OTR Leasing

OTR Leasing has reviewed the complaint filed by Mr..

OTR Leasing strives to provide quality, used equipment to business owners that understand the requirements of leasing and operating semi-tractors. Mr. entered into a commercial transaction and a lease that clearly stated the unit was leased in "As Is" condition. A third-party inspection was done prior to the unit being leased and a third-party warranty was provided by OTR Leasing and in review it appears that this coverage will provide some relief in repair costs to Mr..

Mr. is welcome to contact our Customer Service group at ***.

OTR Leasing strives to give drivers the best experience possible when leasing our trucks. Any customer is always welcome to contact our Customer Service department at ***.

Customers are welcome to contact our customer service department at any time.

OTR Leasing consistently strives to put qualified drivers in the best used semi-trucks available. We are sorry that Mr. feels his experience was less than satisfactory. We did note however that Mr. put over 38,000 miles on this unit in the short time that he had possession. Mr. lease agreement clearly stated that the unit was leased in "AS IS" condition. With that stipulation, Mr. was still more than able to have the unit inspected by any third-party of his choosing and was not in any way forced to accept a unit if he deemed it less than satisfactory at the time of pick up. Again, we are sorry if Mr. feels his experience was less than satisfactory but based on the mileage he put on the unit and the fact the unit was running when it was recovered, Mr. will not receive any refund from OTR Leasing.

Per the terms of the customer's Lease Agreement all repairs and maintenance are the responsibility of the customer. As noted by the customer in the complaint, he has utilized the equipment for some time and placed wear on the components. As further noted in the complaint the customer has chosen not to utilize the warranty coverage that is provided as he does not wish to comply with the requirements of the warranty provider. Finally another option has been offered to provide financial assistance to the customer and that assistance has also been refused. Any action regarding recovery of the unit will be processed within guidelines and any reporting that is done will also follow proper procedures and will reflect accurately the actions taken. OTR has extended all available options to assist this customer and the customer has declined. No additional relief will be offered.

Mr. was scheduled to leave on 07/09/2019. As the unit was being prepped for delivery prior to his arrival, an issue with the Air Conditioning arose. OTR made every effort to repair the issue prior to the customer’s arrival but the truck had to be moved to another vendor in order to properly complete the repair, and this caused the customer to be delayed. OTR unfortunately cannot control the timing of other vendors, though several other alternate solutions were presented to Mr. Valenti, including the option to lease a different unit. Mr. chose to stay with the truck he committed to, the only outstanding issue with the truck being the AC repair that was completed on the 11th of July, 2 days later than scheduled. There were no other mechanical issues with the truck, and Mr. took possession of the unit and began his lease following the completion of said AC repair.

The first payment on the Mr. lease contract was due 08/23 and was returned for insufficient funds. OTR proceeded to reach out via phone and e-mail, as is standard, for the next 8 weeks without any response from Mr.. We unfortunately cannot take steps to remedy issues we are unaware of and problem solve with Lessees that show a complete unwillingness to communicate or respond to our representatives attempts to communicate.

After Mr. failed to make any payment for 8 weeks and OTR’s numerous attempts to contact him went without response, a repossession was ordered on 10/14/19 and the unit was secured by repo agent on 11/5. On 11/18 Mr. reached out to OTR for the first time since he left with the unit and began his lease. At this point in time, approximately 2 weeks after being secured by repo agent, his lease had been terminated and the tractor was in transit back to OTR facilities. Despite Mr. unfounded claims about the condition of the tractor, maintenance issues, and OTR’s business practices he managed to put over 40,000 miles on the tractor with less than 4 months under lease with OTR, while running across 14 different states. OTR cannot accommodate Mr. request, though we wish him the best of luck in future business endeavors.

Mr. entered into a commercial Lease Agreement with OTR Leasing on a semi-tractor AS IS with a third party warranty purchased by OTR Leasing on his behalf. Upon entering into this agreement it is OTR Leasing's expectation that the Lessee has read and understood the agreement, and if he or she does not they can most certainly ask questions until they are comfortable moving forward.

Despite this expectation, OTR, as part of standard process, walks all Lessees through the most pertinent portions of the Lease Agreement for their business operations, as well as explaining all ancillary services available to them in their lease, warranty coverage, etc. Lessees then execute multiple documents in addition to the Lease Agreement, endorsing that they accept the terms, conditions, exclusions, and warranty. At any point during this process Mr. could have chosen not to proceed with the lease.

In summary, given the nature of the lease and the businesses / owner-operators that do business with OTR Leasing, it is OTR's expectation that Lessees have weighed all options and expenses - including those associated with travel which OTR does not reimburse in any instance - and determined that OTR is the best path forward for their business. In this case it appears Mr. is asserting that he did not understand any of this while it was happening but still took possession of the tractor despite his confusion back in April. Now, roughly 90 days after beginning his lease, he has filed a complaint in which he is asserting he did not understand any of this prior to flying to Kansas City, taking possession of the tractor, or putting said tractor to work for the last quarter of the year. We will unfortunately not be able to accommodate Mr. request.

