Advice for out of country driver

One of my co-drivers was from England. So I can only quote what he told me.

He had to go through the whole deal. Training etc etc etc. He latched onto Covenant to start. Left when he had the needed "verifiable" experience.

Nobody would accept any of his prior experience after arriving in the U.S.

 

danc694u is right. Experience abroad is basically worthless. I went through the opposite problem when I lived in Austria for a while and wanted to drive there. My US CDL was worth zip. I had to re-test for every vehicle class, including CE for trucks.

Fortunately, European companies are not as strict on recent experience. Besides, I had a full-time job and primarily wanted a weekend job to see what trucking in Europe was like. So I was able to find a local company that was willing to hire me once I had my European class CE license. But there was definitely a bit of luck involved.

(For the record, I am European -- not from Austria, but from Norway. However, I originally obtained both my car license and my CDL in the United States, before I got the equivalent European licenses.)

I do actually have a bit of a problem there -- Europe won't recognize a US CDL and the US won't accept a European license for anything but car and (in some states) motorcycle. Yet both jurisdictions prohibit multiple licenses.

I do have a US class A CDL and a European class ABECEDE license. I just make it a point never to use the European license in the US or vice versa. That's as close as I can come to complying with the intent of the law; even then, there does not seem to be legislation to deal with this situation.

 

California Emergency Foodlink is about the cheapest way to get your license in Sacramento. Its 40 hrs a week for 18 weeks and you only pay drug test and licensing fees. Comes out around $160.

 

Me personally, I would just go get the book, study it, take the writtens, and find someone to loan me a truck (short flatbed daycab preferably, why make it any harder) for the driving test. I worked a harvesting job last year with two guys from south africa. One of them was hired as a driver based on his 20 odd years of driving there and all over Europe. The big companys are the only ones that really care about the driving schools and all that bs. If you find a small company they'll probably hire you right on. I'd look around first and see what you can find.

This sounds like a heck of a deal, I'd go for that.

 

That does sound high if you already know how to drive. Unfortunately, most driving schools of shorter duration cost a lot more, think thousands of dollars for a refresher course.

I actually have no idea what drivers from Norway earn. I left Norway after high school and have never had a full-time job there.

 

here is a tip ill give you and every other "outside the country" driver. Heck...ill even throw this in for those who are not drivers, but who have chosen to live here.......LEARN TO READ, WRITE AND SPEAK FLUENT ENGLISH. How long do you think we'd last in china or japan and NEVER pick up any of their language. they'd kick us out. We need to stop printing everyting in the USA in 10 different languages just to be P.C. You dont care enough to learn to read the english language, you have no reason to be here.

 

all i can think to say to this is....WOW!

hey irish, welcome to the U.S. and good luck.
hot enough for you in sac.?