[ground_pounder]

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[ground_pounder]

can you do your own maintance on your truck as you'll be doing alot of it as well to save your money. i dunno to me it's just alot of money thrown out the window in a short period of time. you'll come out alot better if you use a program that the companies don't desighn to make themselves money. and another thing to think about if that truck is making the co so much money then why in the hell are they leasing it out?

[JR OTR]

Originally Posted by Sheepdancer

This is what I think about lease purchase:
I am an independent recruiter who hires for a lot of companies that have lease purchase. Even though those companies pay me huge commissions to put you in a lease truck. If you call me and want to do lease purchase, I will do everything in my power to try to talk you out of it. If you still want to do it, I will give you this advice.

*make sure you have a wife or girlfriend who has a good steady paycheck, you will need it some weeks.
* Stay on the road! If they say they can get you home every two weeks, screw that....if you want to have a chance at succeeding at least purchase...stay out MONTHS!
* Even though they will tell you "no forced dispatch"....never turn down a load.

Why don't you save you breath and steer drivers interested in leasing to a company that they will more likely succeed at? I don't have a second paycheck coming in (or need one), normally get home every other weekend for 3 days (11 on, 3 off) and I'm pretty sure I've turned down more loads than any other driver in my fleet. During the 4 years of my lease I took home a little over $260,000 after all truck expenses and averaged less than 2,400 miles per week across those 4 years. I didn't have a special deal or some neat-o dedicated gig, just whatever random loads needed to be hauled.

FFS people.

[Sheepdancer]

Originally Posted by JR OTR

Why don't you save you breath and steer drivers interested in leasing to a company that they will more likely succeed at? I don't have a second paycheck coming in (or need one), normally get home every other weekend for 3 days (11 on, 3 off) and I'm pretty sure I've turned down more loads than any other driver in my fleet. During the 4 years of my lease I took home a little over $260,000 after all truck expenses and averaged less than 2,400 miles per week across those 4 years. I didn't have a special deal or some neat-o dedicated gig, just whatever random loads needed to be hauled.

FFS people.

I suppose there are success stories at every company that does lease purchase out there. Hell, I worked for JB Hunt corporate for many years. I had at least "some" drivers do very well at their lease purchase. Just because "some" succeed, doesnt mean most will most likely succeed at lease purchase. Im just not the type of recruiter who will attempt to influence a driver by BSing him.
Here is the problem I see with lease purchase programs. Its not really the companies. Like I said, every company out there has lease purchase success stories. Here is the deal: If you are a driver and you want to become a Owner Op. You have two choices. You can buy a truck, if you have good credit. Or you can lease purchase. Of course buying the truck is the way better choice here. But drivers with bad credit dont have that option. Now, not all, but A LOT of people with bad credit have a history of being irresponsible and of making bad choices. Those same people with bad credit, simply dont have what it takes with personal responsibility to succeed as an owner op, or at lease purchase. They get drawn in to a dream of making big bucks as an owner op, and then fail. They will usually end up blaming the company, but it reality, their own failure is most likely their fault. Lease purchase is a lot like "rent to own". If you want that big screen TV and you dont have credit. You can pay a rent to own company 3500 bucks for a TV you could have bought at walmart for 500 bucks. When its all over and paid for...even with rent to own, you still "succeeded" at purchasing a TV...you just paid way too much for it.
The reason I try to talk drivers out of lease purchase is simply a personal choice. Its not really because of the companies. I have been recruiting drivers for over 10 years now. I just got tired of drivers and drivers wives calling me back a few months later and yelling at me because they failed. When a driver calls me and wants lease purchase. I just tell them the truth. Most drivers fail at lease purchase. I try to talk them into going to the company as a company driver first. Learn the companies system. Talk to drivers who have already been in lease purchase and find out what they do to succeed. If I do that, and they still want lease purchase, I will be happy to put them in the best company I cant find. But I can also sleep better at night knowing I did my best telling the driver what to expect. And if they call me back a few months better and complain, I can say "Hey man, I told you and was 100% honest with you.......you failed all by yourself". And if they succeed, they did it all by themselves too.

