CDL school on my own or through carrier?

Getting your Class A on your own would definitely allow you to step into a better class of company, so if it’s feasible, I would strongly encourage that route.

 

First consideration is WHERE TO WORK. Half of trucking companies offer Tuition Reimbursement. EVERY CDL school will find someone to loan you money for school. Find the company you want to work for, make sure you want to work for them for 1 year and you stay there.

You will not have time during CDL school to research and find a good match for YOU at a trucking company. You will wind up working for whatever companies the school allows to make a presentation. Then after you start working there you will find out you made a mistake. Then you will be back here finding out how to sneak out of your employment contract and where to work with 18 days of experience. DON'T DO THAT.

Find the company that works for you and your situation and then get your license whatever makes sense.

 

MOST companies will not hire a new driver that got his license on his own. Almost nobody ius going to rent you a CDL truck and trailer to learn on your own. YOU WILL NOT rent a truck and trailer from Penske, for example. They rent trucks, but only to businesses or to people putting down HUGE deposits. You will need to go to CDL school, ideally one with 160 hours of training.

Some trucking companies only hire new drivers from certain schools. This is why the best option is to not pick a CDL school until you have settled on where you want to work. You really need 12 months of experience at your first company so you can move on to other companies if you don't stay with the first company. It's normal to learn what things you need and what things you cannot tolerate during your first year of driving so it's pretty normal to leave your first company.

Personally, I would put 95% of my time and research into finding the trucking company that fits my needs and then ask them what is the best way to get my CDL if I wanted to work for them. Most newbies focus, focus, focus on CDL school and almost randomly pick a trucking company. This is like picking a wife based on which church has the least expensive wedding and reception. The CDL school is little more than an afterthought. Having a very hard or a pretty easy first year is far, far more important than your CDL school.

 

Companies want a stable work history or documentation/explanation for periods of unemployment. Start coming up with employers and contact info for the last 3 years. Once you get into the industry they want a 10 year DOT employment history. That means document your last 10 years in the trucking industry or document your time since entering the industry and/or 3 years.

 

I'd starve in the gutter before I sold my soul to a company. 12 months of slavery? No thank you.

 

Trucking companies are required by law to have you document your work history. So they need something to show they made a good faith effort to confirm your application. You don't have to pass and FBI background check but you have to provide names, addresses, phone numbers, dates even if nobody checks them. Have some reasonable and BRIEF explanation for each entry and periods of unemployment. They are hiring a stranger, they need info.