Question:
I notice a couple of you ladies work for/with Prime. There is so much negative on Prime. Have you been able to make a decent go of it with the lease program there?

Answer:

I have sat back and waited for some of the ladies who drive for Prime to answer but since nobody has stepped forward I will give you my thiughts.
I have never been leased to Prime but I can tell you that you should avoid them like the plague.
Never enter into a car lease agreement or purchase a car from the company you will be hauling for. This is because they hold your destiny in your hands. If they dont like you..If you don't cater to their every whim..they can starve you out and take your car.
Would they do that? Oh you bet they would and have to many people!
Another thought to ponder...You may lease payments equivilent to or exceeding a car payment. You keep the car until they badger you to trade it in (or they begin your starvation process) and you have only made the payment for them! You never actually own the car...Granted you have the option of a buyout but few ever do..It sounds good on paper and in the ads but fact is..it ain't cut out to be what it really is.
Best bet..just drive for a company..because at Prime thats all you are anyway..a glorified company driver..You only lease the car and make somebody else's payments for them
And thats the bottom line because Big Joe said so.

Answer:

BTW...there is a very long thread about Prime on the Main R/T forum..Don't know if you have read it but you should.
Alsi go to and read about the lawsuit against Prime as well.
And thats the bottom line because Big Joe said so.

Answer:

Hi APPO, I was in a Prime lease for 2 years. My husband as my codriver. You really have to do your homework before going into any lease, lease purchase with anyone! My car #5299, a fr8 century 2000 had 56 warranty items replaced in 115 weeks of service. Prime's affiliate, Success leasing will tell you that you can turn the car in to them if it is deemed the car breaks down excessivly, I was told by Fred Eggi, Success leasing, my car did not meet the criteria for progressive failure or excessive breakdown. My case is unique to me but this is what I learned.
Never, Never go into a lease or lease purchase without your own $$ set aside, I recommend at least $1500. the day you sign and add cpm to your account every mile you roll. keep that account in your own bank, not with the lease company unless they require it, then keep a seperate 1 in your bank. In my case we didn't have enough reserves to maintain us when the car went to fr8lnr. prime is all to happy to advance motel funds, ect till you get rolling again. But, when my car had been in the shop 8 x in 6 weeks, fr8lnr paid 6 downtime days, progressive failure of suspension. Prime didnt pay, Fr8lnr did. Enough of the horror story. When I went to attempt a early turn in of the car, it was not allowed because I was negative $525.00 to the car. Prime's lease company won't allow a early turn in if you have a negative balance. In my case they wouldn't put it against the next car either.
I turned my car in June 6 this year. I started w/Prime in Aug 1999. The first year failure rate with Prime and any other lease plan is 90%. Any company that will not admit that, u haul ---
and get away from them. Leasing can work, because everything is a tax deduction. Straight purchase doesnt work the same way. yes, we got miles outta prime, yes, we got roughly 80 cpm emty/loaded. But, it didnt matter when the car sat inside fr8lnr monthly. I'm not against leasing or Lease/Purchase, u usually pay a higher pmt leasing. 1 reason is all your insurances are rolled in with the car pmt/fixed costs. Prime will not be in your corner when things go downhill. And accept for the withheld escrow funds lawsuit (see OOIDA) no one has ever won a case against them. You will fight for layover pay, there are only a few shprs who pay it. You will fight for fair pay every time you arew delayed at Thermo King getting a unit fixed. prime does not pay for reefr fuel. Takl to lots of prime people, happy ones,ex ones, ones that went "postal". Whatever you do do, your homework.. Don't fall for "you can have this car with no escrow and no down pmt. Going to those companies is OK if you have your own funds put away. You will need them! , Calamity Jane

Answer:

