There is absolutely no fleece purchase program offered by ANY carrier that I would become involved. If you have poor credit and no money, then you don't need to go out and buy a truck. All you will do is complicate your current financial situation. The best way to buy a truck is to pay cash. If you don't have the funds to do that, then you need to find a lender who will finance it for you. There are leasing companies who may do a lease purchase with you. Some may be all right. At least you can move the truck if things don't work out at your current carrier. What some don't seem to realize is that this is a business. When you lease or buy a truck, you are now in business. You are no longer an employee. Running a successful business requires a certain level of management skills. Not everyone is cut out to run a business. I have probably met more who USED to be OWNER OPERATORS than I have current owner operators who have been doing this for many years. I do have friends who have owned trucks for many years. None of us EVER leased a truck from a carrier. We all managed to buy our equipment the old fashioned way. Some of us paid cash, others used their local bank or other lender to buy their first truck. Unless you have the money to pay cash or at least have a good down payment, you should continue to drive for a carrier until you do have enough money saved up to do it without such a strain.

 

It's possible the underlying question maybe if there is a L/P he should consider, but this is pure assumption. Let's re-read his original post.

 

Actual, hypothetical, it doesn't matter.

Bottom line, just about the whole board agrees, 'absolutely not'.

I'm the lone individual who thinks it could be a way to learn a lot of the extra stuff you never learn as a company driver. Again, one should not necessarily expect to own the truck he ostensibly is trying to purchase (L/P). One should get out as soon as he knows what he is doing and believes he can acquire a truck and make a go of it. I want to add one more. DON'T GO FOR THE CHEAPEST TRUCK BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT'S THE QUICKEST WAY TO OUTRIGHT OWNERSHIP. GO INTO IT NEVER EXPECTING TO OWN THAT TRUCK- ONLY THAT YOU'LL MAKE SOME MONEY AND LEARN ABOUT TRUCK OWNERSHIP. GO FOR THE TRUCK THAT IS LEAST LIKELY TO DRAW FROM YOUR MAINTENANCE FUND. YOU'LL WALK AWAY WITH MORE AT THE END IF YOU DO. Sorry Gman...now I've said my peace 8)

BTW- Great avatar, Serbie. These dogs, they have no shame :lol:

 

Cam, I am not necessarily talking about buying the cheapest truck you can find. What I am saying is that you try to find the least expensive truck you can find that is in good shape. From your post, you seem to look at leasing a truck from a carrier as a means to learn the business. It is a very expensive way to learn your way around trucking. I agree that there is a period of learning. I think that it is good to buy on your own rather than leasing from a carrier. Your maintenance expenses should be about the same either way you go. You will likely pay out less money when you buy. You will also be building equity in something you will one day own. When you lease a truck from a carrier, you are basically throwing money away while you pay for a truck you will never own. You will probably also pay more than if you outright purchase. You can often purchase a truck for about 1/2 to 1/4 of what you will pay to rent a truck from your carrier. In addition, you will likely make more money going with a carrier who doesn't have a lease purchase program. Most of the lease purchase carriers are on the lower end of the compensation scale.

 

That's all sound Gman. I can best make my points just talking about myself, however. I started this thing with zilch, zippo, nothing, nada. Well, one thing, from my Army days I had great credit with USAA, but you may remember some of that saga. Actually, that's the situation I was in when I started my least purchase, too.

See, I'm interested in a lot of stuff, but I'm really not all that ambitious to get rich. I had a hard time visualizing truck ownership. There was a time many years back when I was digging around in the seats of my car just to find change. Spending $500 for a fill up was an abstraction for me. $3,000 for tires. What happens if someone swipes your truck in the parking lot- you pay 2-5k or whatever out of your own pocket? Accountants? Permits? When I was at Perkins they had us doing 'half PMs'. What's a half PM? Where do you go to get a PM done anyway? If fact, what's a PM, at least in comparison to a DOT, an 'A' service, a 'B' service?

