Can Owner Operators hire 18-20 year olds?

Sure they can, to wash and polish or lube, they are a OO but they still are a motor carrier and have to play by the rules, Don't think they can find or afford insurance.

 

Doesn't matter what loads the O/O picks if they can't insure you.

 

yes you can as long as he isnt crossing state lines he is fine

 

Simple answer: Yes.

 

you can hire them , but most likely you insurance company wont insure them

 

a o/o leased to a company has to hire according to his leased company requirements.

you might be able to get on with a independent that already has a intrastate operation. chances are pretty slim however. due to insurance costs

i do know of one person under 21 that drives commercially hauling intrastate driving his dads truck.

in ND a 16 year old can drive a farm truck within 100 miles of the farm, no cdl required.

 

There is no federal law in Canada that permits 18 year olds to drive, drivers licenses are provincial jurisdiction and governed by provincial law. 18 year olds cannot drive in Nova Scotia but can in New Brunswick, for example.

Same deal as smoking cigarettes, or drinking alcohol. Liquor consumption age in Atlantic Canada, Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC is 19, Quebec, Manitoba and Alberta is 18.

 

The minimum age to apply for a CDL is usually 21, as required by the United States Department of Transportation, although some states allow drivers who are 18 to 20 to apply for a CDL that is valid only within the driver's state of residence.

 

Yes, most companies will not take on a younger driver here for that reason unless they don't run into the USA. In fact, one province in Canada had a pilot program going where they were training high school kids as young as 16 to drive on weekend, within the province only of course. Not sure whatever became of it, I stuck my head in the sand and tried to pretend that my livelihood wasn't about to become on par with minimum wage burger-flipping.

However; many of the companies are only entertaining applicants who are over 25 because of their insurance policies. I did work at a company with a few 19 year olds, but they also had at least 2 repeat DUI offenders and several who had failed drug tests in the past few years driving trucks too, so I'm assuming their insurance company would have been fine with a rubber chicken taking the wheel.