Failed my driving test twice...

Hold on, I just reread you post. You paid 6K for that? If that's the case, you should definitely get extra time. Maybe you need to take it to the local BBB. What does the contract say? That's a lot of money.

For comparison, the school I went to cost $4,900 and there was one guy there doing it a third time since he was struggling and they had a policy that they will train you until you pass the CDL, as long as you stay in good standing, show up, try, don't come hung over, that type of thing.

 

Using retests to get experience is like deciding to get married over and over to become a better husband instead of dating.

 

Mine had the same policy and I only paid $3,000. You got two tests at the DMV included, but you could practice as long as you needed to before you scheduled them.

 

The school I went to was very highly rated so I figured I'd play it safe and go there. It did the job and I enjoyed it for the most part, but looking back, I would have looked elsewhere if I were to do it again. My first job paid for it at $225 per month, so it was fully reimbursed over time.

 

Regardless of how this plays out, don't forget you can just call it a loss, and go to work for a company that will pay for your training. So no matter what, you can still make a career out of this. It would suck to lose out on the seven grand, but if you manage to NOT get your CDL through these guys, all is not lost. There's a ton of companies that will pay your training if you'll give them a year of driving.

I'm not saying give up on these pricks, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

 

If you can retake it in an auto for another $350 and you think you'd pass, that's what I would do and just not worry about the manual restriction right now. Sounds like it would cost too much to continue training on a manual at this school. If you don't think you could pass right now in an auto, then I'd suggest looking at a company paid training program.

 

If you keep stalling the truck start out in a lower gear.

 

Honestly you almost have to make a huge effort to stall a truck. There's so much torque in first gear that its next to impossible to stall.

I don't care how many people say start out in 3rd or 4th, that's just plain laziness and abuse on the truck. When in doubt, start a gear lower than you think you should. Personally I never use anything higher than 2nd. Most times its 1st or LL.

 

Not sure if this would help your situation.
But I got my Class A from a city street/road maintenance job. They trained me and paid for the license.