Own your rig
Our lease purchase program puts experienced car haulers into their own truck with no upfront money down. More than 100 of our drivers have already paid a lease off with us. This page explains how the program works, what it takes to qualify, and how to set your business up before you sign anything.
A recruiter goes through the payment terms with you before you commit to anything.
How the lease purchase works
- You apply and talk to a recruiter. Before anything is signed, a recruiter goes through the payment structure, the term, and what happens at the end of it, against the specific truck and the lane you would be running. Those numbers depend on which unit you take, so we quote them to you directly rather than posting one figure that would be wrong for most drivers.
- You pick your equipment. We have both new and used units available. A used unit means a lower payment; a new one means a longer warranty runway and fewer shop days. Which one is right depends on how hard you plan to run.
- You set up your business entity. This has to happen before the lease starts. See the section below on how to do it, because getting it wrong is the most common reason a driver’s start date slips.
- You start running and paying. Your lease payment comes out of your settlements. As a contract driver you keep 82% of the truck’s gross, and the lease payment comes out of your side.
- You pay it off and own the truck. More than 100 of our drivers have finished this. That is the part of the program we would point to first.
New or used equipment
New equipment
- Full warranty coverage for longer
- Fewer unplanned shop days early on
- Higher payment
- Best if you intend to run hard and stay out
Used equipment
- Lower payment, so a lower weekly break-even
- Shorter path to owning it outright
- More maintenance exposure, so keep a reserve
- Best if you want margin early
Whichever you take, our fleet is built by Peterbilt, Western Star, Volvo, and Freightliner, our average fleet age is 3 years, and every truck runs belly pans, trailer skirts, and bat wings for damage prevention.
Set your business up first
To lease with us you need an active LLC or S-corp with an EIN and a business bank account in that entity’s name. We do not accept DBAs. Drivers routinely lose two or three weeks here because they start the paperwork after they have been approved instead of before, so here is the order that works.
- Form the entity in your home state. An LLC is the usual choice and is filed with your Secretary of State. An S-corp is a tax election rather than a different kind of company, and whether it saves you anything depends on your income, so that one is a conversation with an accountant.
- Get your EIN from the IRS. This is free and done directly on the IRS website. Anyone charging you for an EIN is selling you something you can do yourself in a few minutes.
- Open a business bank account in the entity’s name. You will need the formation documents and the EIN. Keep it genuinely separate from your personal account, because mixing them is what undoes the liability protection you formed the entity for in the first place.
- Line up an accountant before your first settlement, not at tax time. As a contract driver nobody is withholding for you, and quarterly estimated taxes catch first-year owner-operators harder than almost anything else on this list.
This is general guidance to help you get set up, not legal or tax advice. Your accountant and attorney should have the last word on how you structure your business.
Is lease purchase actually worth it?
Plenty of drivers have been burned by lease programs, and that reputation is earned. So here is the honest version.
A lease purchase is worth it when three things are true: the freight is steady enough that your revenue does not swing wildly week to week, the payment is one you could still cover in a slow week, and the truck is actually yours at the end. When those are not true, a lease is just a truck payment you can lose.
What we would tell you to check, with us or with anyone else: ask what happens if you want out early, ask who pays for which repairs, ask what the freight actually looked like for the last driver in that lane, and ask how many drivers have finished the program. That last one is the question most carriers cannot answer well. Ours is more than 100.
What you need to qualify
- 3 years of CDL driving experience
- 1 year of verifiable car hauling experience
- A valid CDL-A license
- A driving test
- A TWIC is useful but is not required in order to apply
- A valid and current DOT medical certificate
- An MVR that meets our insurance requirement
- An active LLC or S-corp with an EIN and a matching business bank account. DBAs are not accepted.
What you will earn while you lease
All contract drivers at Accelerated keep 82% of the truck’s gross. What that comes to in a week depends on your lane and how much you run, so a recruiter will walk through realistic numbers for the specific lane you are applying to rather than a headline figure.
The freight itself is contracted rather than bid: new vehicles out of manufacturer plants, units off ports and rail ramps, dealer transfers, and rental fleet moves. That is the part that matters most to a leased driver, because a lease payment against load board freight is a very different risk than a lease payment against scheduled lanes.
Insurance on a leased truck
Insurance requirements are one of the biggest cost surprises for a driver moving into their own equipment, and they differ depending on your trailer’s capacity. We have written that up separately.
Lease purchase FAQs
Is there really no money down upfront?
Correct. There is no upfront money down required to start a lease with us.
How much is the weekly payment?
It depends on whether you take a new or used unit and which unit it is. A recruiter quotes you the actual payment for the actual truck before you sign, and you should not commit to any lease program anywhere before you have that number in writing.
How long is the term, and what happens at the end?
Both are specific to the unit you take. Ask the recruiter for the term and the end-of-term terms on your truck, and get them in writing.
Can I do this with no car hauling experience?
No. The one-year verifiable car haul requirement applies to lease purchase the same as it does to any other seat here, and we do not waive it.
Do I need the LLC before I apply?
You can apply first. You will need the entity, the EIN, and the business bank account in place before the lease starts, so starting that paperwork early is what keeps your start date from slipping.
How many drivers have actually paid one off?
More than 100.
Ask the recruiter for the payment, the term, and the end-of-term terms in writing. Any carrier worth leasing from will give you all three.