Sold On Leasing... No, Lease Purchase!

I was commenting on Britton’s thread before; but since he’s given up on OTR seems pointless now. It was actually a typo that I said he wasn’t doing well; but forum doesn’t let you edit after posting. Maybe it was prophetic?!

I’m afraid the $328K W-2... and more recently the $10.5K 7 day settlement I contributed too (of which he took home $6.5K...he shared his Prime Settlement with me)... has convinced me to go lease when I upgrade in 3 weeks.

Old School(?) the W-2 is from ADP who he hired to manage his book-keeping and issue himself a real paycheck every week from the LLC he created for his trucking venture. You know when you rent, apply for a loan, etc... they all want proof of income; and a paycheck from a recognizable entity goes a long way.

He’s agreed to mentor me through the process: forming an LLC, Corp Banking, getting a ‘real’ paycheck every week, etc.

I’m in NC right now while he attends a family function. Did he leave me at a truck stop for 3 days? Most would I think. No, he put me in the room next to his at the Hyatt for $200/night. The guy has his flaws, but looking after his trainee’s isn’t one of them! This room is bigger than my last apartment!

Unlike Britton i’m loving being on the road. I might like my current temporary digs, but I’d rather be on the road right now. Idk- there’s nothing I want to do here; and my budget is limited. At this point in my life- this place is ‘far, far out of my league’.

As will happen OTR I’ve talked to other lease truckers and every one has 1 regret...not going lease purchase.

That big end of lease bonus is crap as I can see. The truck has to be returned in mint condition- every blemish, scratch, and wear is reason to take money out of the bonus.

But if you own it on completion- I could sell it for cheap as is...and still get twice the money!~

I have my eye on Freightliner’s Driver Loft Option. Successleasing hasn’t returned my inquiry yet. It might not even be possible. I do miss one thing above all else being on the road. It’s not family... well not the human part... I do miss family dog but bringing an 80lb mastiff on a truck would be cruel. No, I miss my desktop PC. I was an avid, chronic MMO gamer last 15 years or so. I miss having a PC workstation, etc and a laptop won’t cut it... I’m that guy who took a week vacation at the 9 to 5 job... just to sit at home in front of my PC for 7 days straight. If I could get that on a truck...

Don’t misunderstand- I have no intention of being an owner/operator. I still need and will likely always need Prime or another to line up work for me. I’m just looking at the bottom line and I’m in this for the money, then the adventure. Family, wife, kids, mortgage, etc... none of that is in the picture right now. It’s not even on the table!

Hope others are doing well!

I am not even going to try to talk you out of this because you arent going to listen. I knew that from your diaries comments you were going to go this way.

My advice to anyone reading this in the future is to be a company driver for at least a year. That way not only can you learn the freight lanes, understand the fueling and not be responsible for for insurance deductibles for any rookies accidents, but if you wind up in the negative, you will be qualified to become a trainer to help you out of the hole.

Most lease ops do not know that "negligence" is not covered under the insurance. That means any accident can run tens of thousands of dollars if prime declares it negligent. . Any rookie screw up of a hard brake or setting the reefer incorrectly or not securing the load properly can cost $50,000+ to pay for the freight.

At least once a month some new lease op hits a low clearance and gets hit with a $10,000+ bill.

That big number of $300k+ means nothing without posting "total annual operation costs".

Ask any solo lease op what they make and you will hear $2000 "take home". But that is before taxes and without any insurances and no 401k.

Last week my last student did his 2nd full week solo in a lightweight. He did $1700 gross, and took home $1400 after taxes and insurances. That puts him ahead of the average lease op this week. Also ask them how often they go home. Then ask company drivers what they make, and how often they get home. You might be surprised to find out that when all is said and done, things are usually equal, but company drivers have health, dental, vision, disability, life and 401k Plus MORE home time. They also train when they want, not because they have to.

good luck jason

But if you own it on completion- I could sell it for cheap as is...and still get twice the money!

