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FMCSA Task Force says truck lease-purchase programs should be banned

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A committee assembled by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) recently submitted a final report suggesting truck lease-purchase programs “cause widespread harm” and should not be permitted.

The eight-member Truck Leasing Task Force (TLTF) Advisory Board was formed in 2023 under FMCSA oversight. The TLTF was asked to study the impact of common truck leasing arrangements on owner-operators and trucking businesses.

On January 16, 2025, the TLTF submitted a final report to federal authorities suggesting that lease-purchase programs are harmful to truck drivers and should be banned by Congress.

Task Force: Lease-Purchase Programs Enrich Carriers At Expense Of Drivers

The TLTF stated that most truckers sign on to a 3 to 5 year lease agreement, but that “few drivers survive financially until the end of a lease-purchase contract term.” In fact, the TLTF pointed to data suggesting that “less than 1 in 100 drivers who participate in a lease-purchase end up owning the truck.”

The committee also looked to negative feedback from the trucking community and industry stakeholders, as well as TLTF-reviewed data, which showed that “lease-purchase programs cause widespread harm without offering meaningful scale opportunities for truck and small business ownership.”

According to the TLTF, lease-purchase programs exploit truck drivers to benefit motor carriers without many options for recourse for the drivers who are financially harmed:

TLTF’s findings are clear. 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. Currently there are no effective checks on these programs or remedies for drivers harmed by them.

TLTF: Congress Should Ban CMV Lease-Purchase Agreements

The TLTF ultimately called on authorities to act to ban lease-purchase programs in order to protect truckers:

Congress should ban CMV 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. Such a prohibition would be the most efficient and effective remedy to stop the damage created by lease-purchase programs.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) issued a statement supporting the findings of the TLTF, after the group’s President Todd Spencer spoke at multiple meetings.

“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.”

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