The Truck Leasing Task Force has officially asked for a ban on truck lease-purchase agreements where a motor carrier controls the work, compensation and debts of the driver.
Land Line previously reported in December 2024 that the task force recommended a ban in its draft report.
On Jan. 16, that request was made official.
“TLTF’s findings are clear,” the task force wrote in its report to Congress, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Labor. “It formed a consensus to recommend that such arrangements, whereby a motor carrier controls the work, compensation and debts of the driver, should be prohibited. Lease-purchase programs are regularly established to enrich motor carriers at the expense of drivers. These programs promote a race-to-the-bottom in driver compensation and treatment, pushing qualified drivers out of the profession.”
The Truck Leasing Task Force, which held its first meeting in July 2023, was created by Congress as a way to combat the problem of predatory lease-purchase agreements in the trucking industry.
Although the purported goal of these programs is for the driver to own the truck at the end of the contract, the reality is that truckers rarely make it to the finish line. In addition, there have been reports of drivers owing money to the carrier at the end of a pay period. And despite the programs being referred to as lease-purchase, the drivers accrue no equity in the truck as they make payments.
The task force estimated that these agreements end in default 90% or more of the time and that hundreds of thousands of truck drivers have been negatively affected.
After spending a year-and-a-half analyzing the issue, the task force did not mince words when describing the current truck lease-purchase model.
“Congress should ban commercial motor vehicle lease-purchase agreements 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,” the task force wrote in the final report. “Such a prohibition would be the most efficient and effective remedy to stop the damage created by lease-purchase programs.”
Although the task force’s first choice is for Congress to end the programs, it also made several other recommendations for improvement.
Those improvements include congressional oversight, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration oversight, mandatory disclosures, training grants and enforcement from the Department of Labor, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and state and local authorities.
OOIDA President Todd Spencer commended the work of the Truck Leasing Task Force, emphasizing the detrimental impact these agreements have on truckers and highway safety.
“Many people are drawn to trucking under the belief that hard work guarantees success,” Spencer said. “But predatory lease-purchase agreements prey on that trust, leaving drivers financially and emotionally broken.”
What’s next?
Now that the report is complete, the ball is in the courts of Congress, federal agencies and law enforcement. OOIDA said it plans to urge lawmakers and regulators to implement the recommendations. LL
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