Hi All If you are thinking about working for Central Ref. I will have to tell you that they are not a bad company to work for My husband and I have worked for them for 5 years now, they are nothing like Good ol Dick Simon was they are a well respected co. If you have any questions about them ask me and i will tell you. Have a good one

I was hoping you could elaborate more on Central. I would like to start with them soon by going through their school.. then out on the road. I do have a few questions I was hoping you could put your 2 cents in on:

Do they treat you as a driver (and your husband) with respect?

Do they give you the miles? (This may be irrelevant to ask you since you are running team and I will be going solo).. I was hoping for no less than 2000 a week.. but an average of 2500 a week throughout the year.. Obtainable?

Do you find their trucks have enough room for two people to "live in" for any length of time. My wife will be tagging along with me the entire first year (not driving) .. One of the main reasons I picked them (besides the good news from you & other drivers) is that the recruiter told me a passenger is eligible to travel with me the day I'm done training.

Most importantly, I am very interested to know about their medical benefits. If you could shed some light on those, I'd greatly appreciate it as well. I would like to cover my wife and I .. and I know they have a plan ($65 a week!! hefty fine to stay healthy!! ) .. but with that kind of price, they better cover everything! If you could get more detailed then a recruiter, I'd appreciate it (ie. co-pay, deductibles, prescription??)

Are they good about running you legal?


Do you enjoy your life out on the road with this company?

Thanks!

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Knight Rider

I can field a couple of questions about them, first off, let me warn you, I am not happy with this company. I haven't been treated with respect at this company, and they have told me to run illegal a couple of times. There are other problems areas that I have had, medical insurance, once you are on their plan you can not get off their plan! Once a year you can get off insurance, and let me tell you, it isn't good insurance. If you are hurt on the job, I hope you can fit everything you own into a dufflebag and enjoy greyhound, because that is what happened to me. I have lost almost $2000 worth of stuff that I had on the truck because they forgot where they put it. I've been told sixty different things from 3 different people. I just want my stuff back. Also you have to go over your settlement with a fine tooth comb.

If you only want 2000 miles, I'm sure you'll be able to get it, you'll get a 1000 mile run due in 24 hours and then a 2000 mile run over 6 days!

Well, I got to see the USA.

I am sorry to hear you are unhappy with them. I am hoping I don't run into your bad luck with this company. Running 1000 miles in 24hrs is definetly illegal, and I don't believe (from what I understand of the logs) that their is a chance in heaven that you could ever run that legally. To top that, running it even illegally REALLY puts a strain on the body (I've done it in a car, and it's not fun after the 10th hr..) ... But I'm sure any smart driver would call their saftey department and get that taken care of ...

As for the medical insurance, you unfortunately answered none of my questions. You being hurt on the job is workman's compensation, something the employee doesn't even contribute towards. You also mentioned that you were unable to change your insurance for one year.. this is standard in any industry. If you have a choice between an HMO & PPO and you pick HMO and change your mind... you can't.. you're stuck with it for 1 year.. this is an insurance policy, not a Central policy..

However, (like I mentioned before) for $65 a week, it better be amazing insurance..

As for losing everything you owned.. Wouldn't you have been better off just renting a car from your location and driving yourself home? With all your stuff in it? That was my first thought.. and that's what I would have done to take my refrigerator (& other paraphernalia) back home..

But if you really lost $2000 worth of personal property, and the company is holding it against your will, you have every right to take that to small claims court to get your money. Did they toss you? Or are you still officially employed?


Anyway, anyone else have any insight into Central? Good or bad?

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Knight Rider

First time I have ever not been able to drop coverage on insurance. I'm not talking ENROLL, I'm talking dropping to having NO INSURANCE. They won't let you drop insurance once you are on any plan.

Sure, renting a car would have been an nice idea, but being under doctors orders not to drive, and a 3500 cross country trip would have been fun.

I am still an employee, they just won't return my calls about my equipment, I get "Oh so-and-so didn't call and tell you that it is A: Missing B: Found C: Locked Up D: Who are you E: Say, why are you on that truck in Kansas?"

As far as Safety goes, they told me not to take a load, and after that the DM was telling me to take the load, back and forth over and over.

As for the Volvos, the top bunk isn't that soft, FYI.

Could you perhaps be so kind as to inform me what your average take home pay was each week (gross/net.. after insurance, tuition, taxes, etc.) & miles? As it is a bold question, I was hoping to get an idea before I jumped by comparing an average take home vs how much money I need in necessity.

A couple other questions: Where did they have you travel to the most? East? Southeast? South or Midwest? West? SLC a lot? I know "all over" is the first answer that is popping into your head, but I was hoping for more of a specific ... perhaps you were in an area more often than others plus "all over"?