To Whom It May Concern,

*** did pick up the unit 2013 *** on April 27,2018. April 27, 2018 is a Friday, and it is always advised by our sales staff that if a lessee can pick up the truck Monday – Thursday. This allows any issues that arise from the truck, or paperwork, we will still be able to get the issue resolved and on the road without the customer staying over a weekend. However, we still allow people to pick up on Fridays

After test driving the truck Mr. did have a couple of concerns with the unit. OTR addressed these concerns with Mr. and advised him to take the truck to a 3rd party vendor shop to resolve the following issues.
Top belt replaced AC not cooling Regen light on
Mr. left our location for the third party shop around 1pm (30 min drive). I do not know at what time they arrived. To the best of my knowledge the issues were resolved at the shop on Friday. All trucks are leased AS IS, However; OTR does purchase a 6 month, 50,000 mile warranty via 3rd party with every lease on behalf of its customers.

A case (trouble ticket) was opened on 05/02/2018 with the following complaint. “DPF filter is clogged, went to a shop at pick up to clean it and now its having another issue and

where she is at now they are saying it was not cleaned.”

Following this complaint Mr. was informed that the truck just recently had the DPF cleaned prior to leaving, so the stated issue cannot be accurate. Maintenance shops frequently misdiagnose truck issues (intentionally and unintentionally). Please see attached invoice for the DPF cleaning that occurred prior to Mr. arrival.

OTR Leasing does not authorize repairs post truck pick up post pick up, with rare exceptions to the rule for this reason and many others. Any repairs, alterations, or remediation for the units must be completed ahead of taking delivery of the unit and at one of OTR's trusted vendors in or nearby Kansas City. It is at the lessee’s discretion if they choose to stay in town or leave with the truck thus beginning their lease. All lessees are advised that the trucks are leased AS IS. This is also stated multiple times in the Lease Agreement, and Seating Checklist - all of which we expected Mr. to review prior to executing.

There is no additional information or resolution outside of what was stated in the original response and attachments. Please refer to those.

OTR provides tractors AS-IS on a commercial TRAC Lease to operators. However; some units have remaining factory warranty. OTR also pays to have third party warranty put on tractors frequently as well - in this case Mr. had a third party warranty from NTP that covers specific and limited components. These components are listed in their entirety in warranty contract that all Lessees are furnished at pick up of the tractor.

Our Operations folks certainly try to be helpful to Lessees in getting issues / claims covered or partially covered by any Third Party warranty providers used, but unfortunately OTR is not the decision maker for warranty claims - the third party is. Third party warranty providers do not under any circumstance reimburse for paid invoices, even if the components repaired would have been covered under warranty. Standard process is to reach out to them when an issue is believed to be covered under warranty. They then direct the Lessee to a shop in their network where the unit will either be repaired or further inspection will be completed to determine if the item is covered under warranty. OTR briefs all of its Lessees as a standard regarding how to go about the proper steps to file claim at pick up, and also frequently advises Lessees on the steps to take for warranty claims while under lease. While OTR's operations representatives may give their opinion as to whether an item may be covered under warranty to help give the Lessee some clarity and direction, they certainly cannot make the decision to uphold a claim as the third party provider, in this case NTP, is the sole decision maker for warranty claims. Again, they will never in any circumstance cover any repairs of any kind, be they components under warrantyor not, if the proper steps are not taken. Certainly not if they are not informed until after the invoice has been received and paid. Either way OTR has no control over either scenario, so while it is unfortunate Mr. seems confused regarding how this works and what steps to take, there is nothing OTR can do and he had all the information to properly correctly go about the claim he believes should have been covered at his disposal.

While we appreciate Mr. concerns there are also several points of contention for him that are missing context. Mr. was working with Brad (we do not have a Thomas here), who, like all of our sales representatives, is very diligent in explaining the terms and conditions of approval to our customers. Here at OTR we do not require a minimum credit score to qualify for our lease purchase program, but we do have specific guidelines and qualifiers that are followed throughout the application process and these sometimes dictate the terms and requirements for a potential customer to lease with us. Per Mr., he completed an application, thus consenting to credit and background check. Required down payment and lease payments are not stated anywhere on our website because the requirements and thresholds for both vary based upon customers' credit and background. In Mr. case there were several factors that did not meet our standard criteria and guidelines; some of which were credit related and others background related, and one being the issuance of bad checks that he mentioned. Unfortunately these combined factors dictated the down payment required of him, and we do not hold trucks for customers based on their applying for the program - only deposit holds the equipment and before deposit can be paid customers must first qualify for the program as a perfunctory step. This was all most certainly explained to him, and while we wish Mr. the best of luck his implication that something nefarious occurred because his credit and background did not qualify him for our program in the way he had hoped to is a completely false and contorted assertion.

