I am a complete newbie here, to both the site and expediting... I am wondering if what I just experienced is normal, or not! So, a little background first. I've always loved to drive, so much so that I have never flown! I have always tossed the idea around of becoming a 'professional' driver! So I recently talked my other half into trying expedite driving together. I responded to a few advertisements and it did not take long at all to find a company and fleet owner that responded to us! We filled out some applications and before we knew it they wanted us out for orientation...
Sadly, that's about where the "awesomeness" stopped... So we make the trek out to the fleet owners yard, and everything at first seemed pretty good. Until of course we started reading the contract..! This is (of course) where my question(s) to everyone here comes in. The first thing we were leery about was that it was coined a "lease", we weren't very sure about that but continued on... One of the main points of concern were that it seemed like WE had to literally pay for, seemingly, everything... Except maintenance (and the vehicle payment itself)..! We were offered a 60/40 split, but it looked as though we would be "responsible" for the vehicles insurance, eld/tracking/etc, something about workers comp/ins (weekly), fuel ofc (60/40), AND tolls... We were almost waiting/expecting to see that we'd be making the vehicle payment too (half serious / half joking)..! ALSO, there was to be NO DEADHEAD pay either..! We also noticed a "NO PETS" clause, and while we don't have a dog or any other "big" animal, we do have a small caged pet that would have been accompanying us... We brought this up and the fleet owner said it would be alright... BUT was also unwilling to modify the contract in ANY way... So long story short, we never even finished reading the contract before "things just fell apart" and we left... (which also left me wondering what else was in there - especially that we wouldn't have agreed to/with)!
So while this experience surely left a sour taste in my mouth, I am hoping to hear that (all of) this is NOT normal... Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like this "opportunity" would have pretty much carried the costs and/or responsibilities of being an O/O, but just being a driver for a fleet owner! Honestly, I think this fleet owner is passing a lot of what SHOULD be his "overhead" onto his drivers! Like the vehicle insurance? I would think that would be part of your overhead of being a fleet owner! I would put it akin to an office job "charging" it's employees (or contractors) for the electricity to turn on the lights! Or am I wrong? Are "things" different in this industry?
I definitely couldn't see actually making a good living/earnings like that! Heck, I think we make more money doing Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grubhub, ETC..! That's what we've been doing full time for a good 4 years now! Both of us doing that we pull in $1400-$2800/wk combined (avg. $200-400/day).! There's no way I could see making that much, after having to pay for as much as it looked like that contract would have had us paying!
So I guess if this is "normal", then driving for a fleet owner will surely not be "for us"...! But if there are any "fair" fleet owners that happen across this: feel free to contact me/us! We are two people (team) with spotless criminal and MVR backgrounds! Well over 25 years of age. No experience in expediting (but plenty of driving) seeking (non CDL) sprinter/van/straight truck! We are not "tethered" to our house - we can stay out pretty much as long as we want to (especially if you have a nice sleeper)! [Probably the (current) biggest downfall is] (non CDL) Class D licensed...
And / or, if anyone "out there" has any company, fleet owner, or any other recommendations - please - by all means, we're "all ears"..!
Sadly, that's about where the "awesomeness" stopped... So we make the trek out to the fleet owners yard, and everything at first seemed pretty good. Until of course we started reading the contract..! This is (of course) where my question(s) to everyone here comes in. The first thing we were leery about was that it was coined a "lease", we weren't very sure about that but continued on... One of the main points of concern were that it seemed like WE had to literally pay for, seemingly, everything... Except maintenance (and the vehicle payment itself)..! We were offered a 60/40 split, but it looked as though we would be "responsible" for the vehicles insurance, eld/tracking/etc, something about workers comp/ins (weekly), fuel ofc (60/40), AND tolls... We were almost waiting/expecting to see that we'd be making the vehicle payment too (half serious / half joking)..! ALSO, there was to be NO DEADHEAD pay either..! We also noticed a "NO PETS" clause, and while we don't have a dog or any other "big" animal, we do have a small caged pet that would have been accompanying us... We brought this up and the fleet owner said it would be alright... BUT was also unwilling to modify the contract in ANY way... So long story short, we never even finished reading the contract before "things just fell apart" and we left... (which also left me wondering what else was in there - especially that we wouldn't have agreed to/with)!
So while this experience surely left a sour taste in my mouth, I am hoping to hear that (all of) this is NOT normal... Maybe I'm wrong but it seems like this "opportunity" would have pretty much carried the costs and/or responsibilities of being an O/O, but just being a driver for a fleet owner! Honestly, I think this fleet owner is passing a lot of what SHOULD be his "overhead" onto his drivers! Like the vehicle insurance? I would think that would be part of your overhead of being a fleet owner! I would put it akin to an office job "charging" it's employees (or contractors) for the electricity to turn on the lights! Or am I wrong? Are "things" different in this industry?
I definitely couldn't see actually making a good living/earnings like that! Heck, I think we make more money doing Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Grubhub, ETC..! That's what we've been doing full time for a good 4 years now! Both of us doing that we pull in $1400-$2800/wk combined (avg. $200-400/day).! There's no way I could see making that much, after having to pay for as much as it looked like that contract would have had us paying!
So I guess if this is "normal", then driving for a fleet owner will surely not be "for us"...! But if there are any "fair" fleet owners that happen across this: feel free to contact me/us! We are two people (team) with spotless criminal and MVR backgrounds! Well over 25 years of age. No experience in expediting (but plenty of driving) seeking (non CDL) sprinter/van/straight truck! We are not "tethered" to our house - we can stay out pretty much as long as we want to (especially if you have a nice sleeper)! [Probably the (current) biggest downfall is] (non CDL) Class D licensed...
And / or, if anyone "out there" has any company, fleet owner, or any other recommendations - please - by all means, we're "all ears"..!