Company training vs cdl school

Private school is a good choice.
Where are you located?
Most companies will let a 5 yr. old felony slide.

 

Pick and pay for your own training. Then choose who you want to work for and go for it. You get trained through a company you’re locked into an agreement with them for a year. Megas use DAC and Hireright and all that crap and if you break the agreement, they’ll smear your name on them and you’ll have to pay them back part or all of the cost of the training.

 

You should pick a company, research them thoroughly, talk to current drivers at that company and if you still want to work for them, decide about school. CDL school is just about getting the CDL license, not learning the tricks of the trade or the normal procedures you do for the job. You learn all of that at your first company when you go through their 6-8 week trainer supervised period. IMO, going to CDL school before deciding where to work is a little like pulling the pin on a hand grenade before you decide where to throw it. You want to start orientation/work within a week of getting your license, not get the license, sit on it while you decide and then decide.

Half of the trucking companies have Tuition Reimbursement to help you repay for CDL school if you borrow money. Some trucking companies have their own CDL school. IMO, I would happily get "free training" at a trucking company in exchange for a 1 year contract IF I WANTED TO WORK AT THAT COMPANY. Don't be a schmuck and take one companies "free training" while planning to skip out in month 2 for another trucking company.

Have you satisfied yourself that the trucking company with their own school is aplace you really want to work for? The differences between CDL school A or CDL school B is trivial. The difference between one trucking company and another trucking company can be huge. Decide on your first trucking job, then decide on how to get the license. Going to CDL school while you work is financially a better plan AFTER you have picked a trucking company. It allows you to have income while you get the license. However, most CDL schools are 3 weeks. If you have the money to pay bills for 3 weeks and have a trucking job picked, there is a lot to be said for dropping everything and getting the license. 90% of newbies give little thought to their first job, and devote far too much attention to which school and when and how to get the CDL. You should reverse those. CDL school is a formality, the first job is the biggest decision you will make in the industry. Picking a company that isn't a match for you will alsmot guarantee you are out of the industry before 1 year. Picking a good company that matches you will open up a new career for you. Financially, the hardship is not getting through a 3 week CDL school but actually getting through the 6-8 week training period at your first company. The pay for trainees is often very small. It can be something like $300-500 (before taxes) plus some cents per mile if the training truck exceeds a mileage threshold. Paying the bills during that 6-8 week period was the hardship for me. Taxes are goign to eat about 25-30% of the meager training pay. NEVER TAKE A PAY ADVANCE. It's a shortcut that set you up to always be broke.

BTW, ALMOST no trucking companies allow a new driver to train another new driver, even if one is married to the other. Your wife will ride with her own designated trainer before she joins you in your husband/wife team truck. There are not many female trainers, so if she must have a female trainer she may have to wait quite a while before she finds one.

 

Which company are you considering for company cdl school?
Virginia is a good place for teams doing west coast turns.

 

CFI is a good outfit. It's dry van, which is easy. Since CFI has approved you; go for it.