Is owning/operating my only hope?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by SonnyD, Jun 9, 2009.

  1. SonnyD

    SonnyD Bobtail Member

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    Jun 9, 2009
    Boise, ID
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    I attended CDL school in February 2007 and went to work for May Trucking Co. in March of the same year. In my first year, I had 3 preventables: a curbed trailer rim, a no-damage contact with a parked bobtail, and a broken trailer door. I also had two 10-over speeding tickets. After 13 months with the company, I was asked to resign. A week later, I went to work for Motor West Inc. Unfortunately, a week after I started, I had a one vehicle accident resulting in a roll-over. Motor West terminated me, and I went back into construction.

    However, driving is my true calling in life. Like many veteran drivers "warned" me, it has gotten into my blood, and I understand why some people make good drivers while others don't. I want to return to driving with all of my being, but have been turned down by every company I've contacted. One recruiter told me that I can apply with his company when my most recent traffic violation is 3 years old.

    My question: Is buying my own truck my only hope of returning to driving, or is it possible to get a company job again?
     
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  3. poptop

    poptop Light Load Member

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  4. 550hpW900L

    550hpW900L Road Train Member

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    Sounds to me like you dont need to be anywhere near a truck, just think with all the crap you have done if the truck was yours, you would go bankrupt before you know it.

    No insurance company will insure you, and if they do you wont afford it.
     
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  5. PharmPhail

    PharmPhail Road Train Member

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    That just, really, sounds like too much. I don't like to eat my words so I'll just say that tomorrow it will not cost you anything to call your local insurance agent. They can write a policy through any company and know who handles what. They can tell you if you have any hope of insurance and if so, what it is likely to cost.
     
  6. LDH26

    LDH26 Light Load Member

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    I have to agree on this. You've had alot of accidents in a real short period of time. The only thing I can see that you might have going for you is that they all took place within your first year or so of driving. Someone with an open mind might see this and try to give you another chance. If you re-trained it might help, but like they said, the insurance companies are going to frown big time. Did they not teach you how to swing wide on your turns and jackknife your rig in areas where there's not enough room to swing out, so that you don't drag your trailer duals across the top of somebody's car, curbs, stop signs, parked bobtails, etc?
     
  7. LDH26

    LDH26 Light Load Member

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    How did you turn your truck/trailer over? I'm just curious. We had a guy do that at the company I worked for last year. He was in a daycab International pulling an aluminum end dump. He'd picked up a load of petroleum coke at Conoco in Ponca City and was headed to Marble City. Right there where the Muskogee Turnpike meets I-40 he took that curve to fast, hit the gaurdrail, lost control, and the trailer broke away from the tractor and went over on it's side in the ditch. Coke went everywhere, the trailer was totalled out, the tractor's front bumper was under the cab, knocked a hole in the oil pan, and broke the hood. The company sent 2 dumptruck drivers down and a bobcat to clean up the coke. They sent me down there with the lowboy trailer to haul back the tractor. It was a bad deal man. He's lucky the trailer broke away like it did. Were you hurt?
     
  8. Ohnoo

    Ohnoo Light Load Member

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    No no it's not and from what you posted above any company that would hire you wouldn't be worth working for. Has for becoming an O/O well its a safe bet that you will lose your CDL LONG before you could pay a lease off. And I'm not being mean its just a simple fact with your history already. Its clear that you do not learn form your mistakes nore do you have the ability to pay attention to your surroundings both of which are big killers in this industry in more ways then one.
     
  9. LDH26

    LDH26 Light Load Member

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    You might not be as dangerous in a straight truck.:biggrin_25512: Try applying somewhere where they run dump trucks. You might luck out and get on somewhere like that and at least get some kind of truck time while you're waiting on those accidents to fall off the 3 year record or whatever the guy at that one place told ya. It would probably do you some good too. There's a thing that I call "natural snap", which is the ability/skill to visualize the way a truck is going to turn or whether or not you should drive off into a tight area, etc. You either have it or you don't. It's not really something that can be taught. At least that's my opinion. It's something to ask yourself when you say this is your "calling". I never went to a truck driving school, so I don't know what all they teach you there, but i'm suprised it's not more in depth than what people have portrayed it to be. I grew up around farming, so i've been driving trucks and operating equipment since I was a kid. When I got my license I borrowed a truck/trailer (53' van) and went over to Tulsa and took my test. The examiner had me drive around Tulsa for about 45 minutes. What did your test consist of?
     
  10. Crotts Trucking

    Crotts Trucking Medium Load Member

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  11. LDH26

    LDH26 Light Load Member

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    I'd hate to see him with a lowboy. If he didn't have the trailer hung up and high centered with the tractor tandems hanging in mid air, he would definitely be dragging it across stop signs, curbs, telephone poles, etc. on all of his turns. :biggrin_255: But on the other hand, I guess that would be a little better than dragging the tandems of a van trailer across the hood of some little old ladies Lincoln Town Car while she's sitting at a stoplight where he's making a turn.:biggrin_25525:
     
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