C1 in Indy vs Roadmasters In Indy.

I can only give my opinion on Roadmaster. I wish I had never wasted my time on them.

The classroom instructor we had was great. We had a class of approx 13 and lost 3 or 4 right off (didn't show up, family issues arose, etc). We all went on Wednesday to take our permit test, and by Friday all of us had passed.

We started on the pad on Friday with straight line backing. This is where myself and a few others began having trouble. First off, these schools are actually an advanced course, designed for those who have some knowledge of trucks. We had one instructor for straightline and offset skills. Basically we were put behind the wheel, told exactly when and how to turn, then out of the seat for the next student. Between our class and the ones from the previous weeks classes, you got about 5 minutes in the truck every hour or so. I had to call a friend who drives to find out how to actually do the straightline. After the start of the next week, I was told I needed to be with the other instructor and working on my 90's & parallels. That instructor asked me first off if I could straight or offset. I told him not very well, and he asked why I was with him. I told him that was where I was told to go. He had an attitude with me and another student the entire morning, not wanting to particularly help us out. That afternoon I went back to the other side and took my turns when they came up.

The next day I called my recruiter and told him what was going on and he was going to have me transferred to another of their schools. At lunch I was approached by the Director and told I would not be transferring as it would do me no good. There was the same student to instructor ratio at all the schools. I was told to be behind the wheel and working on my skills, he didn't want to see me just sitting around.

Next morning I was started out again on the backing skills pad, he came out, told me to get to the other side. I went over there and again the instructor had an issue with it, but I stayed for the day. I had been told by the Director first thing that morning that I was not going to be making a career out of sitting at the school. It had been raining and the 90 practice area was flooded. He told us that anybody who wanted to work on them could, but he wasn't walking through the water and getting his feet wet if they got in trouble.

I had 150 hours in when I was told I was going the next day for my test. I told them I was not even close to being ready and they said my 160 hours were up the next day and I would have to take it. If I didn't pass I would be able to come back for a day of practice before I wanted to take the test again.

I went with 2 other students to test that day. The first one passed, the second failed, and I ended mine after 20 minutes of trying to do the offset. The tester asked me what the problems were and I told him there was not enough trainers for the number of students, and if you didn't catch on immediately, you were left behind. I passed my PTI portion and I did get my straightline, but when it came to the offset, I was chasing my trailer all over. You see, we never got to do it on our own, we were always told when & how much to turn. On a side not, the tester did get quite a laugh when during the pre trip I couldn't find the hood opening. We always did our PTI on the old trucks with the snaps on the outside. The ones who were doing better got to PTI the 2 testing trucks.

After I stopped the test and went back to where the other 2 students were waiting with the driving instructor, he asked me what my problem was out there. I told him I was not ready and I was only there because the Director told me I was going. He told me I had 160 hours of training, I told him I had 150 hours of time, not training.

This is a small portion of the problems I had with this particular Roadmaster school. Whether the other schools are better, I don't know. I know this one has only been operated by them since the beginning of the year. Even the one instructor said when he started he had no idea how to train students, he just got in and did what needed done. He was learning to train as he went along.

Now, I still don't have my CDL & I'm having a difficult time finding a trainer. I've decided a school is not the way to go for me. I've spent 3 weeks on the road with a friend who worked with me in parking lots when we could. In about 6 hours here and there with him, I had improved tremendously on my offset. Only problem is, he can't train me; he doesn't work for a training company. Will I give up driving based on Roadmaster? Absolutely not. I just have to be patient and wait for a trainer who is willing to take a chance on me. I have one in April if I don't find someone before that, but I just don't see that happening right now. I haven't worked since making the decision to go with Roadmaster at the beginning of June. Now I can't find a job doing what I've been doing for 20-25 years. I suggest you do a lot of homework before deciding on a "CDL Mill School". Just my .02 cents. Good luck

 

who was your instructor at C1???? i went there a few months ago and loved it......i had keith in the classroom and don and DC in the truck

 

Which Roadmaster School did you attend. I am considering going to the one in Columbus Ohio.

 

I recently graduated from Roadmasters in Indianapolis. I ultimately got what I paid for, my CDL, but in the end I don't think it was worth the cost and wished I would have gone to Sage through Ivy Tech instead. Our class started out with about 17 people, 2 or 3 were disqualified by the DOT physical on day one. Friday was the day we lost the most people, everyone that had been assured they were good to go with financing found out they we not good to go. Some got co-signers and continued, others quit. It was the same thing the following two weeks and everyone said the same thing, my recruiter told me I was all set and financing would not be a problem. I learned a long time ago not to believe what any recruiter from any company tells you.

