best endorsements

I would only get the endorsements you need now,its doesn't hurt to have everything but you may go years without needing them.Only thing I would get is hazmat you never know if you need it or not.

 

I want to try and get Ford, Coca Cola, Mossberg, Bowtech and all the other ones that come with Huge endorsement contracts and the Models too...........................

Sorry wrong forum you meant CDL endorsements........continue. LOL

 

I would get them all except passengers if you don't plan on driving a bus and hazmat if you don't want the hassle and aren't going to use it. I dropped my hazmat years ago as the loads didn't pay me any more than regular freight. Years ago I came off the road and took a city bus driving job. It was simple to acquire my passenger endorsement then. Several years of trucking later, I opted for a career change in real estate (yes, 2008 was the worst possible time for that brilliant idea!) and filled my days and padded my pockets by driving a school bus before and after work. Again needing another endorsement (school bus) was easy to obtain at the time I needed it. Now, years later I have endorsements to drive anything and everything except hazmat, which I could easily acquire again should the need arise.

 

I would say hazmat is the most important. The rest depends on what you want to do.

 

Combo and Air Brakes are endorsments? When i got my CDL if I didn't pass the Combo and Air Brakes tests I didn't get my CDL. Does that differ from state to state?

 

As long as it's just a written test with no additional cost to get the endorsement, I don't see any reason NOT to go ahead and get it. You never know when they may change the rules regarding what may or may not be necessary to get an endorsement in the future. I know there has been talk in the past (although I haven't heard anything recently) about additional training requirements for the doubles/triples endorsement. In other words, if you don't already have that endorsement, you may have to get a job which requires it before you can get the training necessary to actually get the endorsement, but the job may be difficult to get without the endorsement.....however, if you've already got the endorsement if/when the rules change, you're grandfathered in even if you've never actually pulled 'em before.

Tankers is another endorsement that is just a simple written test.

Passenger requires a driving test...so unless you get a job driving a bus or have access to one, you aren't going to get it.

HazMat USED to just be a written test each time it was renewed. Now, you have to spend $95 for a TSA background check and go in at least a month before your endorsement or your license expires (whichever happens first) in order to be fingerprinted....which in a lot of cases involves taking a day off work to do that, which means additional lost revenue. Unless your job requires it, or you are thinking about applying for a job which requires it, it really isn't worth the hassle or expense to keep it on your license.

I think the current HazMat requirements are ridiculous. My fingerprints have not changed since the last time I went through their background check. If I had done anything since the last time I was cleared which would disqualify me from again receiving the endorsement, I would still be in a reserved room at the gray-bar motel...not out here driving a truck. Why is it necessary? What purpose does it serve? Once a person clears the background check the first time, subsequent checks ought to be able to be performed WITHOUT requiring printing and at a lesser expense...and until that happens, or until HazMat freight starts to pay considerably more than the non-HazMat freight I have available to haul, I just don't see myself ever getting that endorsement back on my license.



The flipside to that is HazMat takes a month or more to get, because you have to pass that silly background check. If you are looking for work, it may open doors that would not be open without the endorsement...and you might not have that month or more to wait before you can start working. All of the other endorsements (except passenger) currently only require a written test....10-15 minutes at the DMV and you've got 'em (unless you are unfortunate enough to live in a densely populated area, in which case you may be there for several hours to take a written test that takes 5 minutes to complete). Passenger has the driving test on top of that written test. So if you aren't sure what you'll be doing, you might want to go ahead and get that HazMat stuff started...


Basically, you've got to decide what you think you'll need to do what you want to do....and then get those endorsements. It is a question you've got to answer for yourself, because everyone's situation is different.

 

Combo is for Class A licence....Air brakes is an endorsement you have to have to drive vehicles with air brakes....Read the book & do the quizzes B4 you go down to the DMV for whatever endorsements you want...There are free on line practice tests you can do first but those questions arent necessarily on your states DMV test...I did one before I went to renew my CDL for the hazmat because after 4 years you forget a lot of stuff on the test..

 

Oops gravelhauler I see U already got your CDL my misteak

 

Combination vehicles is the written test to get a class A license. Don't pass it, you can only get a class B license. If you pass the written test and take the skills test in anything other than a semi t/t, you will have a restriction placed on your license prohibiting you from driving a semi t/t.

Air brakes is not really an endorsement. If you don't pass the written test and take the skills test in a vehicle equipped with air brakes, however, you will have a restriction placed on your license.

Those aren't the only restrictions, either:


http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/fmcsr/fmcsrruletext.aspx?reg=383.95

 

I don't have it and I had my CDL-A since 06.in last 5 years I never needed it but i'm going to a new job and they really pushing me to get it but its not mandatory.I have to renew it in Oct of 2012,so when I do i'll get it then,makes no sense to get now and then have to pay $100 + to get it again 9 months from now.