Dot Line potentials beware

I know that I haven't been trucking long, and I know that you get what you put into it...but in this case I am urging all drivers who are looking to go into Dot Line lease purchase to rethink. I am not sure on how well the company side works, but I do know that the lease purchase side is not good. When we started in 2011 it was a great company to run for. We ran 6,000-8,000 miles a week...which was what my bf and I were looking for. Then, something happened in 2012 and things changed. The freight didn't slow down, but yet we were given only 2,300 miles a week, if we were lucky. My bf dislocated his shoulder and they tried to talk us into continue running. I will say that at first they tried to work something out once my settlements went into the hole...but then it became more of an issue. We ran in the hole from July until February. The stress of trying to keep our home and bills caught up became too much. A deal was worked out with us running a dedicated route, so we could stay away from dispatch...but then their equipment caused us to be down and the deal was "re-worked". Issues with their trailers hurt us bad. They did not want to fix their trailers, but try to put the blame on our truck for ABS failure. It was proven that it was not our truck, but yet they did not want to fix their equipment. We never turned down loads, we ran what they gave us, dispatch likes to play "favorites", load setups are generally nearly impossible to run, we rarely asked for home time, when we could we would fix our own equipment...but when it came to having to have massive repairs done to the tractor, that was another story. Final straw was having a Freight Liner shop state that we did not pass an inspection and our shop said only repair this, this, and this and have them drive to our shop so we can try to fix the rest. Not going to happen if we can't pass an inspection...knowing that we would have to pass alot of scales. Dot Line went from a company that cared and turned into a company no different from most.
If only these companies would learn that in order to keep running strong, you have to spend money to make it. Drivers have a lot of things that they have to worry about while on the road...having the stress of losing your home and your child being on the street does not make driving safely easy. And all of these companies that fall into this category should be dealt with. Drivers are like every one else...we have homes, bills, families...that depend on us. Running for nothing and killing yourself to just barely make it isn't how it should be. I have to now give up driving for awhile just so I can get my health back in order. I loved my job. I loved the driving.
I could go on and on, but gave the short version of our experience. If you are thinking of running for Dot Line...read the papers you sign closely. Ask questions, especially about your Maintenance account and Tire accounts. Ask what happens to these accounts at the end of the year if they are in the positive. Ask what happens when you are down due to their equipment. Ask what happens if their equipment causes too much strain on the truck. Read closely and ask a lot. Good luck to everyone in their endeavors with any company.

 

Yes, I was trying to be nice. I gave a short version to a very long story. As for the dac record...it is clear. Though the planner thinks he is GOD and a dispatcher who has no clue as to what his job is, Safety is the one that has to clarify how the job was done by the driver. And I did try to get the law involved, but no one was willing to try. A labor lawyer won't touch them because we were independent contractors. OOIDA couldn't do anything because of wording in the contract. Safety tried looking into things, and out of the blue the head of Safety quit with no warning or notice. So yeah, something needs to be done. From our tire "account" we lost over $5,000, and that money went back into the company and it is legal because of the wording.