How do you get your HAZMAT endorsement?

Take a test, pay for the background check paperwork, get fingerprinted by your local state police or DMV office, then wait 2-4 weeks before getting a letter from TSA that allows the addition to your license.

 

It's a test you take at dmv (or whatever your state calls where you get your license). However you have to pay for a homeland security background check and to be fingerprinted. It's $90 here in GA, not sure if that's universal or if it varies state to state.

 

Read, study, take the test. Then once you have passed the test you will have a background security clearance check run. This entails first proving you are who you "say" you are. That means bring a birth certificate with you to the testing site as well as your current CDL. After you prove you are a US citizen then you will submit to a fingerprint check at your local police station. They will send your finger prints to the TSA and they will conduct a background check on you. If you have not been disqualified then they will approve your request for a hazmat endorsement.

This may take 4 to 6 weeks to get the clearance back.

 

Just wondering - how many similar answers does this guy need? And why do people do this - is it a "I'm smarter than you contest"? Seen that at truckstops before... just wondering.

 

Please don't equate that endorsements mean extra money - if you're pulling a hazmat tank, you need the X endorsement. If you're doing local/regional for LTL companies, you may need doubles/triples.

I've never been paid extra for having the tank endorsement or doubles/triples if I'm pulling a dry van.

HAZMAT usually pays extra, but it different ways woth different companies. Most companies pay a few cents extra per mile if you're pulling a PLACARDED load... otherwise, you don't get anything.

 

Actually I began typing my post before anyone else had commented. Sorry I am not a fast typist.

 

Not dogging you, just funny that 4 identical answers popped up, as in a competition - I've seen it in truckstops when the "stuff" starts getting deep. Just caught me as funny.