Yes I heard all the negative stuff about Prime too, and had initially decided they were off my list. But after I reconsidered where my decision was made, based on other people's opinions, hearsay and so on, I decided to investigate on my own.
I talked to a lot of Prime drivers who gave me straight answers about the co. I was skeptical, but interested. At last I decided to give it a try. Since I can quit at any time, and turn the car in, I am not obligated to purchase the car. And I never went into it with the idea that I would ever own the car. In fact, I don't want to. But I do get miles. I get treated fairly by dispatchers and road assist, as well as every one else I have come in contact with. And my paychecks have NEVER been this good, anywhere! This works for me.
Yes, you need to do what you're asked to do. You will go sometimes where you'd rather not. But is being a company driver different? You know it's not. Only thing is.. as a company driver, you're doing a lot of freebies. Spot this trailer before you leave, go swap with that driver, etc.
I have, as I said, heard some of the bad news about Prime. The history with the lawsuits. OK, they have made some mistakes, some bad decisions. For now, it appears that all of that is just history. Being fair to drivers is an art in this business. Considering the current policies and procedures, it looks to me like Prime has done their homework. They walk the fine line very well, and I have not had one word of complaint about the way I have been treated.
Drop by the terminal, and check it out. If you are into organized flow of operations, you'll be impressed. Everything was planned from the time you enter the gate to the time you leave, to give you the maximum use of your time on the yard. There is nothing haphazard there. It's clean, it's designed for the driver, and everyone is polite and professional. It's great to visit, it's even better to work for them!
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free... but first it will make you miserable!
Skates

Answer:

You didn't tell us how long you have been with Prime. If you are team or solo. Flat bed or reefer..Guess we know some of the same people, my bookeeping service? She and her husband ran team for Prime, her husband still does recovery for Prime. She still does accounting work for many Prime drivers. We kept her as our accountant. Mabey you will be one of the ones who go to a second or a third lease, or buy your car out before the second lease. But, the figures don't lie. It's not just Prime, Leases like Prime, CR England, US Express all have a 90% fail rate w/in the first year. If the company won't admit that you need to check reality. US Express will admit this if you ask them. No we don't run for US, but I was impressed that they openly admitted this when I asked. Why?? because carriers like Prime, emphasize the "No credit check" "No money down", that spells failure like this, "If something is to good to be true, it probably isn't true." You didn't tell us how long u have been driving either, if you ever owned a business, or if this is your first business? I went in with a small savings to Prime, most go in with $000. I think lease/purchase works, but not straught leaseing. your response sounds like the newest Prime recruiting poster in Springfield,MO.

Answer:

Just another bit of information I would like to give you regarding your new venture with Prime. I am not disgruntled, or postal with Prime. I am much wiser. Yes, you can turn the car in and walk away anytime. But, any thing you added to the car, ie mirrors, side boxes, graphics, If you don't remove them, Prime will, you won't get them back and they will charge you to remove them. If you leave Prime and you have a negative against the car, small or large, doesn't matter. that same tax year Prime will send you a 1099 for that income and you will be required to pay taxes in that year. I have seen this where a drvr had negative due to being hit in a carstop and downtime, deductables and whole bunch of ----
added up to a whole bunch of dollars. Sure prime was in theyre right to get their money back, but this particular Prime driver who parked at Petro in Nebraska, was wiped out in a single night. At least if the car belongs to the bank, you get fair market and there is some hope from insurance.
Doesn't work that way on Lease cars..Any1 out there wanna enlighten Lightfoot??

Answer:

Ive been driving for 4 yrs, been w/Prime for 4 months. Here's the edited part; I forgot to say, solo and refer. I can assess my choice after 2 weeks whether or not Im going to get along with the personnel at a co. As far as financial, Im still learning about that. There are a lot of ins and outs. However, yes, I have had my own business before. I do understand the liability you assume as a lease operator. I just think that Prime gives drivers the -opportunity- to make a go of it. Those that understand this and are willing to work with Prime on what I see as essentially fair terms, will succeed as long as they don't blow the $ on unnecessary items. I don't put stuff on the car. Its not really mine, and as far as Im concerned never will be. Im here to make money. I have the chance to do that, and its working. Im not a recruiter, but I would recruit for Prime. Its not for the sign up $, either. I can't sell what I don't believe in, no matter what the reward.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free... but first it will make you miserable!
Skates

Answer:

Hope you do make it @ Prime, they do have a great PR program.. How 'bout snd me a pop msg in about 6 mos/then another in about a year. Like I said we lasted 115 weeks with a car addicted to Fr8lnr service. most wouldn't have lasted long as we did w/a car as messed up as mine was. Don't forget every time u go to TK get work done on unit/,make sure u get paid. Ur dispatch wont ask you how long it took you for repairs/thats part of his/her budget.. if he/she doesn't use it on you, guess who gets to keep it!? We spent about 15 hrs three trl's @ TK before we found this out. keep a record of everything you do at Prime, never no when u might need that trl # u pulled 5 months ago. Keep the shiney side up/good luck.

