Truck driving schools in Greater Detroit Area

Has anyone attended a truck driving school in Michigan?

I live in the Greater Detroit Area, and I'm currently looking at:

• Trainco
• U.S. Truck Driver Training School

If there is any input on these or other suggestions, I'd love to hear!

 

Thank you for the tips! I will definitely be checking those companies out that you mentioned, Chinatown.

EDIT: Question: What are your thoughts on applying for these positions before I'm even at CDL school? My gut feeling is that they may pass me right by. But I'm super excited to get started.

 

I've pretty much gone through all the training at U.S. Truck Driving School in Sterling Heights, MI. My road test is tomorrow.

Here is what I think of the school:

FACILITIES
The facilities are very clean and well kept. I have absolutely no complaints about the building.

STAFF/INSTRUCTORS
Everyone, including the recruiters and instructors are accommodating and helpful. The instructors definitely know what they're doing and will spend extra time with a student if needed. All the staff seems to get along here and are all very professional. If you're in the yard practicing your pre-trip, you can pull any instructor and ask a question; regardless if that was your instructor assigned for the day. Everyone is willing to answer questions.

PROGRAM
I took the 160 hour program. They give you a schedule in the beginning. Honestly, the schedule they give you isn't very accurate. For example, while you're in the yard, it says you'll be practicing drop-n-hooks every single day. However, we only did drop-n-hooks one day for a few hours. We did it once each. I don't believe any more than that was really necessary though. It's a pretty simple, straight forward process. Doing it every day would probably have been overboard. But the point is the schedule is not really accurate.

Our class had a grand total of 6 people. The class after us had about 20-ish students though. Their classes rotate every week. One week is all contract students, next week is all open-enrollment, next week is contract students, etc... I was open enrollment.

Classroom time was 8am to 4:30pm, Monday-Friday. We had lunch from 11:45 to 12:30. It's basically the same while you are in the yard or on the road.

The entire first week is in the classroom. Weeks 2-3 are all in the yard. The first thing you do in the yard for like 2-3 days is straight backing. Our class was split into 2 groups (3 per truck). We took turns doing straight backing over and over for 2-3 days. PLENTY of practice. Some of us got it right away and got bored real quick, but some of us definitely needed the 3 days worth because they just didn't understand how the tractor/trailer moved.

After the 2-3 days of straight backing, we moved to offset backing. Same thing... 2-3 days rotating the students in the drivers seat. Again, some of us had the maneuver down on the first day and got bored real quick, but some of us definitely needed the 3 days to learn how the tractor/trailer moved. Even for those of us who had the maneuver down the first day, it still made us more comfortable with the maneuver even though it got boring real quick. There is PLENTY of practice time in that 3 day period. I consider this repetitiveness a good thing.

After 3 days of offsets, we moved to 90-degree alley docks for 2-3 days. Same thing... rotating students through the drivers seat.

Every day you have a different instructor. You may have the same instructor 2 or 3 days in a row once, but they try to get you with different instructors for the most part. This is really nice because you learn different perspectives. All the instructors teach different ways. There doesn't seem to be a "school standard" on how to teach any given maneuver. I really like this about the school. Some instructors allow the students to choose between standing outside to watch or sit in the truck while another student is driving. Other instructors require all the students to be outside to watch. Personally, I like to watch from the outside because it really helps you visualize what is going on and how the trailer reacts to turning the wheel.

The straight back, offset, and 90-degree alley dock are the 3 basic backing maneuvers you learn. Once you've completed all 3, you then spend the remainder of weeks 2-3 practicing ALL 3 maneuvers one after another (just like the test will be).

Week 4 is all on the road. By this time, we had 5 students in our class. We were all in the same truck on the road. Day 1 was all driving a small square in an industrial park across the street. This is just so we can all learn how to shift, turn corners, etc. and basically just become comfortable with the truck before driving in real traffic. One stretch of the course is on a 4-lane road, but it really wasn't that bad as far as traffic. During this time, you'll practice upshifting, downshifting, professional stops and turning. On day 2 of the road, those students who did well the first day will drive more in traffic. Other students who needed more time still only drive in the industrial park. We were all still in the same truck, so we still had to wait for those who needed more time in the industrial park. But your turn to drive comes around pretty quickly, even though we had 5 students in our truck.

As for food, you're on your own. During my time there, we saw recruiters from US Xpress (twice), TMC (once) and Stevens Transport (once). They bring pizza, but as you can see we had pizza provided 4 days out of the 4 weeks of class. There is a vending machine with snacks, drinks, ramen and some other small things for lunch. Expect to provide your own food. They do have a microwave. There is a coffee pot, but expect to donate some money to use that.

They do provide a hotel room in the local area. However, I live close to the school so I didn't need to use that. I can't provide any information about the hotel. I don't even know which hotel it is.

EQUIPMENT
Most of the trucks are various Freightliner models. They are very, very used. (LOL) The trucks work great, but as far as cleanliness it doesn't seem like they are cleaned at all. Then again, I am going through this course in the middle of winter. They may keep them clean during the warmer months. There are quite a few trucks out there. I'd say about 15-20 of them. Some are not road worthy, so they're only used in the yard. Good enough for learning the maneuvers.

FUNDS/TUITION
The cost of the class is $5,995 I believe. You'll have to pay for a urine/drug test out of your pocket. I really don't remember how much that was. I believe it was like $20. You'll also have to pay for a Chauffers license if you don't have one as well as your TIP test at Secretary of State. It's like $75 total. I used my GI Bill benefits to pay for tuition. All the other students in my class used Michigan Works, I believe.

Overall, I would recommend this school. You get a LOT of time to practice the backing maneuvers and the instructors are very knowledgeable and are very good at explaining exactly what to look for, what mirror to check, when to turn the wheel, etc. As long as you can follow directions, you should have a great experience at this school.

If anyone has questions about this school, I'll be checking out this thread periodically and will be happy to provide answers where I can.

FYI: My road test is tomorrow, so I'm not technically finished here yet.