Thinking About Leasing With Prime

Jai, From what I've recently seen on the Prime Drivers' FB page, the home time policy is changing. It will still be 1 day home for every week OTR , but it will no longer be limited to a 4 day maximum. The new policy will allow for up to 8 weeks out and 8 days home.

Now I have been with Prime for 2.5 years. I'm single. I only have myself to worry about. I've saved a ton of money. I will be starting a lease in a couple weeks. Not for the money, mind you. More for the desire to change things up a little bit and to have a little more freedom of choice. Plus I'm keeping the truck I have and the truck's end of lease date is in June of 2022, so it's a short commitment. It allows me to test the waters without too much of a risk. I did have to change residency to Delaware because Prime doesn't allow leases for drivers living in NJ (California too).

If you are still set on leasing I'd wait at least 6 months. Learn to be efficient and productive as a company driver and save some money before jumping into leasing, bc no matter how much or how little you make each week, you still have to make that truck payment every week. You will want to have money set aside so you can make that payment when you decide to take some time off.

Another thing to consider, as mentioned in other comments, is benefits. If you have a family you might need those health benefits. Even if you make more money leasing (which is not guaranteed) the cost of getting benefits on your own might end up negating any increase in pay.

Hey guys, Thanks so much for the responses and advice. Honestly the appeal of leasing isn't really appealing but Prime home time sucks and we both have elderly parents and have recently lost loved ones to Covid, so we just wanted to be home at least a week to see our family. One day per every week out with a max of 4 days kinda sucks. Now mind you, we've been out 6 weeks and only want to take home every 8 weeks. We are runners and average 4500 to 6000 miles a week. No goals in my mind yet other than just catching up on bills.

What you are asking as company is totally doable as your prove your value to your FM. When your go lease... You now have to prove yourself all over again to a different FM. At 1 year, you van negotiate with your FM because he can show his bosses "look, this truck makes money". By being new and not knowing the freight lanes, you van easily screw yourself by putting yourself on bad load places. I hear it all the time.

Again.... You never answered my question.

Team trucks right now are profiting 89cpm plus the 14cpm for the Co driver. So that is $1.03 per mile (before taxes) divided by 2 drivers.... 51.5cpm each driver. Without any benefits. And before you take home time. Home time will cost you and drop this # significantly

You want to take 12 weeks off a year? That will cost you 12 x $1300 = $15,960 per year.

Real Diehl

Didn't know about the new policy and that's awesome honestly. That's really all we wanted lol. Now that we know that, I don't think leasing will be something we do. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it and I don't want to have worry about Fuel, Lumpers, repairs and a truck note. Honestly when a time does come where we outgrow company,I'd rather see if I could go through Freightliner or Peterbilt firsthand to lease.

Real Diehl

Didn't know about the new policy and that's awesome honestly. That's really all we wanted lol. Now that we know that, I don't think leasing will be something we do. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it and I don't want to have worry about Fuel, Lumpers, repairs and a truck note. Honestly when a time does come where we outgrow company,I'd rather see if I could go through Freightliner or Peterbilt firsthand to lease.

If hometime is your main concern, why not stay with PRIME INC and see if they have a dedicated account they can put you on that will get you home more often?

Real Diehl

Didn't know about the new policy and that's awesome honestly. That's really all we wanted lol. Now that we know that, I don't think leasing will be something we do. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it and I don't want to have worry about Fuel, Lumpers, repairs and a truck note. Honestly when a time does come where we outgrow company,I'd rather see if I could go through Freightliner or Peterbilt firsthand to lease.

Do not accept this policy as fact until you see it on the Prime app, FM or from Andrea Mueller herself.

Real Diehl

Didn't know about the new policy and that's awesome honestly. That's really all we wanted lol. Now that we know that, I don't think leasing will be something we do. There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it and I don't want to have worry about Fuel, Lumpers, repairs and a truck note. Honestly when a time does come where we outgrow company,I'd rather see if I could go through Freightliner or Peterbilt firsthand to lease.

If hometime is your main concern, why not stay with PRIME INC and see if they have a dedicated account they can put you on that will get you home more often?

Also forgot to mention: Stay COMPANY drivers.

Hey Kearsey and all the other experienced drivers

Thanks for responding so promptly. And Kearsey, I checked out your Company vs Lease YT video and after seeing that, I'm definitely not interested in Leasing. The guy made almost a million bucks in 3 years but his lease note was over 400 grand. That's not really profitable. We make pretty good now, just wanted more home time other than 4 days. Local and dedicated isn't really for me since I hate city driving and so does my gf. We will stick with Company and try to survive our 1st year and 1st winter.

I should have mentioned, as Kearsey points out, that the home time policy change is not official. The poster said he got the info from his FM although there is reason to be skeptical until an official announcement is made...if ever.

Some FM's are more flexible too. At least they can be with drivers who perform well. They may not hold you to only 4 days off if you have been out for 5 weeks. They might be OK with you asking for an additional day or 2. Unfortunately, my fm was rather strict on this point. She did offer me a full week off between students if I would stay on her fleet as a company driver though. This was extremely kind. If I wasn't burnt out with training right now, I would have accepted the offer.

People complain about other drivers getting "special" treatment. Their FM's give them better loads or more home time. Instead we should praise drivers for earning special treatment. If you are productive, you might just be able to get some of that "special" treatment too. It doesn't hurt to ask ...

Some FM's are more flexible too.

That was my experience. My average home time at Prime was like 6-7 days in a row, without so much as a peep from my FM. Once I even stayed home a full 11 days after being out 9 weeks (by choice).

I earned that privilege through running hard and staying on top of my FM's board.