do i spend the money on truckdriving school or get someone to just teach me?

Question

have hauled boats 50 feet long crosscountry know i can drive atruck know i want to do it but should i spend 5000 grand dont know how else to get started. im smart can back up boat trailers but how does someone get in without the school

Answer 1

I helped my son with this exact problem a couple of years ago please let me explain to you what he did. It will be very difficult for you to get in to a company because you may not have enough experience which is what he ran in to, No real experience but no one was willing to hire him to get it.
He did go to a truck drivers school in Indiana which had about a 95% placement rate ( Truck Driver Institute) passed the school and was placed with a company. Please understand that the company he was placed with turned out to be not very good but after about six months he was able to find a much better company to drive for and his experience with the first company helped. Unfortunately there are company's out there that take advantage of new graduates but if you pay close attention to what they "Promise" you and they turn out to be a bad company to work for you can still use that experience to find a better place to drive for. The cost of his school was just what you said about 5 grand but my son will have that paid back to the bank in less than five years because he makes very good money now (about $700.00 per week, sometimes more sometimes less) The best part about all of this is that he loves what he is doing. He has been to California, Rexas, Florida, New York and so on. I hope this helps and Good Luck.

Answer 2

Now days you just about have to have at least two or three years experience or have gone to driving school. And only a few companies will take drivers right out of driving school.
One possible way is to find a company which has it's own driving school or which will refund the money you have spent on driving school. A couple of the companies are as follows:
P.A.M. transport
Swift Transport
Schenider Transport.

Get your Sunday paper or if you live in a small town get the Sunday paper Medium or large city near you. Go to the Truck driving or Driving section in the classified. Usually you will find ads there from trucking companies looking for drivers.

Next step is go to the nearest T.S.A. Petro, or Love's truck stops. Go back to the drivers lounges. There you will find racks of what look like Reader Digest sized magazines. They are filled with ads from trucking companies looking to hire drivers: And they are free. If they are not inside they might be outside located where the drivers walk from their trucks to the building.
Good through them calling the companies to find out if they have their own driving schools and if so how to apply. They all have 1-800 numbers so use your home phone to save money.

While you are at the truck stop talk to the drivers. Most of them will talk to you and help you. If on your first try the driver tells you to shove off. Don't let it phase you, most drivers will be glad to talk to you.

Next stop is to your State run employment department which is usually tied in with unemployment as well. Get on their computer if they have one, or get one of the personal to five you assistance in finding a company which will pay for your driving school.

While you are there check in on state training to see if maybe the state under the job training pardner ship act will put your through driving school. The check in on vocational rehabilation training as well.
With a little work you should be able to get through driving school without it breaking you financially
And when you graduate and get your "A" CdL be prepared to stay with the first company at least a year to establish your work history.

Answer 3

Hi , I was in HCC,going to get my CDL,for 4 weeks and I just needed 2 weeks to go which was the driving partof the course.MY license got suspended in that time.anyways the class was 4,000 dollars at the time.but now i know you can study the book and take all the written test first and you can find lots of companies that will charge you like 300.00-500.00 to teach you the driving part and then you can use their truck to take the driven part of the test .Good luck.You know also trucking companies like stevens trasports will pay for your school to drive only thing that suck about that is that you would have to sign a contract with them for a certain amount of time,they of course keep you working hard .they will tell you that you will be home after 3 weeks ,
but sometimes you wont be home for 5 or 6 weeks.Well Ihope I was able to help If you live in houston or surrounding areas email me I can help you get some numbers for those companies I was telling you about.

Answer 4

A lot of good points made about companies that offer to train new drivers and those who really take people for a "ride" when they are hired. Check your other question and get back to me so I can give some sound advice. Good luck and hope this helps.

Answer 5

The best way is to enroll with JBHUNT or with SNYDER and they will put you threw there own school and then you have to work for them for about a year or two and then you can go your separate ways but that is the cheapest and easiest way.

Answer 6

go to school for it. you will have the book knowledge and the driving skills too.

Answer 7

In my state...you have to go to school for it...maybe it varies by state....call the DMV