Did they keep your runs far from your residence or did you drive through your home town every now and again without asking just because a load had to be taken somewhere close by?

Speaking of the truck, the bottom bunk.. is it the size of a standard twin bed? Did the truck ride nice? Was it comfortable? Did you feel "at home"?


Your input on all of these questions is upmost appreciated. Thank you..

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Knight Rider

I am working for Central now. I just upgraded the other day and got a load home for a short visit.
I was lucky and got what I feel was a pretty good trainer. I heard some of them are not that great, but mine was not bad. I trained with an owner op in a new T2000.
I am now in a company volvo. It is a decent older truck (2005 model).
The ride is pretty comfortable, though the cab blows around a good bit more than the T2 did when passed by a big truck, and it seems to pull the hills pretty well.

The lower bunk is plenty big for me alone, with a nice new seally posturpedic matress. My load home was a 1300 mile run and if I had not gone home I allready had a 1900 mile run preset that would have delivered just at the end of the week. I allready had a truck recovery and 700 miles for the week before that. So I cannot see getting milage to be a real issue. The miles are there. Just do your best to maximize your hours and keep communication going so they know to get your presets in.

I talked to allot of drivers that were having issues with the 07 model volvos. All kinds of computer issues, that volvo was having a hard time fixing and keeping there milage down. I was happy to get an older truck because of this. Plus it puts me inline for a new truck next year if I stick around and they are not buying volvos anymore after this year. Though I have yet to find out for sure what the new company truck will be. They have started to pass out off lease Kenworth T2000's and W900's to company drivers now, because the lease trucks are switching to Pete's.

I am going to give it a good 6 months from now and make a determination then if I will keep it up. My wife is allready having a very hard time being alone.

Oh, and Sad Panda. I did not get issued your truck lol. Mine is an early 05.

Average take-home was about $500-600 gross, give or take missing a trip pak. Insurance was -$40 a week, taxes, take out whatever you claim, $4 a week for Driver lawyer (FYI, Central charges you a dollar a week to do this, just go through [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. and save yourself $52 a year and get it direct). There would be times that I wouldn't get a paycheck because of a trip not ending before the cut off date. Just be aware of that.

Friend of mine would run hard, and stay out for months, he made $900 sometimes more, sometimes less.

Me, I did alot of I-5, I-80, I-40,20,10 work. As a California driver, they would keep me on the East Coast more then I liked, and I've heard from East Coasters they would flip them to the West Coast. My Friend, he was the I-80 man for awhile. Never ever did I get close to home without asking for time off. The closest I ever got to a load was 9 hours away, closest I ever got coming off a load was a 11 hour day.

Now about the truck. Volvos are all kinds of awesome. They ride pretty nice (The seats are so damn awesome you won't believe it) Sleeper is smaller then a Freightliner Century class unit, and I think the bottom is is almost a twin, I had some fitting sheets that worked, but didn't work well. Did I feel at home in the truck? Felt enough that I could sleep in it I guess. It is going to be tight for two people and a frig microwave clothes etc etc in the truck.

I think Chrome Dome has a 2XXXX where I had a 6XXXX, he has the Cummins IPX twincam and straight 10, I had a D12 Volvo with the 9 speed. I like the 9 speeds more then the 10 speeds, and the Volvo seems to fall on it's face under a heavy load, which is most of the loads you'll get. One problem area on the Volvo is the steer axle. It is really easy to go heavy on the steers in these trucks. Two people in the truck, and a full load of fuel and I wouldn't be surprised if you are heavy on the steers.

Would I drive another Volvo? Even though it took me a week of sitting at $50 a day to get one injector replaced, yes I would.

What? What trucks are they buying for next year Chromedome?

I dont think they have decided yet. They will not go back to freightliner or volvo, so I have feeling it may be the T660 Kenworth, or that they may go low end on the Pete's. They will not get anything till they are ready to trade allot of there fleet though. All the old lease trucks will be used first and most of the current lease drivers I have talked to will be swapping to Pete's as leases run down.

Yea I have the Cummens with the ISX and the 10 speed. I like a 9 or 13 much better. My first 2 solo loads have been light 12k and 16k loaded top to bottom and to the back door. I have been told by several ppl though that the volvo will out pull the T2 when loaded the same. I think it is due to the ammount the govern the T2 though.

Yeah when Jerry bought out Dick, and his fleet of Freightliners, I guess they forgot to buy the Freightliner lease buy-back program and their was a nice court case with that one. Jerry got stuck with 400 old Freightliners.

That Twincam is nice, from what I understand,, I only drove one once to road test in, I just wish it wasn't connected to that 10 speed. Too bad they are dumping Volvo though, but parts are easier to find for the other trucks and other people know how to work on them.