Answer:

Your car, after 115 weeks (that's over 2 yrs), should have been ready to trade in. Could there have been other factors? Im not accusing, so don't jump on me; Im just asking...
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free... but first it will make you miserable!
Skates

Answer:

But, remember my first post? 3 mos into this, the Optimun idle shut down everything with half a load of oranges, couldnt move away from dock. Tow to f8lnr(we never used the optimun so go figure), next rollin down the hwy 2 weeks later air conditioner blew a hole throughitself. The alternator was replaced x3 befor shop agreed to put larger one in. Qualcomm died x4 (we ran w/omly the cell phone for a week) air conditioner died 2 more times. Four times the shut down light shut us down rollin down the road/Fr8 never figured why, just towed us in reset the compu. and sent us on our way. Our entire dash unit was replaced cuz we lost lites, gauges everything. Then the front end went in degrees. First the l kingpin(in alburqurque), then the r kingpin in W. Memphis., Then the tierods went one at a time in Little Rock, then Denver, then the car still wouldnt stay in it's own lane so the steering shaft was replaced in Cheyenne(it was bent from the other suspension items defects) We chewed up one set of steer tires prematuraly, and a second set of near new ones befor the front end probs were all addressed. Those are the items that shut us down the longest. I don't wanna go thru my entire maintenance history list here. We went to Prime with $5,000 saved for just such emergencies. Well, if you havent experienced the way the warranty items are fixed/replaced you will. It makes sense to replace say both kingpins at the same time/it was questionable. BUT, it doesn't work that way. Till it's really broke, less u pay for it, it isn' gonna get fixed. With all the loads we lost due to breakdowns, we used our $5,000. the first year just to survive the breakdowns. IE motels, short pay weeks. The second year Prime advanced moneys for motels and such. I was negative $2500. to prime. If the car would have stayed out of the shop for an entire month, we would have brought that to $0 negative. No matter what the contract w/Success Leasing says they have the bottom line decision about frequent breakdowns. Only the front end was deemed "progressive failure" for that we got paid 8 days layover. When I wanted to turn the car in, I was told I had to pay the negative up-front, they wouldn't roll it to the next car. All the miles did diddly squat for me, cuz my car wouldn't run a full month w/out goin in fr8lnr. my only issue w/Prime is it got so far out of control before the shop admitted the car should be yellow(for lemon) instead of green. That was in April of this year. I turned the car in June 6. Oh yeah, and our Fleet manager got fired for scamming(that was in Jan)
So, I hadda research everything he paid/didn't pay out to us. prime was no help they didn't c a reason to audit my car, he was gone why would they care. I had to pay our accountant to do it.
Never did get paid for 10 trls goin to TK, several lumpers he agreed to pay, outta route miles he agreed to pay. Somehow, that QC stuff got lost?! But, does Prime have miles, yes. Do they have fr8, yes. That was not my problem.

Answer:

I had problems like you mentioned with my first car. The final dianosis after many trips to freightliner and Prime was the front axle was bent. Never had a problem again after it was replaced. All of the mechanical things that you mention are warranty problems unless your car had over 350,000 on it...freightliner should have picked up the tab. Maybe I am misreading your post but the only money you should have been out is revenue and not repairs.

Answer:

About the warranty coverage. And I have had no problem whatsoever getting roadassist to help me get something repaired when I ask. The only reason something isn't fixed on the car is because I don't want to take the time to do it. Like one dash panel lite is out, the QC sticks sometimes, the opti idle hangs up once in awhile. Its not that big a deal. If I get a chance to fix it, sure. But its not going to make any difference if I don't.
You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free... but first it will make you miserable!
Skates