The first days were spent reviewing questions that closely matched what the DMV permit test would contain. I went on day two and passed the general knowledge, air brake/combo test with no problems. Once you had your permit in hand it was time to start learning to back.

We were all given a student packet and documents giving step by step instructions on how to straight line back, off-set back, and parallel park. Once on the pad an instructor gave a demo of how to straight line back. There were about 14 of us up till Friday, and we had three trucks to use for backing. The next week we began working on off-set. Once again we were told to read the instructions and watched an instructor execute a perfect off-set back. That was pretty much the extent of any "instruction". Lots of #### chatting, yelling don't run over my grandma(the cones), sleeping in a chair, and running back to the office for a few minutes. We were pretty much on our own with our instructions to figure it out. Some did just fine, others needed a little instruction to help us out...after all that what we paid for right?

My road instructors were great, I loved going out with Ken and Gary. They were laid back and if you made a mistake they asked you what you learned and then said don't worry about it you're going to make a lot more mistakes. I was having some trouble getting used to downshifting so Ken took me down US 31 during the lunch rush so I would get lots of practice. After that run, no problems with downshifting, I think we hit every stoplight in Greenwood! Others in my class had instructors that would yell at them if they made a mistake. It was nerve wracking enough driving a vehicle that big for the first time, I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had someone yelling at me cause I didn't shift smoothly. The only bad thing about the road training was there was not enough time behind the wheel. I went back through my log book and see 10 hours logged as drive time. Only 10 hours driving out of a 160 hour program. That 10 hours was more like 6 to 6.5 hours because we would stop for a break for 30 minutes or so and they would still count it as drive time. Apparently at Roadmasters, sitting in the jump seats in the cab counts toward some of your drive time in the program.

Pre-trip and in cab/4 point air brake check, we were pretty much on our own. We were provided with all the info in a packet and encouraged to spend time at the pre-trip truck. One instructor did give us a demo of doing the pre-trip and offered some helpful hints. Myself and a group of 3 other guys would go over and work on our pre-trip while waiting for a truck to practice backing.

Oh I almost forgot about the equipment. I didn't expect much and wasn't disappointed. Everything is really beat up, just as I thought it would be. There were some maintenance items that probably should have been fixed though. One of the pad trucks had a horrible air leak for the trailer brakes, another trucks steering wheel was so far off from center you had to keep that in mind while backing. If I remember correctly when the wheels were straight, the steering wheel had a little more than a quarter turn to the left. It just seemed for what each student had paid to attend, these items could have been fixed.

Maybe my expectations were a little too high, but overall I wasn't that happy with the school. There were some good points and bad points, unfortunately for me the bad points outweighed the good. If you go in not expecting too much from the instructors you won't be disappointed. If you go in thinking you're going to receive instruction from professionals, you will probably be like me and disappointed. I did get my CDL, and I did end up with 4 or 5 pre-hires and head out to orientation next week. But I think for what I paid there should have been more one on one instruction and more actual drive time.

Good luck and I hope your experience will be better than mine!

 

For 4500 I expect to be well prepared to pass the orientation test of any trucking company out there. What you have described is totally unacceptable to me!
At this point I am not sure where to go. I saw a link from this site to ATS. Are you familiar with them? Who would you recommend in Ohio? I really do not want to go the contract route.

Thanks!

 

Indy, your experience with RM sounds like mine. Yeah, the trucks were old. We were continually told to get our wheels straight and the instructors couldn't understand why all of us were having trouble telling when they were. At one point, we took yellow tape and marked on the steering wheel when they were straight. The tape was at 1:00. When the next driver got in, it was at 11:00. One time it was at 4:00. And they couldn't understand we didn't know when our wheels were straight.
I ended up with 8.5 to 10 hours of driving time, I can't remember exactly what it was. Actual time on the highway was :15 minutes. And the same thing here about the breaks while out driving. The funniest thing I remember was the driving instructor that took me out the first day to drive. I was the only female and he started explaining how there is a spot with some trees they stop at to take breaks. I could tell he was nervous about what he was going to have to say and I just told him "I'm a country girl, I understand". The look of relief on his face at not having to tell me that was where we took tinkle breaks was priceless.
We didn't receive any kind of packet with backing instructions. The instructors would walk along beside the truck and tell us what direction to turn and how hard, then we were out of the truck for the next to get in. We had a lot of students that would climb in the pre trip truck and sleep, also. Or they would go into the computer room and pretend to watch while they slept.
All I got out of it was my Permit. I could have done that without them and known just as much and it wouldn't cost me anything.
Good luck on your orientation. I wish you well in your career.