Any one here self taught?

I agree.

 

I didn't go through a trucking school to get my CDL. I went old school and asked my boss to practice in the yard i work at. I had been a maintenance mechanic for this company for 4 years. The driving part came easy for me, as I've been around trucks basically my whole life, but the in cab and pre trip got me. I read the handbook and I passed the written part on the first try, got my doubles/triples and tankers endorsement also. My first attempt at the skills part of the test I failed the in cab inspection, did not get a chance to even try the driving skills portion of the test.
So from experience, if you have the driving portion down, practice doing the in cab and pretrip portion of the test. I passed everything on my second try, the DMV examiner said he only docked me on my driving for floating gears, apparently he wanted to see me double clutch because thats what the schools teach around here.
I would recommend you ask someone who recently passed his cdl exam what it is they look for at your particular DMV.

 

As one of those "small outfits", I can tell you this...as much as I'd probably benefit 100x from hiring a rookie like this with ambition versus an exp lazy driver, fact is, I can't. My insurance cost is what it is because they require all my drivers to have min 2 years of verifiable experience.

That was why I kept asking if he already had a job lined up with the company who he works for, the ones letting him practice out back or, if he was going to go to a carrier who would train him.

A lot of those guys have relaxed their standards and require either 2 years exp OR that you passed at a certified truck driving school.

The 3rd alternative is to do what I did, go buy your own truck. But, back then, insurance costs were no where near what it is today. I don't know even if he could get his own insurance, but, if he could, I'd guess it would be between $15-$25K annually.

 

Find out EXACTLY how the skills test is set up in your jurisdiction, and buy some cones to set it up.

Yes, cones are a worthwhile investment for you. You can set up and take down faster than you can with cardboard boxes and other random crap.

Cones have many uses around the home, or can be sold to another self-learner.

 

And this is a serious catch 22 as well. There are basically 2 kinds of carriers when it comes to insurance. ALL of them use an insurance company to administer their policy. Small mom and pops are not big enough to self insure. The big carriers do. People for some reason can't get by these differences when it comes to the Underwriting. A large carrier can hire a recent CDL holder and train them. Because they are underwriting themselves they are not out any extra money. A small carrier can't afford to do this. This is why more and more recent grads (even tech schools) are forced to the large carriers. Every once in a while a small carrier can take on a new driver. These opportunities are VERY rare. Insurance is making this hard and the FMCSA with their rule making looks like they are making it borderline impossible! Honestly I am so glad I am not a young driver today just starting out.

 

It may be self insurance , but they still have someone functioning as an insurance agent, setting minimal acceptable levels of risk.

What my mega has found is a lot of the "self taught" show up without the necessary skills /knowledge and have a high wash out rate.

 

Hear hear!!! Couldn't agree with you more!

Not to change the subject, but, this un-even playing field is what allows the mega carriers to keep rates low, too low for small carriers in some markets to compete.

They hire newbie, throw a TON of promises to them, but, at the end of the day, they aren't even paying minimum wage to rookie drivers.

I'm not much of one for govt involvement, but, THIS is definitely one place they SHOULD stick their noses in and straighten this out. Rookie drivers should get paid a fair wage for the time they spend in their trucks, all the hours, be it driving, waiting to get loaded, or playing night watchman for their rig.

 

There is a high washout rate period. Like I just posted, they don't even pay a fair wage to the noobs.

THIS is what the govt should be sticking their noses into. Not whether or not I drove 11:01 today and only took 9:59 min for my break last night.

 

When I was 18 I signed up for the wheat harvest Texas to Montana. Drove from pa. To Kansas. Got there on a Monday Tuesday went for my permit. The owner drove me around about an hr. Took me for my test the next day. Passed first time. My dad drove truck and I was a farm boy so used to big equipment. That's prob. As self taught as you can get. That was 23 years ago. Not going to happen today.

 

Higher wash out and incident rate compared to guys who go through "schooling ". And when I say "wash out", I don't mean guys who quit. I mean guys who we cut ties with.