Do not work for knight transportation!!!

Missing the point still, while a lucky few might get great dedicated runs, the vast majority of drivers will be running those sweet loads. The one's with 400 miles and 3 days to deliver. Any way you slice it they only have 2k miles per truck per week.

 

sounds like "Tallman" is telling "tall tales".

 

The first and only thing you did wrong is attempt to fix the truck yourself. This an automatic termination offense as a Driver for Knight Trans. That means to Breakdown pay or any of those nice things you didn't get while sat and waited for a mobile-repair unit to come to you.
You should have read the drivers hand book it is in there.
I know it is. I used to be a driver for them.

 

I've never worked for a company that didn't give me a bonus for fixing the truck myself, if it possible, and saved them hundreds in repair bills. Nobody sane would want to spend $500 on a busted radiator hose when the driver is sitting there with a spare piece of hose and nothing to do.

 

I think the reason they don't want drivers fixing the truck boils down to LIABILITY. What if the driver gets hurt performing a repair? What if an accident happens and something points back at a repair the driver performed. I just don't think companies want to open that can of worms.

 

What if the driver gets frostbite sitting on the side of the road waiting for the repair truck to show up? Or like you said, what if there's an accident while he's sitting there when he could have had the repair done and been gone? There's no escape from liability. I agree that some repairs should only be handled by qualified mechanics, but banning all repairs is just silly. Does that include replacing headlights and windshield wipers? What about noticing a loose bolt on the alternator mount? You tighten it up and you get fired? I wouldn't want to work for people that thought like that. Says a lot about how they handle everything else.

 

kajidono,
TB John has it right. Its all about LIABILITY. The way most companies see it we drivers' are NOT qualified repair techs and as they can't report the repair as completed.
The FMCSA also has guidelines reguarding how can repair and maintain vehicles. Some states (CA and others) go as far as to make tech's get a state certification.

 

So no answer on what qualifies as a repair? You really won't get fired for refusing to tighten a single bolt on a bracket and sitting there waiting for a repair truck? I guess you could try it.

 

Replacing bulbs, wipers, and fuses? I would always replace those myself, always have always will. Anything else Knight could fix themselves. My leveling rod broke one morning about 70 miles from home. I called PHX, told the guy the symptoms and he immediately diagnosed the problem. Told me I could crawl under there and zip tie it together and head home OR he could call a service truck. 70 miles from home, there was no question...I zip tied it and actually drove like that for several months until two or three PM's later. Wrote it up, just like the metal chords showing in the steers and they just ignore it.

 

kajidono,
Knight will let you replace light bulbs, fuses, wipers, and install a cb radio.
Beyond those Knight doesn't want drivers doing anything 'under the hood' as per se. That includes tighten a single bolt on a bracket. I know it doesn't make seem reasonable. But you could also say what they don't know won't hurt them.
Tighten that bolt on that bracket and don't anything to anyone at all.