Interstate Distributor Owner Operator Program

Hello all, so I have been driving for close to 2 years now and am thinking of doing an owner operator lease with interstate and was wondering if any drivers that work for them or have experience with their program can give me some insight into it. Also with heartland now owning them will the job board disappear or the lease program?

We usually help out drivers new to the game here on TT. We don't really discuss leasing and or o/o work on the forums. This topic has been covered before. Just type in leasing in the search bar, should get some results. In short, don't do it.

Kyle, please ask yourself "why"? What is the benefit and appeal to lease operation?

Once you have done that; read the content of this link:

Lease operation

Kyle, 2 questions.

1. How much per mile does is cost to run a lease purchase truck from one of the large carriers?

2. How much will they be paying per mile?

I think you'll quickly find that the cost to you for running the truck will be pretty close to what you'll be taking in per week in revenue which winds up being a wash and you on the losing end. Go by just about any TA and look behind the shop, you'll see Quality leasing trucks parked there for turn in. Among those, you'll see Interstate trucks left from drivers who had the same idea as you.

I don't know the exact figures for particular leasing programs but have come across drivers who are successful, some are not. You will find many on this site are strongly against it. If you are a business minded person and understand how to keep costs as low as possible (tracking fuel prices, driving in a manner to conserve said fuel, keep maintenance up and limiting preventable breakdowns (stuff happens but you can be proactive in prevention), keep record clean and insurance costs manageable, etc) and willing to put in work to keep income up it is possible to be a successful l/o or o/o. Some ppl aren't good with running a business, others excel. Every trucking company, big and small started somewhere and grew. It's certainly not impossible but make sure you do thourough research and are willing to put in work. Best of luck.

BQ wrote:

I don't know the exact figures for particular leasing programs but have come across drivers who are successful, some are not. You will find many on this site are strongly against it. If you are a business minded person and understand how to keep costs as low as possible (tracking fuel prices, driving in a manner to conserve said fuel, keep maintenance up and limiting preventable breakdowns (stuff happens but you can be proactive in prevention), keep record clean and insurance costs manageable, etc) and willing to put in work to keep income up it is possible to be a successful l/o or o/o. Some ppl aren't good with running a business, others excel. Every trucking company, big and small started somewhere and grew. It's certainly not impossible but make sure you do thourough research and are willing to put in work. Best of luck.

BQ...your reply is counter-intuitive to the facts.

Do you speak from first hand knowledge? Obviously not because you prefaced and qualified your response with I don't know. Correct...you don't know. That is all we really need to read and understand in your reply. Not knowing the exact figures is at the very crux of the issue and why we vehemently oppose lease operation as a means to increase earning potential. No one can prove leasing through a carrier is substantially more lucrative than being a top performing company driver. Honestly,...can you? How can you reply like you did and ignore the basic questions that need to be asked and answered when considering this? There are several people on this forum I trust implicitly...until the day comes that I see them seriously considering Lease Operation (L/O) through a company, and/or supporting it with credible math,...this will never cross my mind.

Robert (Dragon) accurately and honestly replied to the OP. Robert is an experienced Owner Operator , and knows first-hand what he is talking about. I trust the credibility and validity of his response and totally agree with him. He absolutely represents the truth when it comes to Leasing through a company. O/O and L/O are two entirely different models, not to be interchanged or confused. Although I have no idea who you have talked to; Lease Operation is heavily biased and contractually skewed in favor of the trucking company; passing most of the liability, most of the risk, and all of the operating cost onto the driver with only a marginal increase in mileage pay. The sales pitch typically tugs on the emotions of the prospect, conveniently side-stepping the true business benefits and increased risk. Ask one of the sales people for facts and figures and see how they respond..."we have one in your favorite color Mr. Driver, RED. Would you like to take a test drive?".

BQ unless you are currently a Lease Operator and can provide hard, fast, accurate income and operational numbers proving your point in support of the "drivers you have come across", then please try to understand the basis of my concern with your thought process. Offering anecdotal information like you did isn't helpful. It's confounding, and unnecessarily fuels the on-going debate.

I sincerely suggest you take the time to read the same link I sent the OP and perhaps your perspective might better align with reality.

BQ wrote:

I don't know the exact figures for particular leasing programs but have come across drivers who are successful, some are not. You will find many on this site are strongly against it. If you are a business minded person and understand how to keep costs as low as possible (tracking fuel prices, driving in a manner to conserve said fuel, keep maintenance up and limiting preventable breakdowns (stuff happens but you can be proactive in prevention), keep record clean and insurance costs manageable, etc) and willing to put in work to keep income up it is possible to be a successful l/o or o/o. Some ppl aren't good with running a business, others excel. Every trucking company, big and small started somewhere and grew. It's certainly not impossible but make sure you do thourough research and are willing to put in work. Best of luck.