Wow, who knew being in business was that damn easy, right??? That easy money is gonna be flowing like a river for ya, son. It's obvious to me when someone has it all figured out. Man, you're just a million miles ahead of the rest of us. We've been at this for more years than we can count but you're gonna ignore all that advice and everything else that makes any kind of sense and show everyone how the big dawgs do it, aren't ya?

Go get em kid! You've got it all figured out. There's nothing left to know. Heck, what could go wrong? I can't think of anything.

Man, there's a sucker born every minute.

Please post your weekly settlements on this site for us to see what we are missing. Seriously.......we want a weekly update.....will you commit to doing that?

This has to be satire right? Someone pulling a April fools a week early right?

I would highly advise you to avoid leasing but you seem to have your mind set.

Pretty risky... I thought about replying earlier but I figured I'd hold off...

I noticed in your picture two guys and only 1 parachute. If your the one the parachute is attached to your doing alright.

Leasing is kinda the same thing, one company is holding the other out front with no chute and the same risk.

What Rainey more accurately pointed out was yeah he grossed 300k but did he show you the truck payments, insurance, taxes,and above all else fuel cost?

I'm a company driver and make pretty good money. None of it is at risk if the truck breaks down. In fact they towed a truck to me once in under 18 hours and paid me for it. Know who is saving your bacon if YOUR truck breaks down?

The site owner sent you a pretty funny message... This entire site is here to keep you from making the very same mistake you've just posted about. Let that marinate.

I still value your comments Rainy; even If I don’t take your advice to heart. Thanks for taking your time.

That said- I can address a few of them.

I am well aware of how negligence works. Just two days ago my latest Trainer got in a hurry and went trailer to trailer at a Tyson Plant; another $1000 error. As this was the 2nd time a trainer has done this with me in the truck... starting to feel like a bad penny or something. If it had been another truck he’d traded paint with it would have been $1K for the truck alone!

Lease or company- you are responsible for your mistakes.

As for the idiots running low bridges that’s easy: Garmon(?) or Rand McNally.

Qualcomm SUCKS! Generously...but the voice address is the worst I’ve ever seen. “Stay right,” it says when the exit’s on the left. “Take exit 101,” it says but there’s 3 options A, B, and C... which one???? And then of course it’ll tell you every flocking place exit B will go... 45 seconds worth but when you have 100 yds at 55mph to decide... by the time it gets done reciting the decision is long made and done. That said- if you can sort out all it’s faults it has never led me wrong.

Garmon and Rand McNally however- ugh! QC failed in Wi last week... kept getting errors because the road we were on and/or one in the route was prohibited. So Trainer said to use Garmon... which immediately told us to turn down a road with a 7 ton wt limit! (And we’re hauling 40K lbs).

I don’t understand Prime’s reasoning putting QC down low under then dashboard. You are practically lookin out the passenger window to look at it while everyone puts their Garmon, etc above the dash where they can see the road and its directions at the same time. So is it any wonder that folks inevitably use it?

I won’t make that decision; and if I do lease purchase- I can reposition the QC where it should be... not where Prime delegates it. Good, proper pre- planning- and there won’t be stupid mistakes depending on other GPS devices. And if QC takes me under a low bridge...

Money wise- I have no illusions as a solo driver my income will be half or less of what he’s showing me. It’s the potential though that’s worth investing in. Whether you haul dog food or diamonds- it’s all the same for company drivers; but lease not so much.

It’s the carrot for Trainers to do TNT. They get cheap help while qualifying for level 3-5 high value loads which is where the big payouts come from.

Are there other incentives? Likely, but nothing better than high value 5.

After looking back on your comments you've been licensed for like a month and your trying to lease?

Darwin has an award you just might qualify for.

Never seen a person list being able to position their QC where they want as a reason to lease. Sorry but with logic like that way no way will you fail.

Jason, do you want to be a trainer?