working for me. The only way that I can see a lease work is for you to live in the truck and never stop running. Even then, it would be iffy. It makes so much more sense to save your money and buy a truck or get one through a legitimate leasing company. Payments will be much more manageable and you can leave your current carrier any time you wish and take the truck. When you lease from a carrier it is their truck. You only make the payments and pay the carrier a handling fee. It is still their truck. That will not change with most carriers. Few will allow you to actually buy the truck. Those who do will make it very difficult to complete the transaction.

There have been so many who have come to this board and wanted to become an owner operator.....at any cost. Although they were usually advised to avoid the company sponsored leases, many failed to listen and lost their shirts. I recall one who leased a truck and within a couple of months leased another against advice. It only took him a short time to lose both trucks and ruin his credit. The last time heard from him he was still running from his creditors.

Most people get into such a hurry to become an owner operator. Few will actually take the time to learn the business before putting their neck on the line. They are either unwilling or unable to save enough or a good down payment as a company driver to buy their own truck. Their credit is usually marginal or bad so they think the only hope they have to become an owner operator is to lease a truck from their carrier. Rather than work on improving their credit and saving money they will jump into one of these leases. If they don't have the discipline to save money and clear their credit then how do they think that they can make truck payments? Whether you lease or own you are making payments. If you spend a year or two saving money then you should have enough to at least put down a good down payment. If you are disciplined enough and have low overhead you could save enough to pay cash for a decent truck in a couple of years. Just think, if you can save $200 out of each paycheck for two years you should have over $20,000 put aside. That is enough to pay cash for a good truck. If you save for three years you can not only have enough to pay cash for your truck but also have enough for an emergency fund. In the mean time you are learning this business. If you can do this then your chance of success in almost assured. You still need to learn how to run a business, but when you start out with no payments and a good emergency fund you increase your chance for success exponentially.

You just got the best advice you could ever listen too, right there Kevin.

Get your self a notebook. Start recording every dime you spend on yourself. Record every mile you drive. Record every drop of fuel you put into the truck you are driving as a company driver. Record the cost. Record motor oil and it's cost. Record service calls and their cost. At the end of each month, totalize everything.

After six month's, ask a couple of those Lease Operator's what their gross revenue numbers have been running, and compare their revenue, against your cost numbers. Then add in projected lease payments, taxes, licensing and insurance to the deal.

You went thru the school long before i did (aug. 2008), and i will tell you, that the loan agreement has ZERO interest first off, and 2nd, i get to that 13 month benchmark, and tuition is PAID. They take out $75 each week, and of that, half is reimbursed. Once the 13 months is over, tuition is PAID. I continue another 13 months, and each week, i get the $37.50 back for those 13 months...after THAT 13 months, the school is totally FREE. Trust me, it was discussed over and over the first day of class, not to mention i've re-read it 100 times during those 3 weeks of school, AND even had my recruiter and HIS supervisor email me telling me the same thing.

Explain how i would still owe for schooling once it was paid for after 13 months, and the 2nd 13 months they REPAY me $37.50, how i would somehow OWE that. Granted if i leave or become O/O that i would no longer get that $37.50 back (after the first 13 mo.)

Sorry, your loan agreement and mine are totally different.

Butt,.......

Once you go O/O , L/O you are NOT a company driver and that agreement is gone, so as Sync said, you will owe the balance and you'll be paying a high interest. You haven't your 13 months in yet, have you?????

What he *appears* to be saying is that the money he could get for the second 13 months is money that they'll have if he quits, but they'll pay him if he continues as a company driver for that time.

*Off-topic slightly*
That's why I'm glad I selected a school independently of a carrier. I know my debt (which I'm paying off on time every month to build credit), I have enough saved to cover it, and I'm not confused about it.
*now returning to the regularly scheduled mayhem*

Not true...... during his first 13 months he is paying the loan at $75 a month. So if he goes O/O, L/O prior to the first 13 months, he hasn't paid off the load and completed the loan agreement and still has a balance. This will convert to a high interest loan. If he stays as a company driver, the following 13 months (26 month deal in total), Swift pays him $37.50 a week back, but if he quits he does not get that money back (or remaining if he is into his 2nd 13months).

i know that, and that is what i said. once i make it to that 13 month date, i owe nothing. And just because i may leave and go elsewhere or go L/O with swift, the agreement is still a legal and binding agreement. They try to tell me i owe 50% interest for the entire amount, i'll see them in court.

I do know that should my employment with Swift end PRIOR to the 13 month date, i owe the full amount. HOWEVER, once i make that 13 month date, school is paid for....note i said PAID FOR.....not "FREE" or "PAID BACK".