Hi all,

I've been reading lots of the threads about Central for about two weeks now, and as of yesterday, am scheduled to start training at the WVC, UT facility on August 10th. I want to thank jess-juju and her hubby jjranch for their time and patience.

I figure this will be a good place to share my experiences and thoughts while going through this process as such threads were a great assistance to me.

If going to the WVC facility for training, I suggest working through Sarah. None of the others answered their phones or responded to emails for many days, but Sarah has been right there answering the phone each of the 4 times I called to check on various documentation arriving to her.

Be safe.

That's really great advice! I had Ryan as my recruiter and he never once answered an email and he only called if I left him a message. You're right, he never answered his phone. I'm glad that at least one of them is doing the right thing.

Do me a favor, will ya? Let us know about the pay and advances, etc, as you go through training? Like:

$0 pay through CDL training, for how long?
$425/week for the first two weeks on the road with your trainer,
then $500/week for the next two weeks,
how long until you go solo,

along with anything else you want to let us know.

__________________
"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth."

Since my last posting, I spoke with my local Workforce Services people and set myself up with the WIA (Workforce Improvement Act) money the feds are giving out.

After asking Central to respond to the questions from Workforce Services and getting no response, I was forced to choose between getting free training from some place like Roadmaster or putting myself in debt to a (for me) unknown trucking company for at least a year.

After getting several pre-hires if I completed the Roadmaster training, I decided to mooch off the feds and let them pay for everything.

It appears that, I will not be attending Central's training, and with their current hiring practices, won't be hiring out with them either.

Sarah did call earlier in the week and ask if I was still going to attend Central's training, but didn't seem to suprised when I informed her that due to her non-response, I had to go a different route into the trucking world.

If anyone asks, I will be willing to post experiences during and after training, but maybe under a different thread.

Well Howard please let us know how mooching off the FEDS goes for you. Here in GA we have a wonderful program called the Hope grant which is funded through the State loto. I used that to pay for my tuition. I was still in the Army when I went to school an received a check to cover my 75% of my tuition. Unfortunately my tuition was only $2100 so my check was $1525. Hope all works out for you.

Just finished week 1.
I am now legally able to drive a 80,000 lb vehicle as long as I have a baby-sitter with me.

The $$ from the feds paid for everything due to the school dropping its pricing from their normal rate to just enough under the federal max of $4,000 that all the extras fit within that budget as well.

I'm glad I only have to put up with this dump for 4 weeks. It's a toilet in serious need of flushing.

Curious, how much real world experience do your instructors have? The reason I ask (and I don't know you, or your school) is that 95% of the "new" drivers I see on the road probably shouldn't be driving autos, much less 80,000 lb articulated vehicles.

Good question. As far as I can gather, most of the instructors have at least 5 years. Some, have 15+ but retired due to health issues like arthritis.
I'm not sure about the others. There are at least 10 instructors at the school and I've only spoken to about half of them.