Serious Leasing Question. Help!

I started with prime Inc September of last year (2016). My dad said I couldn't do it so I did it. Ended up passing my cdl the first go around. Got a trifecta on my road test and went out over the road with a trainer. I have my own truck now and I decided to do lease after hearing how great it is. Yes it's great, for the most part. Here is my problem. I went home a week ago. Stayed home for 7 days, which I know I shouldn't have. I went -600 and this week my dispatch didn't give me enough loads to get myself out of the hole. I'm still -300. I have understood that my lease is a walk away. But my question is this, if I'm a lease operator can I transfer back to the company side? I love what I do but two weeks with no check is starting to get the best of me. Especially when I'm running my 70 hour clock out and still on the negative side. If anyone knows anything please help me out.

Based on your post, what part is great? The "shiny new truck" that is already sucking the financial life out of you? I do not see it...

I am really, really sorry to hear of your dilemma. I do not know how to effectively advise you...I am not a L/O and never will be. I can however strongly, emphatically suggest not to take an extended period of time-off. Completely counter productive and only helps to dig your hole deeper. Doesn't matter if you are sick, need some R&R; the truck payment is there and will not go away and must be paid. You signed a contract,...a legal document. Since I am unfamiliar with the contract language, I do not know if there is an "out" clause and if there are associated penalties.

For the record, IMO it's borderline criminal for any of these large carriers to manipulate a novice driver into a lease. You need to read your contract, understand your obligations and if there is a somewhat painless path to being released from it, GET OUT OF IT. No one should ever agree to and sign anything you have not read and do not understand; including leasing agreements and training contracts.

To be blunt, what is happening to you is a classic example of why a rookie driver shouldn't even think about leasing until at least a full year of experience, if ever (scratches head). There are a few L/O on this forum who hopefully can advise you better than I. But in the mean-time, you must do everything in your power to run that truck, run it... No excuses,...run that truck. Run the wheels off it.

Kristin, we make a point here of always advising against leasing, especially rookie drivers. You need to talk to your fleet manager and tell them you realize that you made a mistake by jumping into leasing as a rookie, and that you want to be routed to Springfield so that you can be switched over to being a company driver. It is my understanding that Prime will let you do this, but you will need to get yourself into some positive numbers if you can, or you will need to pay them the negative balance before you can switch over to being a company driver.

I'm sorry you had to learn this lesson the hard way, but am glad you posted this so that others can see more clearly why we try to dissuade folks from making this more often than not fateful decision.

Wow. Sorry.

First...go read that contract. "Walk away lease " does not mean you pay nothing. Just like with a leased car, you have to pay for any wear n tear, damage and even miles of depreciation. I've read two of the lease contracts and they were both different, so not sure what yours says. Here's an example though....lease ops pay no pet fees. But...they get charged for the detail to remove the hair at the end of the lease and change all the air filters as well as clean out the APU and bunk heater hoses.

For this type of reason, it may cost you more to give up the truck than to try to deal with the situation at hand.

If you haven't alreafy , take the ACE I & II classes which educate you about saving on fuel and optimizing your potential. Start putting 25% of your lease payment into an "emergency fund" just like the tire fund money comes out. That way after four weeks out, if you take a whole week off, you will have banked one whole lease payment and won't be in the hole after home time. However, be sure to bank maintenance money as well.

I just had a friend who got towed and it cost $400. FL told her the truck was fixed... So drove 60 miles and needed another tow for another $400. These things happen. Another friend owns her truck and although the one part was warranted, another part to get to that part was not and cost her $10,000.

Your other option to keep the lease would be to take on a team mate...even temporarily to rack up those miles and get you into a better position with the funds I discussed. And no I don't mean train, I mean team. Even for a few months it could make a difference to get you out of the hole.

Otherwise. I do know lease ops who are now company drivers. A couple went on to team as company drivers to catch them up then went out solo. You can do it....but keep in mind, going company means changing your FM...which means he loses a driver and may try to talk you out of it for his own interest.

No offense. But you didn't weigh all your options and research before you went lease, so please be sure to do so now.

Go read that contract and talk to a few lease ops. See what you can do to get out of that hole. And see how much it will cost you to get out of the lease.

Where are you buying fuel? Are you being selective with price or just stopping at the places you like? Are you driving slower or burning more fuel by running the 65mph? If you need work done, are you shopping prices between prime and TA...or getting work down in the south where prices ate cheaper as opposed to the Northeast? What about the additives like antigel? At Prime its $5 a bottle...at TA its $18. Are you taking advantage of that discount?

Hope this helps

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Its also cheaper to get your truck washed at the terminals than onbthe road. Are you taking advantage of that?

I think lease ops still get reimbursement for scaling..not sure..but are you sending the PO for it? Even little bit of saving money helps.

Take care of the pennies and the dollars will build up.

What division are you doing .i do team with you .it we split everything .im doing tanker now let me know I run hard I'm doing 2500 mile at week by myself

What division are you doing .i do team with you .it we split everything .im doing tanker now let me know I run hard I'm doing 2500 mile at week by myself

"If we split everything"?

What exactly does that mean? A lease op pays the team mate a cpm (usually 20 com) that's it.

I've heard of newbies trying to split the profits or give a % but that defeats the purpose. Unless by " we split everything" you mean you will pay half the fuel, lease. Maintenance etc...but until then, if teaming on a lease truck it is not beneficial to the lease op

Now...going as a comonay team is different. You even get a bonus after 3500 miles.

We split everything.i was doing team for company. You only get 24 cents a mile and 20 more cents after 3500

You need to ask Prime. Schneider allows Independent Contractors to return to Company Driver status, but I don't know of any ramifications.

All of us will speculate. Call the people who can give you the definitive answer.

From what I have heard from my clients who use to drive for prime, you can return the truck but just be aware that prime will charge you wear and tear, maintenance and for replacing any parts or equipment that has to be done and normally they will take it out of your escrow if you had one set up with them and then transition to company driver. I don't know if leasing with prime requires you to get your physical damage and bob tail liability with them, but they are some insurance companies out there whose physical damage comes automatically with unlimited towing, accidental travel coverage, tarps chains and binders, personal property, electronic in cab equipment, and reimburse you up to $5000.00 if you rent a truck if yours was in an accident. If you can get out of your o/o status look for a company like that. there is just one that offers it but I cant say the name in here unless Brett gives me permission to. But a company like that will help you a lot as an o/o in case you are involved in any snafu