best endorsements

Being a noobie,





that Greyhound pass will be more useful than any endorsement !!!!

 

http://www.discoverypass.com/

 

If you read the quote in my previous post you'll see that the poster referred to Combination Vehicle and Air Brakes as endorsments. I was asking if Combination Vehicle and Air Brakes were considered endorsments in other states because in Louisiana you have to pass General Knowledge, Air Brakes and Combination Vehicles to get a basic class A CDL. If you fail any of the 3 you dont get a CDL period.

 

The original question asked about CDL.

Never specified Class A, B, or C....

 

Just did them a couple months ago here in Utah. They have you take 3 tests before they issue the CDL: 1) General Knowledge, 2) Combination, 3) Air Brakes. If you fail the first two you don't get a Class-A, but you can fail (or opt out of) the Air Brakes and have an Air Brake restriction placed on your license.

I think I got that right...

Hazmat is a real pain because of the fingerprint garbage and the renew on it (as mentioned) is so stupid. You shouldn't need to be fingerprinted each time, that has to be a money-making scheme.

Tanker and Double/Triple are a test and a fee each (about $10 I think) and if you ever anticipate needing them, well you got them. The tests aren't bad at all.

Where I'm going to work in the oilfield I need all of the above mentioned. But no Passenger for me.

 

Thats exactly what it is. MONEY. I paid almost $150 for my TWIC card then another $90, if I remember right, for my fingerprints to get my hazmat. The lady that took my prints told me since I already had my TWIC card the process would only take about 3 days. If I didn't have my TWIC it could take 10 to 14 days. I asked why and she said because the TWIC and the fingerprints are checked by the same organization. If thats the case why can't we show our TWIC card when getting our hazmat endorsment? If I can get a TWIC then I should be ok to get my hazmat. I'll tell you why. MONEY.

 

The way my dad told it to me when I was younger is that when the government creates a new thing they create overhead. To meet that overhead they have to consistently have the same level of revenue. The government only creates and creates and it takes an act of divine intervention to get them to let a program, policy, law, whatever it is, go away.

Following that logic, when you look at the investment the Feds put up to handle getting all of the current Hazmat drivers processed they were pretty invested and wanted to keep that revenue stream flowing. So you and I pay for some Fed employee to process our info again and again and again not because the Fed's need the info again, but just so they don't have to give that employee (and their supervisor, and his supervisor, and on and on) a severance package.

Then again, maybe I'm just a cynical sort.

 

I got hazmat, doubles/triples, and tanker on my license when I got my CDL in 02. The only one I've ever used was tanker, when I worked for a road builder, and had to operate the water truck a few times.
The whole hazmat thing is ridiculous. The fingerprinting and background checks went into effect in 05, if I remember correctly. Yet, since I was grandfathered in, I could've hauled hazmat loads without having gone through any of that until 2010, when I had to renew my NC license. At that point, I dropped the hazmat endorsement. It was already $220 to renew the #### thing, so that would've been an extra $94, plus the cost of another endorsement (I think it was $18 per endorsement). I pulled demolition dumps for a C&D hauling company, so I had no need for it (and never did). Now, I'm thinking about getting it again. Of course, I've been thinking about getting it again since I dropped it, if that tells you anything about how urgent I feel it is to have it again.

 

If you fail the general knowledge test, but pass the air brake and combination vehicle tests you cannot get a CDL...but you can still get a class a (non-cdl) license. This is what the farmers need, since they must be licensed to drive the vehicle they are operating but not required to have a CDL. It is also what the average joe SHOULD have to pull his own private trailer weighing more than 10,000# behind his pickup truck.

If you fail the air brake test, but pass the general knowledge and combination vehicle tests, you can still get a class A CDL, but it will have a restriction stating that you cannot drive a vehicle with air brakes. This is all a hotshot in a dually would need, as his truck has no air brakes.

If you fail the combination vehicle test, but pass the general knowledge and air brake tests, you can still get a class B CDL, which would let you drive a straight truck.

You can only get a license for the tests you pass....if you cannot manage to pass any one of them, you can still get the license for whatever tests you WERE able to pass.

Some states, however, will stop handing you tests as soon as you fail one. You can return the next day to try again, or take other tests, though.

 

Don't forget to get your curb endorsement. You will use that one a lot.