Buy A Truck And Lease Back To Transport Company - Scam?

A friend of mine who lives outside the US was approached with an investment opportunity in the trucking industry here in the U.S. Below are the details he shared. It all sounds like a scam to me, but thought I would check with the experts here on this forum. I am not in the trucking industry but in trying to research this for my friend, I found this great forum.

Investor/Owner - enters into contract with Operator Investor puts in $70K for purchase of a truck (2014 or newer, Freightliner, Volvo, Mack, Kenworth or International with less than 600k miles) Truck is titled in Investor's name Operator pays $2,200 to lease truck from Investor - Operator pays for ALL maintenance, insurance, repairs and keeps truck in working order At end of 5 year lease, truck is still Investor's property and can sell or enter new lease agreement

Invest: $70,000 from Investor Lease payments: $132,000 to Investor Truck residual value at end of lease: $15,000

Profit in 5 years: +132,000 - 70,000 + 15,000 = $77,000 Profit per year = $15,400 Rate of return = 22% / year

This all seems too good to be true. Even if the $70K investment of the truck seems high (at least from my limited research for a 2014 truck), it seems like they are still promising a good return on the investment. Where else can you get a guaranteed 22% return per year? I told my friend this was too good to be true and it seems like a way that someone here in the U.S. is taking advantage of foreigners with a promise of high returns. I welcome any thoughts from the experts on this forum.

Your instincts are probably right on the money......Truck buyer/investor seems to be looking for a sucker.....Your friend probably ain't got an extra $10,000-$20,000 to bank for maint/repairs. Owner would be laughing all the way to the bank,,,,maybe for short term until your friend crashes n burns......Then the owner will need to find a new fish to hook...Doubt seriously a 22% return for either party, or everyone would be doing it. Mega carriers don't even get close to that ROI

Probably a scam, most definitely not going to work as promised.

I have to take my dog to the vet or I would go through this more. You'd be hard pressed to find someone to lease a 7 year old truck with 600k miles on for 2,200 plus paying for all repairs and everything you mentioned.

Ten words of advice that won’t cost you a penny: No no no no no no no no no no

Dumbest thing I've read all month.

Thanks for all the replies. I was pretty sure it's a scam. Doing research, I can't find anyone who has done this and been burned but also no one who has done it and it worked either, so no good data out there to go on, that's why I posted here, who better to ask...

When he first mentioned the idea, I said don't do it, but please send the info. The info I posted is what he sent me. I really thank you all for validating my feeling on this. I will pass it on and hope he does not make this investment.

And @PackRat - I'm glad you got a good laugh.

May or may not be a scam, but I can see what is going on if it is real. The person in the US is looking for someone to buy them a truck so they can get their own authority. They probably have looked into leasing programs either carrier based or third party and don’t have any money. The 2200 figure is about what alot of those programs charge for lease payments. That is 550.00 a week. The 70k initial would no doubt be used to buy the truck, tag it, and insure it given the year model stated.

If someone is going this route they don’t need to be an O/O. They have no startup money which translates they have no maintance money, and no credit to get started. Most likely not a great record of employment either.

Just my thoughts.

A friend of mine who lives outside the US was approached with an investment opportunity in the trucking industry here in the U.S. Below are the details he shared. It all sounds like a scam to me, but thought I would check with the experts here on this forum. I am not in the trucking industry but in trying to research this for my friend, I found this great forum.

Investor/Owner - enters into contract with Operator Investor puts in $70K for purchase of a truck (2014 or newer, Freightliner, Volvo, Mack, Kenworth or International with less than 600k miles) Truck is titled in Investor's name Operator pays $2,200 to lease truck from Investor - Operator pays for ALL maintenance, insurance, repairs and keeps truck in working order At end of 5 year lease, truck is still Investor's property and can sell or enter new lease agreement

Invest: $70,000 from Investor Lease payments: $132,000 to Investor Truck residual value at end of lease: $15,000

Profit in 5 years: +132,000 - 70,000 + 15,000 = $77,000 Profit per year = $15,400 Rate of return = 22% / year

This all seems too good to be true. Even if the $70K investment of the truck seems high (at least from my limited research for a 2014 truck), it seems like they are still promising a good return on the investment. Where else can you get a guaranteed 22% return per year? I told my friend this was too good to be true and it seems like a way that someone here in the U.S. is taking advantage of foreigners with a promise of high returns. I welcome any thoughts from the experts on this forum.

May not be a scam, but it doesn't sound like a good investment because nothing ever works so easily and nicely. Anytime someone is guaranteeing a certain ROI, it's a red flag that the person doesn't have sufficient experience in that area of business. There is no such thing as a guaranteed ROI on any business investment. What happens if the truck is wrecked? What happens if the truck is involved in an accident that wrecks another vehicle(s)? There is so much that can't be predicted here that such an investment would only be worthwhile if both parties have experience in trucking business investments AND both have the capital to spare in case the investment goes foul for any reason.