Lease Purchase

You called it OS lol. I am leasing and will gladly tell the vast majority, especially a brand new driver not to do it for the reasons I already mentioned. Now I'm sure people would like to know why I chose to do so. For one, I'm crazy. It's probably up for debate but I'll admit it. Seriously though, the reason I did was because I had all the numbers in front of me before I made the commitment. My truck is a 2016 Freightliner Coronado that had just under 50k on it when I got it. The total cost of the truck including all of my securement equipment and tarps will be $139,600. It's a Glider so it's not California compliant but it won't have many of the issues that plague newer trucks. I used to build trucks for several years for Freightliner and was both CAT and Cummins certified so the vast majority of repairs, I can do myself. (It still has 2 years of remaining factory warranty). The company I'm with runs a rate of a minimum $2 a mile to the truck and we don't do much deadhead with many loads more than that rate. The load I'm picking up today and running to Colorado for Thursday delivery is $3.90 a mile to the truck so the numbers do work out to where I can make money. Now, compare that to the vast majority of big company leases where they're lucky to get $1.35-$1.50 a mile and paying much much more and you can definitely see why folks need to run, not walk away from those leases. I too have experience in business and still own a working body shop that has been in business since 1997. So between my vehicular knowledge and a very good portion of my life (starting at 16) in and around trucks and the industry, I do have an advantage over a person who is brand new and will gladly say,,,,, Stay company.

Lol - you didn't have to reveal yourself!

I have a lot of respect for ya, which is why i purposely didn't expose you.

I meant to add on at the end. For those who get all enamored by the idea of having a shiny new fancy truck, remember this. Every mile that new truck runs will be costing you roughly $1.35 a mile before you make a penny. That's your fixed costs, truck payment, maintenance and rainy day escrows etc. You'll be pulling company contract freight which is generally a lower rate because they're bidding service and volume, not individual loads. You'll have no control over your loads or the rates, except at Schneider, and you will most likely go broke.

I was an owner-op with Werner when I was driving and I will also say that you shouldn't do it, especially with so little experience in the industry.

Do you get paid a lot more? Yes, but your expenses are also a lot higher. I had one week where my gross pay was 4k, but after all expenses, my net was -2500. I also had some really nice weeks too, but you never know when you're going to run into repair issues.

All good Old School lol. It's really no big deal and I don't bring it up because it can get to be a pretty heated topic at times and there's a pantload of threads already dedicated to it. I figured in this case, I could at least try to enlighten folks with some real world numbers and hopefully scare the bejeezus out of them once they realize that for all intents and purposes, in 99% of the lease programs out there, you will get screwed. I came over here for several reasons and not even specifically the lease. I just hope that folks who are brand new or even the ones who have a bit of experience will realize that in almost all cases, the company leases are absolutely not the way to go. If people want to educate themself on rates and loads etc, they need to take the time to look at various load boards and see what the rates are really like. Then understand that while they are 100% beholden to their company, they will never ever see those kinds of rates that true O/O bid on. It's so much more involved than check the Qualcomm and then accept or deny a load. I don't want to get more in depth because it's not really a good topic to get into, I just hoped to share a little real info.