I am a victim of the down turn in the economy and looking at starting a new career and need some input from others. I understand many of the negative aspects of trucking such as on the road for days at a time if trucking OTR. But money is money and I have some limited experience driving trucks in the military many years ago. I live in Kansas City, Mo and am looking at attending a driver training school at Roadmaster (formerly American Truck Training Academy). I have read a lot on line but would like to hear from anyone that has attended Roadmaster or the old American Truck Training Academy. Does this training company have a good reputation in the industry?

How are their instructors, training, equipment, placement assistance service, success rate and such?

I have also looked around on the Internet and believe I would like to drive for US Express if they will hire me. I just talked to a recruiter there and they informed me that they do hire inexperienced drivers if they have attended training. How is US Express to work for as a company driver and any other insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have looked at the Roadmaster school in Columbus Ohio. I visited the site.
They told me what I wanted to hear, but then that is what some sales people do.
They gave me a list of companies that hire from them. I called Werner and they said that they do hire from them and considered them a good school.
I did find some negative things on the internet for the roadmaster school in Indiana, but not for the one in Columbus. I would check the better business Bureau for the one near you and see if there is any complaints.
I would also google them for complaints and see what you come up with.
I am in the same spot as you. I am about a week away from making the decision if I can not get back into the field that I have spent 33 years working in.
Best of Luck to you!

I am going through Roadmaster in Tulsa right now.Just finished week #1.i like it.It is better than what i thought it was going to be.Our instructors are very knowledgeable and informative and they do alot of one on one if your are struggling with something.

I know roadmaster does indeed recruit for Werner.I am considering them,TMC or Stevens.TMC came to our school this past week and bought us lunch.Several of our currnet students already have prehires from them.
The Tulsa Roadmasters does do the job placement thing.I was in the office when the lady was calling for a student the other day.i think she was talking to US Express in OKC trying to get him into orientation the next week.

As far as the training in Tulsa,I think it is very good.We have a small facility,but the site is new to Roadmaster and temporary.They are actively looking for another site for the school in Tulsa.But they do have a driving pad with several backing stations.They us several older Volvo tractors and older trailers,but they just purchased 6 newer trailer and the instructors are supposed to go get them pretty soon.The Volvo are maily used on the backing pad.They do have a Werner Pete that is in very good shape and I think they us it only on test days since it sits in the main building shop most of the time.Road Practice is done in 2 other Freighliners,one from Werner and another from another company.

Our Site director stated that they have a 95% grad rate and 90% placement rate if I remember right.

Now I will say this,day #1 you show up at 7am,do some paperwork,meet the instrutor for the week,site director,training director,finance manager, and then about 10am it is off to the dr. for physicals and drug tests.The trainers and site director will tell you up front before the drug test that if you have used any thing in the last 60 days to not go,they do report to DAC.We had two people,Boyfriend,girlfriend that was wanting to team drive go to the Dr. and sit down trying to figure out on their hands how many days it had been since they used.they went ahead and pissed and come Thurday morning they were removed from school for pissing hot.So just keep that in mind.Also,First wek instructor and Training Director are retired cops,so they can notice the signs of drug use.

I live about 2 hours from the training site,so the school put me up in a Ramada about 3 miels from the training site.No roommate,like they said,i am paying for the room,why should I have to share a room i am paying for.

Only complaint i have so far is the hard plastic chairs in the classroom,makes my big ol butt hurt!!LOL!And they dont have a parking area for students so we are parking in a mud hole.But it is drying up now.So that is getting better.lol