Learning on an automatic... Worth it?

You instantly limit your choices and not having been trained on manual transmissions you potentially damage your future. The shifting part is very important as it relates to safety and hazard recognition especially in the city. I would always go for complete training over the CDL store approach.

If you had a company and were hiring students, would hire the student that has been trained or one that you would have to train?

This is not a small thing.. shifting is why in the first few days it is best to have drivers in a controlled environment as the first few hours of learning to shift a truck.. your cone of attention is almost fully on the interior of the truck. Trying to do this on city streets in real world conditions is just not smart or safe.

What’s the difference really? If the company you go to is going to reimburse you for your training .. its immaterial where you go.

 

my personal opinion is to learn how to shift and double clutch, floating and automatics can come later but you need the skills. You might find a company who will give you an auto but what happens if something happens to your truck and they have to stick you in a manual for awhile? I would say most trucks I see are 9 and 10 speeds for company trucks, I learnt on a 9 and a 13 but have been thrown into a couple 10's too, once you get down shifting then its just learning and memorizing the patterns, im always a bit rusty for a few minutes when I get into a truck with different speeds.

on the tuition you get what you pay for most of the time, I know I paid $4k and most of the companies pay it back, some quicker than others depending how long you drive for them.

 

I don't normally post or reply to post, however; to get a truck driving job one has to attend a driving school. Auto, or manual.
If you learn to shift gears from the start then you will not have to learn later on. If you train on an auto unit then leave the company that utilizes these power units, and apply to another company that uses both then an auto may not be available at that time, and you will be stuck either waiting on a truck or with a trainer again.
Long store short: Manual first
Also, check with your local community college, about driving school. The DCCC located in Thomasville, NC has one and it's a lot cheaper, but longer in length. I think it's a 6 week school.
Good Luck.

 

I basically learned on an autoshift. It's not a bad idea. Make sure they don't put a restriction on your license.

 

It's a bad idea.. If the person is in a state that has the restriction.. unless you train on a standard.. you have the restriction until you take the entire CDL skills test over.. its just a bad bad idea

 

It's always better to learn all you can about the basic skills needed for any career. But , in trucking it's especially true. Learning how to shift using the double clutch method is a basic tool of the trade. You may or may not get hired by a company that uses auto's primarily. But knowing only how to drive an automatic transmission will definitely limit the choices you have for getting employment.

 

Also not having OTR experience may limit your choices also. But if you are lucky to get a local job and are happy at it then I wouldn't worry.

 

That school has automatics for one reason, so they don't have to take the time to teach you how to be a truck driver. Anyone can drive a automatic. I taught at a CDL school for five years and shifting was the hard part for some students, it is not as easy as some on here would lead you to believe. I have put hundreds of students through CDL school and some could never get the up and down shifting to what I would call acceptable to most employers road test. You must double clutch to pass your CDL road test and that is what gives a lot of students fits. As for the $1500 school, in most cases you get what you pay for, and this is one of them.