BQ...your reply is counter-intuitive to the facts.

Do you speak from first hand knowledge? Obviously not because you prefaced and qualified your response with I don't know. Correct...you don't know. That is all we really need to read and understand in your reply. Not knowing the exact figures is at the very crux of the issue and why we vehemently oppose lease operation as a means to increase earning potential. No one can prove leasing through a carrier is substantially more lucrative than being a top performing company driver. Honestly,...can you? How can you reply like you did and ignore the basic questions that need to be asked and answered when considering this? There are several people on this forum I trust implicitly...until the day comes that I see them seriously considering Lease Operation (L/O) through a company, and/or supporting it with credible math,...this will never cross my mind.

Robert (Dragon) accurately and honestly replied to the OP. Robert is an experienced Owner Operator , and knows first-hand what he is talking about. I trust the credibility and validity of his response and totally agree with him. He absolutely represents the truth when it comes to Leasing through a company. O/O and L/O are two entirely different models, not to be interchanged or confused. Although I have no idea who you have talked to; Lease Operation is heavily biased and contractually skewed in favor of the trucking company; passing most of the liability, most of the risk, and all of the operating cost onto the driver with only a marginal increase in mileage pay. The sales pitch typically tugs on the emotions of the prospect, conveniently side-stepping the true business benefits and increased risk. Ask one of the sales people for facts and figures and see how they respond..."we have one in your favorite color Mr. Driver, RED. Would you like to take a test drive?".

BQ unless you are currently a Lease Operator and can provide hard, fast, accurate income and operational numbers proving your point in support of the "drivers you have come across", then please try to understand the basis of my concern with your thought process. Offering anecdotal information like you did isn't helpful. It's confounding, and unnecessarily fuels the on-going debate.

I sincerely suggest you take the time to read the same link I sent the OP and perhaps your perspective might better align with reality.

I am not currently a lease operator, as I currently don't want the added responsibility or to take on commitment to fulfill said lease. If I were to start one, I would finish the full 3 year term and I am not currently willing to commit to saying I would stay at prime for 3 more years. My feet are firmly planted in reality, thanks for offer though. I speak to many drivers while at terminal , which is only when in for maintenance or p/u, dropoff or intermittent student issues (testing, p/u documents, etc) and have had chats with l/o's on their 2nd, 3rd.....so on successful, satisfied lease. I also have come across those that are not successful and the "terminal rat" breed. I am aware of the model and how it works, the "skew" in favor of the company. I simply told o/p in uncertain terms he is unlikely to find support here and to be sure to do research beforehand and follow it up with the necessary work and attention to be successful. I actually recommend to all new students I interact with to start company, if they feel later on a lease would be the right move, so be it. What may not work for one, fits another just fine, like life, this little career we call trucking is not one size fits all. For now, I am perfectly fine as a company driver with company driver/trainer responsibilities and commitment obligation. That doesn't mean I am not regularly learning about other avenues with possibilty of making changes if I feel they are warranted and time is right.

Hey sorry BQ, I could never in good conscience recommend something to someone (who doesn't know any better), that I myself would not do. Bottom line, if you are unable to prove the reward far outweighs the risk, it's plain foolish to lease through a carrier. You have yet to come up with anything tangible contrary to that...which again is the underlying problem with this model. .

For the record my suggestion still stands, if you haven't already, please read the link I sent the OP. If you are true to your word about wanting to continue learning, reading that thread will only add to your knowledge base...and also the below reply in another thread, something Robert wrote in response to a newbie desiring to lease...timely and relevant...his numbers do not lie.

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.

The biggest nail Robert hit on the head is the pay to the truck. He gets a minimum of $2.00 a mile loaded. Which gives room for net gain. As he also put that a lot of company leases pay $1.50 a mile or less. Based on numbers I have ran (to amuse myself) I figure cost per mile usually falls into the $1.45 to $1.60 per mile. That is just taking care of overhead. Let alone trying to pay yourself. Math for a typical company lease is not there. I love math, numbers don't lie. As I have said before, attempting to lease, buy, etc... before you know what you are doing amounts to financial suicide. As the D.A.R.E. campaign goes: Just say NO!!!

Thanks Patrick. Another thing that folks forget to look at because they become enamored with the shiny new truck is what they will wind up paying for it. I can only speak to Quality leasing and their prices but for example. Quality put the Lone Star on the map. If you leased one of those, or a regular pro star or a new Cascadia, you were signing off to pay a truck payment of 675 a week for 7 years. Did the quick math and you realize you're paying almost 240k for a truck you can go buy for just over 140. Then look at the value of that truck in 7 years, it's a 20k truck tops with about a million miles on it. Now that's a seriously bad investment. The reason you see Prime drivers on that second or third lease is because they're jumping into a new truck that they'll never own, never control the rates on their freight etc.