From Lease Purchase Nightmare to True Truck Ownership Dream
October is an appropriate month for our latest Lease Purchase story involving Contractor Pam Ritche who lived through a true-life nightmare with scary maintenance costs and the horror of being caught in a Lease Purchase spider web with no support and virtually no chance to pay it off. Truly an appropriate subject for a frightening Halloween tale, except this one will have a good ending!
Unfortunately, this chilling narrative is common in the industry, where Lease Purchase agreements are easy to get into and extremely hard to make profitable. They are also set up to benefit the Leasee, not the Leasor. The ease of entry into Lease Purchase agreements make them a trick with no treat for the potential owner, as often there is little to no down payment, no credit requirements and minimum start up costs involved. Lease Purchases have a spooky downside including high payments, little to no support and the virtual impossibility of paying off the lease.
Luckily for Pam, she was able to get away from the Lease Purchase monster that had been keeping her from reaching her business goals when she got her MBA (Much Better Alternative) to truck finance and turned it into a not-so-scary PTO (Path to Ownership) through Expediter Services. Here’s her story of TRUE TRUCK OWNERSHIP.
SLN: Tell us about yourself?
I Started out five years ago as a company driver with another firm and learned to drive with them. I drove there for about four years before weighing my options about owning my own truck. I got into a Lease Purchase through this company and took my Lease Purchase truck with me when I went to All State.
SLN: What made you want to get into a Lease Purchase Agreement?
Although I liked being a company driver, I wanted to be an owner and to have something that was mine that would allow me to make my own decisions. At the time, the Lease Purchase seemed like a good option.
SLN: Tell us about your Lease Purchase experience?
I went with a well-known Lease Purchase company and from the start it was a nightmare. They had a yard full of trucks that you go into to pick out your truck. All of the units were “as is” and it’s just awful. I wound up with a 2016 Freightliner Cascadia. I hadn’t had it two weeks and the clutch went out on it. The agreement said within the first thirty days they are supposed to fix these kind of problems. But they refused to honor it and I wound up having to pay $3,500 out of my own pocket to get it repaired. It was just a nightmare from the very start. I got absolutely no support from anyone. It was just terrible the way I was treated.
On top of that, even getting routine maintenance performed was a struggle. You had to fight with them every step of the way. It was exhausting and frustrating — it’s like they don’t want you to succeed. They just want to take your money. They also took money out of my weekly settlement as a maintenance fund and when I turned the truck back in to them, they kept it. I never saw a penny of that money.
I was in that Lease Purchase agreement for an entire year and if I hadn’t gotten the truck I’m in now through Expediter Services MBA (Much Better Alternative) to truck finance and taken the Path to Ownership (PTO), I would have returned to being a company driver instead of a true owner.
SLN: How did you get hooked up with Expediter Services?
I’ve been with All State for five months now. They are a great company and I’m really happy being on-board with them. I brought my truck (and the Lease Purchase agreement) with me. About the time I signed on with All State as my carrier, they had begun working with Expediter Services to help support their operations through the ES family of companies. My recruiter asked if I might be interested in the ES (Much Better Alternative) to truck finance and Path to Ownership (PTO) since I was so unhappy with my Lease Purchase and my truck. It sounded like a great opportunity to experience true truck ownership, so I contacted ES to see what it was all about.
I peppered the ES team with tons of questions because I did not want to be stuck in a nightmare agreement again! My experience with Steve Kochensparger and Expediter Equipment Finance was professional and went smoothly. He answered all of my questions and he was so polite about it. That took some getting used to after what I’ve been through with my Lease Purchase, but it was a very nice change of pace. Danny Vernon, Expediter Truck Sales Manger was also polite and knowledgeable when it came to finding my truck: a 2017 Western Star with an 82-inch Stratosphere sleeper and a Carrier Comfort Pro APU. It’s very well appointed. The whole transaction went smoothly and I’ve been in the truck now for about three months.
It truly is an entirely different experience owning your own truck versus being in a Lease Purchase agreement. I know that I can actually pay off this truck and it will be mine. I’m just so excited about this great opportunity and being an owner is already affecting my bottom line for the better! And as a business owner, the support I get from ES is also a tremendous help. I know that if I call Lee Burkhalter, my Service Coordinator, he is there to help me. It’s so different from the whole Lease Purchase culture of no support. ES is actually there for you when you need them with insurance and fuel discounts and even back office support so I Never Stand Alone. Now that I have the ES team in my corner, I feel confident I can succeed.
Stay tuned for even more true stories of True Truck Ownership in upcoming issues of Spotlight News.
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