
Changes could be coming to lease-purchase programs offered by motor carriers.
The Truck Leasing Task Force (TLTF), established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) in 2021 under Congressional directive to investigate the impacts of these programs, issued its findings in a report to Congress and the Department of Transportation, ultimately concluding -- unanimously -- “that the costs and harms of lease-purchase programs are so great that these programs should not be permitted.”
The report states when the task force was established, some of its members “believed lease-purchase programs could provide an important avenue to truck and small business ownership.” However, after a year and a half of meetings in which the TLTF heard comments from drivers and non-driver trucking industry stakeholders, task force members determined that “lease-purchase programs cause widespread harm without offering meaningful scale opportunities for truck and small business ownership.”
TLTF said it formed a consensus to recommend that such arrangements, in which a motor carrier controls the work, compensation and debts of a driver, should be prohibited. They said such programs “promote a race-to-the-bottom in driver compensation and treatment, pushing qualified drivers out of the profession. Currently there are no effective checks on these programs or remedies for drivers harmed by them. Litigation, currently the only avenue for relief, can provide some remedy for the drivers involved, but has not led to reform of these programs.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) commended the task force for its findings.
“Many people are drawn to trucking under the belief that hard work guarantees success,” says OOIDA President Todd Spencer. “But predatory lease-purchase agreements prey on that trust, leaving drivers financially and emotionally broken.” OOIDA as an organization, reps noted, "remains committed to working with lawmakers and regulatory agencies to protect drivers and eliminate predatory practices in the trucking industry."
Representatives from the American Trucking Associations, by contrast, noted they were “reviewing the report and the recommendations that were made by the task force," adding the organization was committed to "protecting individuals' right to choose work arrangements that align with their unique needs and goals.”
The task force's top recommendation is for Congress to ban lease-purchase agreements offered under the control of motor carriers “as irredeemable tools of fraud and driver oppression that threaten a safe national transportation system and diminish the number of truck drivers attracted to and who stay in the trucking industry,” according to the report. An outright ban on lease-purchases “would be the most efficient and effective remedy to stop the damage created by lease-purchase programs,” the report added.
The final report from the TLTF can be found on the FMCSA website.