GULFPORT, MS - At a time when returns on savings, CDs and bonds alike have dwindled to near zero, American Truck Group's private lending opportunity is catching fire, according to a press release from the dealer.
While corporate America is outsourcing more and more jobs, the trucking industry is suffering from a severe shortage of truck drivers. It's a shortage that some estimate will exceed 200,000 by mid 2013. Unlike so many other manufacturing, customer service or telemarketing jobs, a truck driver job cannot be outsourced.
Retail consumption is up since the financial crisis and as a result there are more trucks moving more goods.
Enter American Truck Group. Twelve years ago, American Truck Group CEO, Louis Normand, then one of Mississippi's larger big truck dealers, set out to deal with this problem. He said, "I decided if I couldn't sell them a truck, I would rent them one." Now, Normand operates the largest rent-to-buy trucking fleet in the country.
Many trucking companies would like to add additional trucks to their fleet in order to meet this demand. But, banks are not an option for many of the trucking companies or owner-operators; they are under tougher regulations, more scrutiny and often not willing to loan on trucks.
Normand goes on to explain that a growing population is also contributing to the driver shortage. "It's simple," he says, "when more people need more food, more bathroom tissue and more toothpaste, more staple goods need to make their way into American homes." Whatever way you want to add the numbers, more goods are taking an extra truck ride to get to your house and more goods are filling more trucks.
With numbers approaching 500 strong and a newly expanded infrastructure that can accommodate 700 more trucks, Normand says, "The rent-to-buy model could easily expand."
When asked what the biggest road-block to expansion is now, Normand said, "It's still money. Someone has to own the mortgage on the truck." Because the rent-to-buy model doesn't fit a typical commercial loan profile, the regulation-riddled commercial lending industry is less than accommodating. But Normand says, "It didn't stop me from getting this far and won't stop me from going further."
To fill the capital void, Normand relies on private lenders to grow his fleet. At a time when returns on savings, CDs and bonds alike have dwindled to near zero, American Truck Group's private lending opportunity is catching fire. A varied group of cash-flow starved investors is growing. This group of investors, to include doctors, lawyers and your typical cash-flow starved retiree, recognizes the opportunity as rare. Where else can you lend money against an income producing asset? In this case, the truck becomes collateral against the loan. It's insured against loss and in the unlikely event a driver cannot get work, the truck is returned and put into service with another driver.
When asked just how popular this lending opportunity is becoming, Normand proudly announced that his latest private lender has committed a $7 million line of credit to grow his fleet. This investment opportunity is paying 12-percent APR over 48 Months P&I, secured by the truck as an asset with the title perfected, with the investor showing as lien holder and also having physical damage insurance so if the truck is stolen or burns the investor is paid off by the insurance company. He went on to say that in the future he expects private lending to play an increasing role in economic recovery. In the case of American Truck Group, 700 new drivers will be put on the road. More mechanics will be put in the shop and more freight will move more efficiently across the country. An economy once strangled by lending regulations will once again be free to recover and grow.
