Having to go back to school, should I do a local school that teaches manual or a mega carrier?

Do the weekend only school if you can.

 

Do the school that fits into your life now. It sounds like the weekend school is best. The best reason to go to Mega's schools is to work for the Mega. Since that isn't your goal, don't do that. Tanker is best with a manual but both of my trucks in HazMat tanker were automatic and the industry is going auto. 10 years ago I would recommend pay extra to get the manual training. Now I wouldn't pay much extra and I would not feel like I am getting shut out of good jobs with only auto experience. So if the weekend school provides manual training do it. You will hardly ever regret getting manual experience, but it is less important every day. Manual skills don't disappear even if you don't use them for years. Newbies ALWAYS exaggerate the difficulty of manual and the perfection required to drive manual. Manual in a truck is NOTHING like manual in a car, except they both have clutch. If you have any manual experience in something smaller than a semi-truck it will delay learning a manual semi. EVERY CDL school will find someone to loan you money for school. Half the companies offer tuition reimbursement for new-hires. Having to sign a contract for 1 year at a company YOU WANT to work for is like signing a contract to get turned on by your high school sweetheart, the contract is meaningless. Signing a 1 year contract at a company you don't want to work for is like hoping to win a rotten hotdog eating contest. Even if you win, you hurt.

During CDL school you will have ;little time to research companies. Pick your top 3 companies before school and make a decision before your weekend school finishes.

 

I will always recommend training with a manual if the option is available. I agree with tscottme that manuals are becoming somewhat rare these days and most drivers are only going to use autos, but there's more to learning to shift a manual than just changing gears. One of the intangible aspects of learning a stick is that it teaches you to listen to the engine and to watch the tachometer so that you'll learn to work *with* the truck and let it tell you how it wants to be driven. I think you do develop a better feel for a truck driving a manual because you're much more involved in its operation, and I think it can make you a better driver because of that interplay. You can feel the engagement of the clutch as you let out the pedal, and you can feel and hear the gears mesh when you shift from one gear to the next. All that tactile feedback puts you more in tune with the truck.

I'd also recommend learning on a manual because then you won't have any restrictions on your CDL or your employment prospects. Even if you only ever drive an auto, it's still nice to have the option to drive a stick. Especially if you're the only one without a restricted license and the company needs the old 18 speed moved. And there are still some segments of the trucking industry that prefer manuals.

 

I hope they train you on driving through mountains with heavy loads. definitely need to be in the right gear, especially if you're starting on a steep hill. I had to learn the hard way.

 

Interested in where you get on driving manuals besides shady 1099 auction truck fleets.

Estes has them for seniority drivers. Most either hire internally, or are owned by people you don't want to trust your livelihood with; ran out of rented lots with duct tape holding the front end on

 

Oof. I wish I had seen this back before you went to school.

There is no requirement for ELDT if you were a prior CDL holder. If your license was merely downgraded for no medical card, all you needed was a DOT physical and to submit that with a fresh self-certification nd your license would have been reinstated.

That is, if it hadn't lapsed otherwise.