The American Dream
Highway Sales uses straight talk and competitive pricing to put owner-operators in their own trucks.
John Seibel was running the transportation operation of a large grocery wholesaler when Dart Transit offered him a job running a truck lease/purchase program for owner-operators. It was 1984. Deregulation had wreaked havoc on the truckload carrier industry. As carriers fell, so did the owner-operators they couldn’t pay. Dart wanted to help bring promising entrepreneurs back into the business by giving them a way to buy new or late-model used equipment at affordable prices.
Seibel took the job because “it sounded like fun.” More than 20 years later he’s still running Highway Sales Inc., a stand-alone company that offers new and used truck sales and leasing. Clearly, he’s still having fun.
"As far as I’m concerned, we’re the American dream,” he says of the ownership opportunities they give truckers. “Since we were children, that’s what we’ve been taught to do. You don’t rent a house forever, the dream is to own it. It’s the same with a truck.”
Since its inception, Highway Sales has helped more than 4,200 owner-operators buy their own trucks. Another 1,300 are currently leasing trucks (with an option to purchase). Seibel is the first to admit that not every customer is a happy one. “I’m positive that we haven’t satisfied everyone but, if nothing else, I always try to give them a straight answer – whether they like it or not,” he notes.
Apparently, that straight talk is precisely what most owner-operators want. “Highway Sales and Dart have about the most realistic lease/purchase program I’ve ever seen,” says Bob Abts, a veteran owner-operator who recently paid off his lease on a 2003 Freightliner Columbia. “They’re up front with everything. There aren’t any secrets.”
Group Buying
"We don’t consider ourselves a lease/purchase program, we consider ourselves a group purchasing program,” Seibel says. “What we do is bring to the owner-operator some of the discounts a fleet gets.” Highway Sales does make a “reasonable” profit but “we aren’t greedy,” he adds. “We try to put together a fair program with reasonable monthly payments so his chances of success are better than with some other programs.”
The company currently offers several new truck choices with a range of specifications and prices. It also has four locations where owner-operators or other buyers can shop the current stock of used trucks. The most expensive package right now is a Freightliner Columbia with a Detroit Diesel engine and a long list of amenities. The payments: $1,880 a month the first year, $1,780 the second year, $1,685 years 4-6, and a $16,578 balloon at the end of the contract. The same truck, says Seibel, is currently running $2,400 a month through other sources.
Unlike most of Highway Sales’ customers, Abts is an experienced buyer who owned a 17-truck fleet before selling it in the late 1990s. He shopped elsewhere and found he could save about $8,000 buying his truck through Highway Sales. “They buy in volume and they don’t try to make a killing off it,” he notes. “It was a very easy and reasonable way for me to get into a brand new truck.”
Down payments are preferred, but not a must. “I like to see some kind of cash commitment,” Seibel says, “but what we’re looking for is the right people for the program. If it’s someone who has been with the same company for a lot of years, or can show us that kind of staying power, we can be pretty flexible.”
All new truck leases have a buyout option and, because ownership is the ultimate goal, Highway Sales tries to make that option as price competitive as possible. The company will also help the owner-operator negotiate buyout financing and, in many cases, guarantee loans. “If there’s anyone who loves us it should be the truck dealers,” says Seibel, “because when an owner-operator leaves us he has an old asset and established credit.”
Buyout clauses also give owner-operators a chance to take their trucks with them if they leave Dart. Highway Sales won’t back the deal, but they will help whenever they can.
Beyond Payments
A successful lease/purchase goes beyond hammering out a contract and collecting payments. “You become responsible for everything,” Seibel notes.
Today’s new owner-operators are generally less experienced than their counterparts 20 years ago and they’re typically less mechanically inclined. “They’re off the charts when it comes to computers and electronic communications,” Seibel notes, “but they aren’t particularly interested in what goes on under the truck’s hood.”
New trucks carry the manufacturers’ full warranties and Seibel doesn’t hesitate to exercise his company’s purchasing power to make sure owner-operators get a fair shake on warranty repairs. “This is a decent group of people but they’re also people who need a voice,” he points out. “The contract says they’re responsible for repairs but if something goes wrong shouldn’t you stand up to help?”
If an owner-operator complains that he’s not making enough money, Highway Sales has a one-page financial analysis form that will give him an easy-to-understand picture of revenues and costs.
When warranted, Seibel will even use his negotiating skills on those who can most affect an owner-operator’s revenues. “There are probably 100 dispatchers who don’t like me even a little bit,” he chuckles.
"The thing that keeps me here is the people. Some of them have never owned anything in their life, now they own a truck and they own a house. They’re good people and sometimes they need a little help.”
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