Best Company For Lease-to-own?

I am wondering what the best company with good pay and benefits that will help u lease to own? I am wanting to buy my own truck but don't want to get into a sticky area that I can't get out of. I want to loads n good pay home weekly. Or local routes. I live in frankfort, In. 45 north of indy n 30 from laffayette, ind. Looking for guidance n knowledge. Thanks

Jeff I highly encourage you to rethink your idea of leasing. There are alot of reasons but I’ll hit the biggie’s here.

Any company leasing trucks are doing it to make money. They usually lease tractors they have run 1-2 years. This is now a used truck with who knows how many different drivers. They charge a weekly fee that normally is higher than what a truck payment is if you go buy one. Why?? Your paying for their new company trucks.

Leases can and do vary greatly believe it or not. You would think they should all be similiar, but they are not. Why?? Each company does things a little differently and those leases again are crafted in favor of the company making money off of it.

You mentioned benifits in your post. If you lease your not a company employee, you are your own employee, so any benifits are yours to purchase for yourself.

Pay!! This varies as well. Some companies pay mileage rates. Some pay percentage of the linehaul. Mileage rates and percentages vary from company to company. Also freight type is important. It all pays differently.

Here is something else to consider. Are you wanting to purchase the truck at the end of the lease?? If so plan on it probably getting close to needing some major work by lease end. Also if you leave prior to lease end you will loose all you put into it. This could be you getting ill, or any host of other issues.

While your leasing the truck you will be solely responsible for the maintance. Hopefully it will have some warranty left and cover anything major. How much is an oil change?? Depends on the model, but it starts at around 350.00 and goes up. Tires are another big expense.

Also companies still own the truck and will dictate what you can and cannot do to the truck. Payments don’t stop because of breakdowns, hometime, or slow freight times.

These are the highlights. If your looking to get into a truck without having anything to invest, you don’t need to be getting into it. Save your money and buy your own truck and lease your truck onto a company.

I don’t intend to throw cold water on your idea, just pointing out how these programs work.

What's your business background and your current trucking business plan, Jeff?

Are you a current CDL driver?

I am wondering what the best company with good pay and benefits that will help u lease to own? I am wanting to buy my own truck but don't want to get into a sticky area that I can't get out of. I want to loads n good pay home weekly. Or local routes. I live in frankfort, In. 45 north of indy n 30 from laffayette, ind. Looking for guidance n knowledge. Thanks

I’ll just burst your bubble now. There is no way in hell you’ll lease a truck worth having and be home every week or running local routes. For that matter, there’s no truck made today worth trying to own given all the issues caused by emissions systems and the constant maintenance and breakdowns you’ll endure. The days of owning a million mile truck are over thanks to politics.

Hi jeff,

The only place I've ever seen anyone successful leasing out of is prime, but I have no idea how they are set up.

I can however say with great certainty that you will not be getting home weekly doing lease, unless you trained and got paid all miles, or run team.

The good news is you live in a good area for freight. Indy has a lot of hubs you can find freight out of.

Living that close to Indy, I would look at the linehaul companies for a decent job. Leasing a truck takes the Lifestyle of a Trucker and puts it into overdrive. The only people I know that have made money on a leased truck, literally lived in their truck. No hometime, no breaks, they put all their heart, soul and money into the truck and that's how they survived. If you look hard enough you will find stories about other lease drivers and truck owners that made it without doing that, but they are the exception. Not the rule.

Hello Jeff, and welcome to our forum!

Embedded in your question is the misunderstanding about trucking that says, "If I own my own truck, I can pick and choose how and where I run, and I'll be making more money so I can be home every weekend." It simply isn't true.

Trucking requires a great deal of commitment. Also embedded in your question is the simple fact that you are not very committed to this career...

I don't want to get into a sticky area that I can't get out of.

That's very convenient. That's like saying, "I want to invest in the stock market, but I don't want to risk any of my money." It doesn't work like that. If you lease a truck you'll have to commit to it. Nobody wants to lease a truck to the guy who is going to bail out at the first sign of difficulty.

You seem to be just looking for a job that satisfies your demands, and that's great, but trucking will never be that job. You can't make trucking bend to your desires. It's a common rookie misunderstanding.

The best way to get into trucking is to allow someone else to pay for your training, and you commit to working for them one year. After that is done you'll be able to decide if this is the kind of thing you want or not. You'll have a much better understanding of the career, and you can kind of tweak your approach to it.

Would.it surprise you to know that my experienced lease friend over the course of 3 years averaged 64cpm.... in the end he makes about the same as me with a lot more headaches.... while team training 6mos per year and not taking more than. 18 days off per year.

Line haul at old dominion paid my other friend 70cpm and he was home every day. Plus was a company employee with all benefits.... as lease you have no workman's comp, health, life, dental, disability insurances. No 401k.

I'm at Prime and the lease purchase plan is indeed better than many other companies... but that doesn't make it good. Most lease ops I know stay out 3 to 4 months without home time. They team train to try to make money and always feel pressured. Get a lemon of a truck? You just spent your profits on hotels and downtime. They claim they have control but they don't it is fiction.

I only know one lease op who is on a dedicated flatbed account who gets home every other weekend.

Leasing a truck is like gambling at a casino, so just pick whatever one floats your boat.... The end result will be the same. You're wasting your time and money in both instances.

I cant really add anything better than what has already been offered to you. The answer is none. And if you are just starting out needing your CDL first, dont even think about owning your own rig right out of the gate.

I went the private school route and had all kinds of headache and spent my own money on tuition, living expenses and ultimately had to relocate to another state to get my CDL A because I had trouble passing the backing skills exam and couldn't retest in my home state for a year.

Did I get my CDL - yes. Do I regret that NO absolutely not! Getting a CDL was a huge accomplishment for me and opened up doors. But I also had the uncertainty of a job search afterwards, which is eliminated right up front when you apply for and work with those companies that do offer CDL A training.

Do yourself a favor and check out the company sponsored options.

Paid CDL Training Programs

Apply For Paid CDL Training