Coming Aboard!

can you verify this please sir. if this is true you may have just saved me $4000.

 

Maverick does not require a CDL school. If you can get a CDL without it you are good to go. If you have a CDL but haven't been in a truck in many years you will not have to take a refresher course.

Here's more info on the Maverick's Student program: https://www.maverickusa.com/driving-jobs/student-program

 

I agree about the school thing. I paid for a 160hr course that was 4 weeks long. 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I went home on the weekends. The first week was to get a CDL permit. I already had mine when I got there so the first week was a waste for me. The second week was Backing up in a straight line 100ft in the yard in trucks that were no longer DOT legal. I pretty much had this after about 5 minutes. The third and fourth weeks were driving on the highway and in town with 4 people in each truck. In those 2 weeks I got maybe 8-10 hours of drive time. They charged me $5,000 for this garbage. Had I known about Maverick I would've done it on my own and just started here.

If you can get a CDL without going to school, DO IT. CDL schools are a scam. If you are even half way competent it isn't that hard to learn to drive a truck.

 

Yup, 100% true.

When it comes down to it, anyone with a drivers license could drive the tractor. It's no different than driving a big pickup truck, except that your turning radius is larger Nd you have to watch your height.

The trailer is the tricky part. You don't need to learn to be a truck driver, you need to learn to be a trailer driver. Backing, turning corners, changing lanes, etc. are the important and hard things to learn.

You're not going to get that training from a driving school, at least not enough to make any kind of difference.

Look up online for info and resources for your states CDL tests. Study a bit, then go down and take the written tests. Make sure you study, most states have limits on how many times you can take them before you have to pass a waiting period before trying again.

Once you've passed the written tests (which are usually on computer, not written lol) look in your area for people or companies that rent trucks for CDL road tests. If you don't live in a major city you may have to drive a bit to find one. There was one in my area when I did it, they charged $350 to rent the truck and drive it for a few days, practicing the exact road test, and then to use it for the test itself. After that, you'll have a full CDL and can come on board with Maverick.

 

Im sure my old boss would loan me one of his trucks a trailer and his driver to practice on a few weekends before the test and let me use his kw t800 and a flatbet for the test. I used to drive those trucks around the yard all the time backing trailers in to be loaded and parking the off to the side as well as backing the trailers into the shop to be serviced and it can get petty dicey backing those trailers in without hitting anything with the way the shop faces the fabrication shop and there is always a crane or lull in the way.

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I went old school, tested out n rented a truck for my road test. Passed with flying colors, it helped that my Dad was a O/O for over 45 yrs. Picked a couple of things when I was with him. Maverick asked me how I got my CDL? Told them I went old school, never went to CDL school.

 

I used a Federal Grant to go to school so it cost me nothing. I figured since the Grant was available I would make good use of the Taxes I had been paying for 30 plus years.

 

State of va paid for my school. Special program for people who lost heir jobs to be retrained in another fielld.

 

I went through SNI's CDL training back in 08 and felt like I didn't need it,,dad was a trucker for 35yrs before passing on. From what I was told, at that time, you have to have 140hrs or so to even take the CDL test...found out later that was not true! But, for SNI had to sign a 18mo contract and that didn't bother me either. I know now that most megga carriers require that a driver have that 140-160 hrs of time behind the wheel before they come aboard but, that's the same with the age limit on trucks; Dot doesn't give a crap about the age of a truck, just that it passes inspection. These megga carriers are making all the rules,,,thank God for the little man...