Lease Or Company? Where To Make More Money?

I'm thinking of going to nova lines to lease for quick money to work a year or two.

I have 14 months in with my cdl.

Is it worth it? I seen paycheck of a guy making $2000 - $4000 a week. He gets that after cost of truck and diesel.

That's still more than I get as company driver at .64 cpm

.64 cpm is a really good rate, especially for someone with your relatively short time of experience. Are you just not getting many miles?

Your friend who is supposedly making more than you may have hidden costs you are not aware of. Or even of more serious concern, potential costs that he hasn’t encountered yet that could drastically lower his numbers.

Man, if I was making .64 cpm on my job as a company driver, I would be extremely careful about rocking the boat, especially in this economy.

I get .60 cpm, but I get about 3100 miles per week, average. You do the math. Plus I have all the benefits and protection of the company with none of the risk lease drivers take.

Be very cautious with your decision and make sure you 100% understand your friend’s financial situation before giving up the good job you already have.

This. My immediate thoughts go to taxes, medical insurance, breakdown costs not covered by warranty. That's just off the top of my head at almost 2am.

.64 cpm is a really good rate, especially for someone with your relatively short time of experience. Are you just not getting many miles?

Your friend who is supposedly making more than you may have hidden costs you are not aware of. Or even of more serious concern, potential costs that he hasn’t encountered yet that could drastically lower his numbers.

Man, if I was making .64 cpm on my job as a company driver, I would be extremely careful about rocking the boat, especially in this economy.

I get .60 cpm, but I get about 3100 miles per week, average. You do the math. Plus I have all the benefits and protection of the company with none of the risk lease drivers take.

Be very cautious with your decision and make sure you 100% understand your friend’s financial situation before giving up the good job you already have.

Are these things like to do for lease?

Keep receipts that I pay for taxes.

Load board myself to get the dispatcher to use that.

Find my own fuel discounts.

Get my own health insurance

First off the check you saw that is after lease payment and fuel, Maybe they just had a really good week. I would want to see at least a couple months worth.

I don’t know anything about this company, so I’m not going to talk about them, but address things in general.

Insurance, how much is it a week??

Lease of truck, is it just a tractor or do you have to lease a trailer as well??

Different folks structure leases differently. You need to read in detail the agrement to get particulars.

Do they require a maintance or escrow account?? How much and what can they be used for??

Do they select where and who can perform maintance?? If so costs can vary widely.

Other fixed costs they charge you for every week?? IE prepass, ELD, camera system etc.

Plates, HUT, permits, IFTA the list gets lenghty.

Fuel is a biggie. Do they provide a fuel card?? If so they control where you fuel. May be the best for them, but not you. Do they pay fuel surcharge on top of linehaul rate?? What percentage do you get??

There are many things to consider before making your decision. You must get all the answers before signing any agrement.

As an example: A major carrier that leases trucks to drivers pays them 65% of linehaul and any accessorials. They also pay them 65% of fuel surcharge.

They pick the loads they want from a company loadboard. It shows them the linehaul/fuel surcharge for the load. They add them together then deduct their cut. The driver I spoke with had no clue he wasn’t getting the full fuel surcharge. The carrier charges him for insurance, plates, ELD, prepass each week. Quarterly IFTA taxes, and HUT deducted over a 3 month period.

They also charge 15.00 a load for cargo insurance/trailer insurance. That can really add up if you pull alot of loads a month.

The driver has no say who works on his leased tractor. The company mandates it within their network. They claim with their discounts it is cheaper. Here is a clue. According to many shops I have dealt with shops have different rates they charge customers. Some Large companies are negoating discounts with them, but in reality some are jacking up the rate they are applying a discount to. I don’t know how widespread that practice is, but it does happen.

Ask alot of questions before signing onto a lease.

Ask alot of questions before signing onto a lease.

PJ's point is you don't even seem to know what you're getting into. Here's a question I suggest you ask yourself: Why does this company want their good company drivers to become lease operators?

I promise you it's not because they want their drivers to be making more money. If that were the case, they'd simply give them a pay raise. It saves the company money in several different ways. It does nothing to benefit the driver.

After the dust settles at the end of your fiscal calendar year, the lease operator makes roughly the same as his company driver counterparts. Oftentimes he actually makes less.

It's a bad idea. The smart way to increase your income in trucking is to develop yourself into a more efficient and productive driver.

Here's a couple of articles I recommend...

Show Me The Money

Making Progress In My Trucking Career