XTRA Lease News

How do you handle the uncertainties of moving freight in an unpredictable market? You figure out the best combination of owning, leasing, and renting trailers for your business.

Risks in trucking never go away. You have to stop and take a breath every now and then. Think about how you want to improve your business. Weigh the benefits and drawbacks of buying or leasing trailers. Which of those options takes you where you need to go?

Whether you’re seeking your first trailer lease, want to expand an existing lease, or want to borrow from a lender, there are some things you can focus on to help you qualify: the 3 C’s of credit.

What’s the difference in repair cost between spring-rides and air-rides? A growing freight carrier out of Tucson, Diamondback Systems, gathered some numbers and came to some conclusions that surprised them. Here’s their real-life example.

The risk of cargo theft never goes away. Neither does your resolve to fight it.

They can cost less, be more efficient, help you retain drivers, and more, no matter your length of haul. Here's how.

Specs that reduce maintenance make your trailers damage-resistant and help them endure the rough-and-tumble of over-the-road work. Poorly spec’d trailers can wreak havoc in a fleet.

Yep, we said it. Rent fewer trailers. We’re big fans of effective spending. It drives cost out of the supply chain, which makes everybody, from manufacturer to consumer, happy. While it’s clear that renting fewer trailers means you’ll spend less on rentals, how can renting fewer trailers make you more efficient?

Here are a few things you may not know about trailer suspensions. The type of suspension on your semi-trailer has an impact on your bottom line. It can affect the safety of your shipments, your fleet utilization, your driver’s job satisfaction and the long-term profitability of your business.

Sure, trailer technology—in the forms of trailer telematics and equipment specs—may cost a bit more, but they also can help you do more with less. When you account for fuel savings and a harder-working trailer that’s designed to stay on the road and out of the shop, you have a clear path to higher efficiency and profit.

Maintaining the integrity of refrigerated cargo is critical. Modern trailer refrigeration systems are designed to be easy to operate. But it’s possible to make a costly mistake, regardless of your expertise.

You’d think an experienced carrier like Swift Transportation might know what they’re talking about when it comes to tracking trailers. You’d be right.

Cargo theft is an unfortunate reality of doing business in the commercial trucking industry. And, while cargo theft isn’t a new trend, today’s thieves are sophisticated enough to keep pace with changing trends and technologies in transportation.

Today’s sophisticated trailer refrigeration units maintain proper temperature control, but even the best refrigeration technology can’t completely assure the safety of cargo that was improperly loaded. Here are six steps to load refrigerated cargo that can help safeguard it in transit.

Even under the watch of the most experienced fleet managers, trailers go missing from time to time. When a trailer’s unhooked and has no telematics of its own, it’s vulnerable to “unauthorized interchange.” And when that happens, it costs you.

Are any of your rental trailers just sitting around idle? That’s dormancy. And when rental trailers are dormant, you’re not only losing revenue, but paying to do it! So how can you make sure your rentals are working for you?