Lease Drivers?

As a company driver, you have no risk and company covers everything. The only exception is if you need a tow because of your mistake then it comes out of your paycheck but this depends on company.

You will make mistakes, you will do stupid things as a rookie - hopefully nothing severe. Go company driver.

BTW. "Walk away lease" doesn't mean you are absolved of debt. It means you are not accountable for future payments. So if you were in the hole three weeks in a row... And I know people it happened to, you can go back to company but must pay back that $3000 or whatever it was in past lease payments.

I know a guy who went right from training to a lease....was in the hole his first month. Took on a teammate and combined they only ran 4000 miles a week..so no big help there. He eventually "walked away from the lease" owing $5000 in back lease payments and inspection charges. Yes you will get charged for any and all damage to the truck....including detailing. It is recommended that you get an inspection a month before turning it in so that you can fix anything that needs to be. Also getting it detailed would save on that charge. Otherwise you will be charged.

And that guy owing $5000 paid it back $200 per week. So the walk away lease is really enticing isn't it?

BTW. "Walk away lease" doesn't mean you are absolved of debt. It means you are not accountable for future payments. So if you were in the hole three weeks in a row... And I know people it happened to, you can go back to company but must pay back that $3000 or whatever it was in past lease payments.

I know a guy who went right from training to a lease....was in the hole his first month. Took on a teammate and combined they only ran 4000 miles a week..so no big help there. He eventually "walked away from the lease" owing $5000 in back lease payments and inspection charges. Yes you will get charged for any and all damage to the truck....including detailing. It is recommended that you get an inspection a month before turning it in so that you can fix anything that needs to be. Also getting it detailed would save on that charge. Otherwise you will be charged.

And that guy owing $5000 paid it back $200 per week. So the walk away lease is really enticing isn't it?

A walk away lease is the only lease that anyone should even consider. If things dont work out you can abandon the lease (obviously taking any debt that you may have with you) but if its not a walk away lease your only option is for someone else to take over the lease. Finding someone to take over your lease is super difficult and usually you'll have to bribe them a few grand to take it over.

Its a walk away lease or nothing. But most importantly, if you're a rookie then leasing onto any company is a stupid decision. In the above example, said driver was an idiot which lead to his financial destruction.

Ernie, I admit nothing.

OMG I had no idea!

Man, I was the only one here that didn't know, wasn't I? Ernie knew. I know Old School must have known. That's hilarious! I really had no idea. You guys did a great job of hiding that.

Yeah, this was the worst-kept secret on the board. You're kind of like the dad in this situation, Brett -- the last one to know.

The O/P was saying the lease drivers at his current company aren't making much and is inquiring whether he may have better luck elsewhere. There are many lease drivers on our highways making a terrific living. Some people understand business and succeed, others don't and fail miserably. Just because you or someone else belongs in the latter category doesn't mean the O/P and many others fall into the former.

Well, I will say that I had a strong business background before I went into trucking and I talked myself into leasing. It was just barely more profitable than driving a company truck, maybe, assuming that I would not have gotten a raise during that time as a company driver -- which isn't a good assumption, actually.

So really, I broke even on the deal. And had a lot more heartburn and risk and work for the same money.

Having tried it, I won't do it again, because the business reality of leasing is 1) all that's happening is the company is transferring a bunch of risk to the driver, and 2) the potential rewards for assuming that risk are not that great. It's what Old School calls a poor risk/return ratio.

Now, maybe, if I had a really good contract in hand, and a good, mechanically sound truck from someone I knew at a very reasonable price, I might consider purchasing. But only if I were twenty years younger and single.

BTW. "Walk away lease" doesn't mean you are absolved of debt. It means you are not accountable for future payments. So if you were in the hole three weeks in a row... And I know people it happened to, you can go back to company but must pay back that $3000 or whatever it was in past lease payments.

I know a guy who went right from training to a lease....was in the hole his first month. Took on a teammate and combined they only ran 4000 miles a week..so no big help there. He eventually "walked away from the lease" owing $5000 in back lease payments and inspection charges. Yes you will get charged for any and all damage to the truck....including detailing. It is recommended that you get an inspection a month before turning it in so that you can fix anything that needs to be. Also getting it detailed would save on that charge. Otherwise you will be charged.

And that guy owing $5000 paid it back $200 per week. So the walk away lease is really enticing isn't it?

A walk away lease is the only lease that anyone should even consider. If things dont work out you can abandon the lease (obviously taking any debt that you may have with you) but if its not a walk away lease your only option is for someone else to take over the lease. Finding someone to take over your lease is super difficult and usually you'll have to bribe them a few grand to take it over.

Its a walk away lease or nothing. But most importantly, if you're a rookie then leasing onto any company is a stupid decision. In the above example, said driver was an idiot which lead to his financial destruction.

Yeah but my point is that you don't walk away from the debt. A lot of these younger people are coming into trucking and not even reading the lease. Then they get all excited to pick out their trucks. They don't realize that when they walk away they still owe whatever they owed at the time which can be a considerable amount.

Heck one guy i know had two dogs on his truck. They hit him with $1000 detail bill, and another $1000 to change the air filters and APU/heater hoses he never changed or cleaned from hair.

Its like leasing a car, you fix the issues before you turn it in or you pay a high high price. Not to mention any back payments.

People just don't read the contract. One woman told me "I got charged $25 this week for the Prepass".... Cause she never read the contract that she had to pay the 88 cents everytime she passed a weigh station.

And what if your student takes a wrong turn like I did in training? $70 toll my trainer paid cause I took a wrong turn and had to go back around, through the toll again, then go the correct way through another toll booth.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

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.

You guys baffle me.

James says that lease drivers barely make enough to cover their truck payments... yet he's interested...?

Rick owned a business for 5 years and sounds like it wasn't as good as he had hoped. So he sold it and "barely made it out alive". Yet the subject of owning another more risky business and less rewardful business is on his mind?

(Facepalm)

Uhh the business I owned was a franchise..nothing to do with trucking..It was an experience and I learned a lot..there were certainly tax incentives. After looking at all of these comments yall are talking me out of it. I am caught between just putting in another year or so and moving on to a higher paying company job. My big issue is going home when I want. Hey at least this issue of leasing is being discussed here..it's going on so much now.