Follow me through Central Refrigerated training

It has nothing to do with my prior experience. Central training is very fast paced and quick. They teach you quickly so you can handle a rig safely and get your CDL then put their confidence in their trainers to teach you on the road real life applications. That is what drew me to Central. You can learn and make money at the same time. Yes training pay is very low but 400 a week is better then zero a week. You can only learn so much in a yard in low gear. If you can't learn quickly then Central is not for you if you can then go for it and earn and learn at the same time. One of the better students in our class is a woman who not only has zero experince with trucks but she had never driven a manual transmission in her life. She just picks things up quickly and is able to learn that way so she is doing great at the school.

Not at all the reason I started this thread was because I didn't see a lot on the forum about the training for Central. I read a lot of good stuff about them but couldn't find much on the training process. Would be nice to contrast the two different locations and see how even the company policy is country wide. So post away if you like anything to help out those who are ready to change their life.

 

If you can do the physical first then go for it and see how that turns out before quiting your job. Just so you know Central has there own physical that they do for the company besides the DOT physical. So make sure you ask about that one too.

When you go out with your trainer for the first 5 weeks you get $450 a week. Once you are on your own then you get paid $.28/mile. From the drivers I talked to the average sounds like anywhere from $28-30 K for the first year.

 

Well the 4th of July is messing me up. I got throught the school got the CDL and wanting to go out on the road but with the holiday coming on will not be able to get with a trainer until after the 7th. So now I am sitting a home all packed and ready to go. I talked to some of my classmates today about the last two days of training. They said on friday they went out and drove each had 2 hrs in the morning and 2 hrs in the evening to drive and get the skills down. Today they did the road test the first three that went out only one came back with a passing grade. The next three two came back with a passing grade. The ones that failed got one more shot in the same day withy a different examiner. You have 3 chances to pass if you fail twice in the same day they will not test you again on the third untill the next day so you can think and study and then pass. Hope they all make it they are my classmates.

I never told you about my road test so will now. We started out and my examiner told me what she was required to tell me by law. I will be testing you for this and that and whatever... blah, blah, blah. Then she asked me the 5 things you should be doing on a downhill slope. Then she asked me if I had any questions. Then we where on our way. The one who did my road test was the instructor I had the least amount of contact with during the training. After talking to other classmates they all said the same thing, so I think they may do this to test us and their instructors.

We started out on the road test and she was asking me about my plans for the holiday, why I wanted to drive truck, how I liked the school and crap like that just conversation that had nothing to do with the test. I think they do that to get rid of your nerves and let you relax and drive. At least that is what it did for me. I was talking to her and driving and shifting was natural to me, to natural because I was not double clucthing, shifting is all about rpms and speed the clutch is for when you stop or back. We turned right and this is when I found out that I was not double clutching. She said to me you are shifting fine but do you know how to double clutch. I said yes and we came to a stop sign. She said good we have three more stop signs coming up, I want you to double clutch to the right gear and down shift using the clutch for each stop sign. At the third stop sign make a right. So I did was fine on the upshifting but on the down shifting had a little grind to the gears. When we got to the third stop sign for the right hand turn she told me you know how to double clutch and it is fine from now to the end of the test you can shift with or without the clutch.

The rest of the test was a simple. I could concentrate on other things and not have to worry about shifting. Shifting was natural to me and something I did automatic once I heard the right engine sound, to add a clutch in it mad me think about steps and messed me up. After that we talked and drove and she tested my skills. On the interstate off the the interstate, into and out off city traffic, right turns, left turns, and can you stop in time for signals and stop signs. The road test is not hard if you just do what they teach you and find out what is comfortable for you. One of the instructors is almost identical to my body type, wieght and hieght. He was trying to help me set up my seat one day for a drive they way he does. It didn't work for me at all I was grinding gears and stomping the brake pedal. I asked him can I pull over and readjust the seat. So we did and I was fine back to my old self. He likes to ride low and I like to ride high that was the only difference in the seat but made a huge difference to me. Find what fits you and stick with it.

 

Bring enough clothes for 5-8 days. Make sure you have clothes for hot and cold weather. While at the hotel in school there is access to a laundry room to wash your clothes. Pack it all in a duffel bag and not a suitcase. The bag fits better in the truck and you wil make your trainer happy. Good luck to you let me know how it goes for you.