Input on Sage Technical School in Kingman, AZ????

my information might be dated because i attended that school in 2005, but i felt their training lived up to their advertising. it is not a CDL mill. all of the driving instructors had plenty of experience, and you will get a lot of one on one time behind the wheel. it was frustrating because i COULD NOT BACK AT ALL but they worked with me and i finally passed the exam for my license. i recommend it without hesitation, IF things haven't changed much in the last 8 years. they do have a good reputation.

 

it's going back 8 years, but i think the course was 3 weeks in the classroom, and two weeks driving? they had an obstacle course on the campus where we learned the 3 or 4 backing manuevers they always teach you at these schools, and we drove around Kingman and near Lake Havasu, and down a very steep grade to Bullhead City. like i said, the instructors were very experienced. the main guy who taught me to drive had been driving for 35 years and he told me he had a perfect record (hard to believe that about any driver, but whatever) two recruiters came to our classroom to give us their spiel. the first guy was from Werner. he struck me as a dishonest, used car salesman type. the next guy was from Covenant. he was a truck driver. he actually got angry when someone accused him of being a "salesman." anyway, i went with Covenant. i went to their orientation in Ontario, Ca (i miiight be wrong about the exact city......again, this was 8 years ago). it took a week. a lot of paperwork. a lot of talking. room and board was paid for. as usual, you have to share a room, unless you want to pay for your own. okay, i made it through orientation. they assigned me a trainer for 2 weeks. he was a decent enough guy. liked to tell stories. i did not experience anything CLOSE to the horror stories involving trainers you read on this site. after 2 weeks, he signed off on me, i passed Covenant's backing exam (one alley dock at their terminal in Columbus), and their road test, and then they teamed me with another noob for 3 weeks. he was also a decent guy. i guess i just got lucky, again. or, maybe i just have an easy going attitude? it's a good thing to have while you are with a trainer and teaming while you get experience. if one is a high strung individual, they might want to put that personality trait on hold while they are part of a team. you will go through a bunch of s*** on your way to getting assigned your own truck. i probably didn't answer all your questions, but hey this was a nice trip down memory lane for ME.

 

long story short, they will get you a job...........

 

I've heard positive things about that school, it's run in combination with Mohave Valley Community College. That grade into Bullhead would be a great training tool, one of the longest and steepest in the country. I understand that stretch of road is where truck manufacturers take their vehicles in summer to test towing/cooling capacity.

 

You need to switch your CDL to whatever your true state of residence is, but i got hired on at Covenant and kept my AZ license for a couple of years before i finally changed it over to CA. Not recommended, but that's what I did. I went with Covenant because they are a starter company. I was talking to a guy who had been driving for 20 years and he said "there's not a nickel's worth of difference between any of the big companies." I agree. You hire on with whichever one your gut tells you to go with. Drive for a year, learn the basics, and keep your CDL spotless. Then move on......unless you just love it at Covenant