Yeah, I'm curious about the details, too. Somebody should stencil up an "I'm a CR England Survivor" decal for the side of our new rides.

I went to the California School, and on the first night of school I found complaints about England on RipOffReports...I literally called my wife and wept. Not ashamed to admit it. I was really broke at the time and suddenly found the fear of this company.

I passed through school (not without a near stress ulcer, for sure. The pressure to cram in your skills was intense). The trainers were interesting. I had one who ran me down in subtle ways. Basically (in hindsight) he was only happy with me when I drove just the way he would drive. So I couldn't relax and learn the vehicle within the limits of safety, I had to do it like him ('cause he was the best damned trucker on earth, apparently). The second trainer (first one went on a vacation, thank God) was really cool, but still pretty rigid about me driving just a certain way.

Phase II or CAT was a different story. I was out with a super cool guy from Cudahy (read, rough part of LA) and he told me to knock myself out learning the ins and the outs. "Just don't kill me in my sleep, all right?" was his quote. I learned how to float on his truck. Trusting guy.

I wound up leasing a used truck so that 1)I could get out there and knock down some miles 2)I wouldn't be stuck with 36 months of #### if I found it didn't work.

On a 16 month lease, I ran regular OTR, Western Regional, and then Containers. I bounced around looking for the miles. Containers was where I got closest...but then, June of last year, my truck broke...and that was when I knew for sure (as if I wasn't already pretty certain) that leasing was the dumbest idea on earth. A wiring harness saddled over the tranny got brittle and shorted, and fried my ECM. I lost power, my digital relay gauges went out (Speedo, Tach, Oil, and Coolant temp)...ugh, I can tell the story in another thread. Long story short, I spent, oooohh, 7 grand on tows and shops across 3 states. Not to mention lost a couple years of my life when the blasted truck SHUT OFF on me in 65 mph traffic. Freightliner of Kansas City finally fixed it (thanks guys, you're awesome)...but it took me till October or November to pay that whole mess off.

There are some good, helpful people at England, but policy rules people, and the policies there are written by profit finders and nobody else.

You can survive a stint at England by learning the fine art of not letting #### get to you (which, admittedly, is a good skill for a trucker)...but notice, like my fictional decal, the key word is survive, not thrive.

I came out with no outstanding balance due after the turn in (they actually gave me a couple grand back, by the grace of God), a TWIC, and Tanker-HAZMAT-Doubs/Trips. I also have 18 months of busting my butt for very little return, which makes a good deal really easy to spot.

I learned a lot there, but you can learn a lot from sticking your hand in a boiling pot of water...and that I don't recommend either.

Out of desperation of job searching, and having to compete with the sea of humanity of basicly licenced newbs like the rest of us out here, I nearly went to work for the CRE. After much soul searching and praying on the matter, I've decided to continue jumping thru the "refresher, endorsement testing, placement testing, waiting" hoops at the original company I decided to work for, hoping there will be a better oppertunity there. Reading these forums has certainly been an eye opening experience for me, and has given me the confidence to "hang in there" for a job in these tough times. Saienga, your story was quite an adventure, and I'm glad you survived to do better on the other side of it all. I wish you better fortunes in the future, and to be safe out there. Thanks for all the information everyone, truly.

-M

That is what I don't understand about "leasing" why is the driver (renter) responsible for repairs? When you rent a car from Avis and it breaks down are you supposed to cover the bill to fix it?

Yeah, it's a real sweet deal for the company, that's for sure.

If you lease a car, you're responsible for the repairs, too, I suppose.

Think of "lease programs" as "outsourcing of risk" for the company doing the leasing.

In the car world leaseing makes some sense. Say you lease a $25,000 car for $350 a month, that comes out to $12500 after 36 months. Which is about the same that you'd lose after depreciation and interest if you bought it.

Now let's say you lease a new truck from CR England at $650 a week for 36 months. That is $93,600!!!!! You easily could have bought one in full for that kind of money, deducted depreciation, and still had about $35 grand in equity in the truck after the three years.

If the payment was a grand a month, it would make financial sense, not at $650 a week. I can not believe suckers are falling for this crazy scam.

Yeah, well there's a lot of folks out there that aren't the best at math and missed a few days in financial school as kids (count me in). I learned the hard way.

As far as I'm concerned, leasing a car is a waste of money, too.

Either that or they want to "live the dream" as fast as possible and go the route of the fleace instead of becoming an O/O the proper way, by buying your own equipment or at least just a tractor.


I wouldn't lease a car but at least there is some sense behind it, as far truck fleacing it is a worse scam than casinos.

At least at a casino you can have a little fun while throwing your money away here you have to work while throwing your money literally out the window via the fleace deal.

if you haven't left yet , crete has a school in hastings ne. also they are affiliated with the college in norfolk ne. i through you had to be 23 before they would look at you.

When you're a newbie like I am purchasing outright just isn't an option that's how they are able to get people to lease. Insurance companies don't even really want to insure your truck unless you have 3 years experience already.

i talked to other companies and i found out that cr england is the scum of the trucking indutry know matter what they tell you other companies think the way they treat there drivers is b.s.