I've got to hand it to Steve, he must be able to work in abstractions very well. You know, to understand something from words without ever actually seeing it or touching it or doing it or at least watching somebody else doing it. What the lease purchase did for me was to allow me to see everything and to walk through it. They had support personnel to take us by the hand with everything. One axle alignment, 3 axle alignment...how much do batteries cost? What kind should you get? Where should you get them, how often should you get them? Am I going to need 10k in the bank at the end of the year for self employment and income taxes?

Gman, so much is second nature to you you can't imagine anyone not understanding it. I've seen you write about good, cheap, used trucks. You do understand a lot of people haven't the foggiest clue about how to pick out a good truck and that whatever they learn, it had better be up to snuff against that salesman who has been selling them for nearly 10 years.

People pay lots of money to go to college and often it has little to nothing to do with how they end up making money. With a lease purchase, you are learning how to be a truck owner and you are earning a wage comparable to a company driver even without any equity in the truck. I think the advice people need is not just 'don't do it.' The advice they need is if you are going to do it, do it 'this way', eg., don't take the truck with the quick payoff, take the one with low miles or especially the one with some warranty if there is any (Perkins was putting guys in new and nearly new trucks) .

 

Cam, one reason to drive for a company a couple of years before buying a truck is so that you can understand some of the points you make. If you are a company driver and want to become an owner operator, it would be a good idea to track the expenses you see your company spending on the truck you drive. If you check expenses being spent, then you will have an idea of what it costs to run a truck without committing to a lease purchase. And just because a truck has low miles doesn't mean that it is a good truck. I have known of some that have needed an in-frame at 300,000 miles and others that have gone over 1 million before any major work. I spoke to someone a few days ago who had over 3 million miles on a truck without having any major work done on the engine. Just because a truck is under warranty doesn't mean that everything will be covered. You may buy some assurances with a lower mileage truck, but it is no guarantee that your purchase will be problem free. I would opt for the less expensive truck that can be paid for in cash or within a shorter period of time. No one should start out with a big truck payment. Some make it, but there are many who fail due to over extending themselves and not fully understanding what it takes to buy a truck and run a successful business. There will always be some who will make it no matter what the odds.

 

The original purpose of the post was to simply ask the question and find out everybody thoughts on the subject. Like I said alot of companies offer them. I have been around long enough and read enough to know better than do that. The only ones I usually hear anything bad about are Prime and CRE. It was just a question to find out if anybody ever heard of a good company that didn't hose their L/P operators.

 

I have never seen a lease purchase deal that was worth it but then I came across TDLP Truck Drivers Lease Purchase. http://www.tdlp.com/ and now I wonder. I've leased cars and I usually don't keep a car more then 3-4 years and I apply the same reasoning....I don't care if I own it. When it's old and used up I'll more on to another new truck. WHat about leasing from say Freightliner? Is it true that you can deduct your lease payment if your not buying?

 

You can deduct your lease payments. You can also depreciate your equipment as well as the interest payments. There are ways to accelerate depreciation which could be more or less advantageous than leasing. If you lease a truck you will have nothing but a tax deduction at the end of 4 years. If you buy you should have some equity in addition to the depreciation. You will also have more money in your pocket because you pay less in payments, in most cases.

 

This company is similar to Truck Tech in Pennsylvania. You MUST lease to one of the carriers who will deduct your weekly payments for them. I don't see any difference in this program and one where you go direct to the carrier to lease a truck. I doubt if you could simply leave the carrier until the truck was paid for unless you go to one of the other listed carriers. I am not familiar with some of the carriers on their list. Some I am familiar pay a low mileage rate, such as Landair. Fikes pays percentage and you could probably do fairly well with them.

If you want to lease a truck, you would do better finding a company who leases trucks and equipment and will allow you to send them payments directly. There are some legitimate leasing companies, such as Kennesaw. I can't think of any others off hand. Most charge a higher interest rate than a bank or other lender. I would NEVER commit to leasing a truck through a company who would restrict where I could lease my truck or who would prevent me from moving it should the desire arise. Besides, most owner operators won't stay with any carrier for 4 years.