Truck Leasing Task Force postpones meeting

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Truck Leasing Task Force has officially moved its next meeting to Dec. 3.

In a notice that is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, Nov. 13, FMCSA announced the postponement. The meeting previously had been scheduled for Nov. 20.

The delay will give the Truck Leasing Task Force additional time to draft its recommendations on how to prevent predatory lease-purchase agreements in the trucking industry.

Background

Congress established the Truck Leasing Task Force as a way to combat a longtime problem in the trucking industry. In these agreements, large carriers lease a truck to a driver. The purported goal is for the driver to own the truck at the end of the contract. In reality, however, it is rare for the agreements to end with that outcome. Instead, the truck driver often functions as an employee while making payments to the carrier for the truck and its maintenance.

The task force launched in 2023. Since that time, the group has been researching the topic and listening to truck drivers’ personal experiences.

“I’ve been a victim of a whole lot of this stuff,” Robert Wilson, an owner-operator, said at the Oct. 30 meeting. “It was a rush job, and they try to sell you on the idea that you will own the truck in the end. My truck broke down in less than a week, and I was still obligated to pay for the load. I had to pay for a hotel with my own money even though I just got the truck.”

The task force used publicly available court data to estimate that more than 200,000 truck drivers have been affected by predatory lease-purchase agreements. Steve Viscelli, a task force member and economic sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania, called that estimate “just the tip of the iceberg” and suggested that the total number could be hundreds of thousands more.

Dec. 3 meeting

This is expected to be the task force’s final meeting before it turns in recommendations to the agency.

The virtual meeting will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern on Dec. 3. Members of the public can register here to attend.

As part of the meeting, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is expected to present its final report regarding lease agreements in the trucking industry. There also will be time set aside for the public to provide comments. LL