In our lease-to-own program OTR Leasing maintains titles for all tractors on lease in OTR's name. At the end of the lease term Lessees have the option to purchase their tractor for the residual value stated in the lease, and at this point OTR signs over their title. However; during the lease term, the Lessee is required to maintain an insurance policy in their name.
When making an insurance claim, because the Lessee is the insured party and OTR is the loss payee and additional insured, as well as the title holder, it is required that the check be endorsed by both parties (or that one part have limited power of attorney for the other to sign, which is the case with the vast majority of our Lessee's). With limited power of attorney in place, OTR can sign on behalf of its Lessees to endorse the insurance check and speed up the payment process for the necessary repair during the claim process.

In Mr. case his insurer cut the check for the claim on his leased tractor on 08/17/17, and mailed it to the repair shop where the truck was being fixed. However; the repair shop did not reach out to OTR to endorse the check, or do anything with the check at all, until 08/29/17, nearly 2 weeks later. This is the primary reason for the delay in payment for Mr. tractor. OTR followed standard procedure and in a timely manner.

Additionally, OTR's calls, incoming and outgoing, are all logged in its phone system and dialer. Mr. has indicated that he reached out to *** numerous times and without response, but our records show that Mr. had only two missed calls within minutes of each other and one voice mail at 10:30 AM CST on 09/13 just a few hours before he submitted this complaint. OTR does not believe this is at all indicative of a lack of timeliness or urgency to address Mr. issue in the least, and the delay in payment was due to a lack of follow through with the insurance company and the repair shop that was seeking payment for the claim repair.

OTR Leasing obtains Power of Attorney in order to provide the most efficient service possible within the structure of the lease, given OTR is the sole title holder as explained in the previous response. This is included in the terms of the contract that Mr. executed with OTR, and thus OTR had the authority to sign on his behalf for the check in order to get the repair for which the claim check was issued paid for. OTR certainly did not intend to keep the repair from being paid for or hold up the process, but Mr. disputed the check when OTR went to release the funds for the claim because he did not believe OTR could sign on his behalf. The check issuer and bank were then forced to hold the funds until they investigated on Mr. behalf. For this reason the truck leased by Mr. was not free to leave the shop until October 6th, thanks solely to the fact that Mr. disputed OTR's attempt to pay the claim which in turn created further delay for the very issue from which this complaint originated.

When Mr. originally picked up the tractor he is leasing from OTR on 08/23/17 the unit did have a coolant leak that was fixed at OTR facilities and at OTR's expense. On 08/25/17 *** spoke to an OTR rep for the first time regarding any kind of potential issue with the tractor - he indicated the truck was running well but the check engine light had come on and the 5th wheel was locking on the trailer. A trouble ticket was created for him, as the representative he spoke with did not have the authority to resolve his issue, and an OTR maintenance representative reached out to him on that same day. Mr. was advised to reach back out to us if the problem persisted, and that the 5th wheel on the truck was new.

On 08/29/17 another trouble ticket was created for Mr. when he informed one of our representatives that his tractor was again leaking coolant, and the check engine light had come back on. On 08/30 one of OTR Leasing's maintenance representatives reached out to *** and informed him that he would be responsible for the tractor repair, as all lessees are responsible for the ongoing maintenance of their tractors. OTR leases used commercial equipment to Owner / Operators. All contractual documentation clearly states the equipment is leased AS-IS, though OTR does provide a third party warranty for the tractors that covers the engine and critical components. Unfortunately the items that Mr. felt needed to be fixed were not covered under that third party warranty. However; despite this OTR advised Mr. that he could receive a 50% credit to his maintenance account for the coolant repair if he could make it to OTR's maintenance provider, KAW Services in Pleasant Valley, MO, to have the repair completed. He declined to come to Pleasant Valley for resolution. Mr. had another trouble ticket created for him on 09/08 for the same issues as the ticket from 08/29. He was again advised that he could come to Kansas City in order to have his issues resolved with the tractor.

It is common practice for multiple folks to be in contact with the same Lessee to address issue items, as OTR has multiple departments and experts that deal with the ongoing resolution and communication regarding these sorts of things. While Mr. may have been transferred to the department best fit to address his issue, OTR's communication with him was reasonable and timely. None of the additional issues Mr. mentioned were addressed with OTR, and Mr. was offered a solution multiple times that he did not accept for the issues that were addressed. OTR is more than willing to go above and beyond its contractual obligation to Mr., as was offered to him in conversations previous, but if Mr. chooses to abandon or return the tractor then he will be in default of the Lease contract with OTR and his default will be treated as such.

It has been clearly communicated with Mr. what OTR plans to do with respect to this matter, per his own message. There will be no further action or offers of additional support for Mr. outside of what has already been offered up to him by both Mr. Hall and Mr. Muller.