Hey yall. So I've got a bit of experience hauling old hay trucks and cattle trailers around on the farm I used to work on out in the butt crack of Southern Utah. But I never got around to getting my cdl. Now I am kicking myself for it because of the new training requirements. I have a friend who is an instructor at a school. My question is if said friend rode around with me and signed off on the instruction, would that be sufficient or would I still have to go to the class. I unfortunately work a traveling job that would prohibit me from taking a course
Skirting the rules/regs in the trucking business will very likely get you a first-class, one-way ticket to A LOT OF TROUBLE. If the state of Utah (or wherever) is worth its salt at all -- your state's motor vehicle division website will describe the requirements for a legitimate CDL license that you can show to carriers who take/train new CDL holders. I quit/left a full-time job -- to begin CDL school at a nearby tech college. If you're really serious about it -- you'll take the plunge, as well. -- L
I'm not very knowledgeable about the new regs... but couldn't you just take PTO from the job and go through the course? With your experience driving around the farm the course should be quick and easy for you.
Welcome to the 20s. There was a time when you could get away with shmoozing a prospective employer. My 1st T/T job,( in 1978) I had no experience with trailers, but a short test drive, and in 3 minutes, he saw I knew what I was doing, and was a truckin' that very afternoon. Doesn't work that way, they( the gubment) has changed the industry so much, guys like you, while fully capable, don't have a chance. We lose out on a lot of good drivers that way, and you literally can't win today. If you really want to drive a truck, you simply have to go through the hoops. It's not 1978 anymore,, and why, in part, I got out of the industry.
both CDL schools i worked at, had hours for working people..it takes longer, but it is doable. your "friend" may get into hot water, if he goes against the school's lesson plan, and he can be held liable if you crash. if you were my "friend", i'd not do you that "favor" .....
No. You need to go to a training provider that satisfies ELDT requirements. The FMCSA has a web site you can google and which will show ELDT providers in your area. I suggest FMCSA ELDT Providers Your Area as the search term. There are hours of instruction requirement for classroom and behind the wheel time for ELDT. Don't cheat your way into the business.
Thank you all for the input. My motivation for getting my cdl is personal rather than professional. My father owns a crane business and he's the only one around the family company (he's a one man band that dry leases cranes and uses My brother and myself on the occasions he needs labor assistance past what he can do himself) is licensed to drive the semi loads of counterweight. So, it'd be nice to be able to lighten the load. And fully acknowledging the illegality of it, the hay trucks were never tagged and inspected because they rarely left a field or old logging roads between the properties
Your friend could apply to be registered as an ELDT training provider. He really would just have to submit a curriculum that lines up with the curriculum mandated by the government, and he could even just buy that curriculum already set up from JJ Keller. Plenty of CDL schools submitted JJ Keller's curriculum rather than write up their own when they registered as training providers a couple of years ago.
