Averitt: Desperately Seeking Information...

Hi everyone! I'm hoping you all can answer some questions for me. I'm posting for my Dad since he doesn't have internet at his house and I'm playing the role of over-protective daughter

My Dad recently got into trucking after being laid off from his prior job in the maintenance industry. He drove trucks many years ago, and thought he'd give it another go around. The hardest part for him and my Mom has of course been the time away from each other.

Well, needless to say, after 6 months of being with his current employer, he is looking for a new company. Lots, and lots, and lots of bad experiences there which have lead up to this decision. One of the companies he's narrowed it down to is Averitt, based on my recommendation strictly from trolling the internet and forums. He's hesitant about making final decision because he is deathly afraid that he's going to run into the same types of issues he's had to date with his currently employer. So, I figured I'd post here and ask some pretty pointed questions to see if you all can help answer them

Number one on his list is benefits. My Mom has a lot of health issues, and so medical, dental vision etc are VERY important in his decision making process. I found an old 2012 benefits guide from Averitt which gives me a pretty good idea what they offer, but since that was 2 years ago and things in the healthcare world have changed a lot since then, I wanted to see if anyone would be willing to provide any additional details about it. Specifically deductible and out of pocket amounts and whether or not prescription costs count towards the deductible/OOP or not. My Dad did call Averitt to ask questions, but they said he had to apply first before they would be willing to answer specific questions for him. He's going to come over later tonight to apply online, but I figured I'd ask for whatever info you can give in the meantime.

Are the trucks in decent shape? His current truck is VERY old and I think has like 700,000 miles on it. It keeps breaking down, and no one seems to really give a crap, so just wanting to know if Averitt really does have pretty decent trucks. And, from what I read, they all have APU's which is great since he's got sleep apnea and needs his CPAP machine which he currently has to lug around a50lb battery to use since his current truck doesn't have or allow an APU for it.

As I've said, I'm no trucker personally, so any help you can provide in terms of what type of routes he should applying for or asking about to maximize home time (preferably every weekend) and of course pay (yes I know I'm living in an imaginary place LOL) would be great. I know typically OTR make more than regional, but I didn't see "OTR" positions listed at Averitt. Do they have those and they're just called something else? He's been having to be out on the road for weeks at a time (most recently 7 weeks) in order to make enough money/miles to support my Mom and pay bills, so although on paper we think "regional" is what he'd like, he's really open to traveling almost anywhere so long as he can be home every weekend.

Is there anything else you think we should know about Averitt in terms of pros/cons or experiences that would be helpful?

Thank you all so much in advance!!

 

Thanks! We're smack dab between Chicago and Milwaukee. Right on the Wisconsin border.

Issues he's had: NEVER get him home when he says he needs to be home. Prime example is this past weekend. He called Saturday morning to tell dispatch that he could take an empty trailer with him back to the yard and they sent him to a location. He got there...they didn't have an empty. They sent him somewhere else...he was 4th in line for drivers waiting for empty trailers and a minimum 4 hour wait according to staff there. They sent him somewhere else...not sure what happened here, but alas, no empty. FINALLY at the FOURTH place he went to, he got the empty and instead of getting home Saturday morning, after the 2 hour drive to pick him up at the yard, we got home at 1am on Sunday.

Old/broke down truck: Multiple break downs with mechanics saying they can't find anything wrong among other things.

LOT AND LOTS AND LOTS of waiting around for runs and just all in all very bad route management in my humble opinion!

There are a couple other things, but those are the main ones and should give you an idea of whats been going on.

 

Forgot to add that I think he's at $0.35 cpm.

 

Thanks! He actually does already have his hazmat endorsement, so good to go there. I'll have him take a look at the companies you suggested. Thanks again!

Still would like more info on Averitt too if anyone wants to share Thanks!

 

To 08international...thanks for the message, but I don't have enough post counts to respond to you directly yet So sorry!