[GMAN]

If someone has their mind made up to lease a truck, there is little that anyone can do to change their mind. We have seen it time and time again on this forum. I know that some do make it work, but I doubt that most realize what they will need to sacrifice in order to get the title. If a driver has some discipline, they could commit to saving $100-200 our of every paycheck for a couple of years and be able to buy a truck rather than getting involved in a lease. They would also pay much less for the truck. One problem that I have noticed with those who want to do a lease purchase is that they want to be an owner operator NOW!!! They have no patience. They also have no discipline. If they had discipline, they would have saved money and worked on building their credit to a point where they could qualify for a conventional loan. I understand that things can happen which are out of our control, but I have interviewed a lot of drivers who have lost their shirts doing a lease purchase. They all have certain traits which seem common to all of them. Until they change themselves, they will never be successful. I doubt that most carriers are willing to make the success or failure rates of their lease programs public. I would speculate that as many as 90% fail. Few people are willing to do what is necessary to insure that they will be successful. It is much easier to blame the carrier or others for your failures. Successful people accept personal responsibility for their actions and make changes in their business plan or themselves in order to achieve their goals. Failure is a personal decision. You make up your mind to either become successful or to fail. Everyone fails. It is part of life. The difference is how you treat the failure. It isn't that successful people don't fail, they just treat their failure as a learning experience and ask themselves how they can do things differently. Those who make a career of failure want to blame the company or circumstances and continue making the same mistakes over and over again. I had one driver who leased 3 trucks and lost all of them. He wanted me to do a lease purchase on one of my trucks. When I refused, he started looking for other carriers where he could do a lease. He also looked for people who would finance a truck for him with no down payment. He is someone who should remain a company driver. He just didn't have the discipline to achieve success as an owner operator. This is a driver who had driven a truck for about 16 years and yet had no savings. His credit was in a shambles, but he continued to do things which would keep him in debt and harm his credit. Had he saved money for those 16 years, he could have paid cash for a good truck. It doesn't make sense to me to spend $650-800/week to lease a truck when you could buy a good used truck that your payments would be $500/month.

[azjonnie]

May be too late but STAY AWAY from Trans Am and their lease. I was out of trucking for 10 years. Had to start over as a rookie. Joined Trans Am-did a lease-BIG mistake. After 12 months with a total of 5 days off for the year. Never late on a load-never refused a load. My truck was in the hole. You will have weeks with no pay because your miles suck but they don't stop paying your truck expenses. TERRIBLE company. You are just there to move their freight and you pay all expenses.

[Blacksheep]

If you can't go out and get your own truck you're not ready then, leasing is for suckers.

[TruckerDude1982]

I've talked to a bunch of guys about leasing. I'd say its best for guys that are younger in the business or have shakier credit. Alot of the lease companies buy their trucks wholesale and then lease them out plus they tend to know who is going to pay the bills and who isn't. The jerkoff banks won't lend to anyone unless they have amazing credit, which as you know is hard as hell to do as a trucker. Check out Used Truck Finance Wholesale Semi Truck Lease for Owner Operators , I've heard these guys do a good job.

[Pooklar]

I am going to put this simple as I can. DONT DO IT!! You have no control!! The truck is not yours!! If you want to be an owner operator do it the right way!! Playing fleece purchase does not make you an owner operator...and never will!!

[Pooklar]

Originally Posted by azjonnie

May be too late but STAY AWAY from Trans Am and their lease. I was out of trucking for 10 years. Had to start over as a rookie. Joined Trans Am-did a lease-BIG mistake. After 12 months with a total of 5 days off for the year. Never late on a load-never refused a load. My truck was in the hole. You will have weeks with no pay because your miles suck but they don't stop paying your truck expenses. TERRIBLE company. You are just there to move their freight and you pay all expenses.

I totally agree. I worked for this company years ago. Kansas is a right to work state. I just finished doing a turn out to the east coast unload then reload and back in under 4 days. Soon as I hit the lot in Olathe KS they wanted to send me right out again!! I told them I needed a shower, something to eat and some sleep and I would be more than happy to head out first thing in the morning. 20 min went by and they told me to clean out my truck!

This is one of the companies that got to big for their britches and does not care about the drivers. Listen to what azjonnie said. STAY AWAY FROM TRANSAM!!