Lease purchase dispatch: the honest answer before you sign or switch
If you're in a lease-purchase right now, you're running under the carrier's authority, and the carrier dispatches you. We can't book loads for that truck, and anyone who says they can is skipping a step. What we can do is show you how the two weeks compare, what to check in your lease, and the road to running the truck on your own MC.
Where you are decides who dispatches
- Lease-purchase with a carrier
- The carrier's authority and its dispatch. Your lease sets whether you can refuse loads.
- Truck leased on, but you own it
- Still the carrier's authority and its dispatch while the lease runs.
- Your truck, your MC
- That's where we come in: we find and negotiate loads, and you confirm or pass each one.
One week of miles, two ways to run them
Both cards start from the same EXAMPLE week: 2,500 loaded miles at $2.30 a mile. On the lease-purchase side, the carrier bills the load and pays you a share, then takes the truck payment, escrow and chargebacks out of the settlement. On the own-authority side, you bill the load, pay our dispatch fee and carry every cost yourself.
Put in the numbers from your own settlement and your own insurance quote. These cards are estimates. They leave out things that matter: the cash you need to start your own authority, slow weeks, repairs, and who owns the truck at the end. Read them as one week, not a year.
- Load revenue (carrier bills)
- $5,750
- Your settlement 75%
- $4,313
- Fuel
- −$2,455
- Truck lease payment
- −$850
- EscrowYours, held by the carrier
- −$100
- Chargebacks
- −$280
- Settlement check
- $628
Estimate. The carrier picks the loads, and the truck title usually stays with the carrier or its leasing company until the last payment.
- Load revenue (you bill)
- $5,750
- Dispatch fee 5%
- −$288
- Fuel
- −$2,455
- Truck payment
- −$700
- Insurance
- −$380
- Other
- −$250
- You keep
- $1,678
Estimate. You choose every load, and you also carry the slow weeks, repairs and startup costs.
Difference this week: $1,050 more on your own authority, on these numbers. Fuel uses the EIA U.S. average diesel price, $6.382/gal.
When a lease-purchase can make sense
For a driver with little cash and thin credit, a lease-purchase can be the only way into a truck without a down payment. It can work when the total price is close to what the truck is worth, the carrier keeps you busy with miles, and leaving early doesn't cost you every payment you've made. Those three things are in the contract, not the recruiting ad.
What one week can't show
A single week hides the slow ones. On a lease-purchase, the truck payment comes out even when the carrier gives you few miles. On your own authority, the risk of a slow week is yours too, along with insurance down payments and startup costs. Compare a bad month on each side, not only a good week.
For the full picture across the whole lease, including the balloon payment and what you've paid by the end, use the lease-purchase deal analyzer.
What to check in a lease, line by line
The federal truth-in-leasing rules in 49 CFR Part 376 set what a lease between an owner-operator and a carrier must spell out. They don't make a lease fair, but they give you the right to see the numbers. This is general information, not legal advice: have a lawyer who knows trucking read the contract before you sign.
Your pay, in writing
The lease must state your pay on its face. If it's a percentage of gross, ask for the rated freight bill each settlement, which shows what the load really paid.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(g) · checked Oct 2026
Every chargeback, listed
Insurance, plates, ELD, fuel cards, tolls: each deduction has to be listed with how it's calculated, and you can ask for the documents behind it.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(h) · checked Oct 2026
Escrow terms and its return
How much is held, what it can be used for, the interest it earns, and when you get it back. Check that each settlement shows the balance.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(k) · checked Oct 2026
Pay timing
Settlements are due within 15 days after you turn in the trip's delivery paperwork. Late, short or unexplained settlements are worth writing down.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(f) · checked Oct 2026
No forced purchases
You can't be required to buy fuel, insurance or other services from the carrier to keep the lease. If those deductions are in it, they must be spelled out.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(i) · checked Oct 2026
Control of the truck
During the lease, the carrier has exclusive possession and responsibility for the truck. That's why its dispatch, not ours, books your loads.
Source: 49 CFR 376.12(c), (d), (h), (k) · checked Oct 2026
Questions the lease often leaves out
- Who decides your miles? A truck payment due every week needs miles every week.
- What happens to the payments you've made if you leave, or if the carrier ends the lease?
- Is there a balloon payment at the end, and how big is it?
- Who pays for major repairs, and does a breakdown pause the payments?
The road to your own authority
When the truck is yours or you've refinanced it, the next step is your own operating authority: USDOT number, MC, BOC-3, insurance filed with FMCSA, then UCR, plates and fuel tax accounts.
Source: FMCSA registration · checked Oct 2026
The first six months are the hardest part, and new authority dispatch is built for them. After that, it's regular owner-operator dispatch.
Lease-purchase and dispatch questions
When you're on your own MC, our fee is 7% of gross for the first 6 months, 5% after, and 4% if you grow to 2 or more trucks (limited time). No setup fee and no contract, and nothing owed in a week you don't haul.
Every load is your decision. We negotiate it and show it to you, the broker sends the rate con to you, and you can pass with no penalty. After a lease where the carrier picked your freight, that tends to be the part drivers notice first.
Can a lease-purchase driver use a dispatcher?
Usually not an outside one. In a lease-purchase you run under the carrier's operating authority, and the carrier, not you, contracts with brokers and shippers. The carrier's own dispatch books your loads. An outside dispatcher can only book loads for a truck on its own authority. Some leases let you turn down loads; read yours. Outside dispatch starts once you have your own MC.
Is lease-purchase trucking worth it?
It depends entirely on the contract. Some drivers finish the lease and own a truck; many don't, and lose the payments they made. Compare the total you'll pay with the truck's market value, check who sets your miles, and ask what happens if you leave early. The settlement scorecard above shows a typical week, so run your own numbers.
How do I get my own authority after a lease-purchase?
Once you own the truck outright or can refinance it, you apply to FMCSA for a USDOT number and operating authority, file a BOC-3, and have your insurer file your liability coverage. Then UCR, IRP plates and IFTA if your truck needs them, plus a drug testing program if you hold a CDL. Expect a few weeks before you can haul.
What is escrow in a lease-purchase?
Escrow is money the carrier holds back from your settlements, often a set amount each week until a target is reached, to cover things like repairs or unpaid charges. It's still yours. Federal rules require the lease to state the terms, the carrier to account for it, pay interest at least quarterly, and return it within 45 days after the lease ends.
Leaving a lease-purchase for your own MC? Start with the first loads.
Apply in about 2 minutes and tell us where you are. If dispatch doesn't fit your situation yet, we'll say so and tell you why.