Newbie.Live in MI.Want to make good choice.Could use some advice.

Hello everyone out there,

I will be done with driving school in 2 weeks. I live in the tri-city (mid-michigan) area. I have been unemployed since april 09. My last job was installing cable and I got into a minor fender bender with the company vehicle and they decided to be d***s about it and fired me and of course it ended up on my MVR which sucks.

Anyways I do have some DOT driving experience I drove a 24ft straight truck with air brakes for about 3 yrs and left because I wasn't making much money.

I want to get into driving big rigs OTR(or local right away if possible) for a little experience to go local but am usure as which direction or company would be a wise choice. I was looking at Sabreline but heard they weren't doing too well.

Living in mid-Michigan some companies wont hire just because you live north of Flint and out of there "area" yet there are hundreds of trucks around here all the time.

I have a wife and 2 boys 3yr and 1yr old so my biggest concerns are time away. Me and my wife have agreed on me being gone 1or2 weeks at a time but only if I get to come home(my home not home term.) even for just 1or2days. Theres also training I'm already going to have my CDL with tank and doubles on it so I also want to know how long training usually lasts from the time I first arrive until I can be on my own.

If anyone can help me out with these concerns to influence my decision on company choice it would be GREATLY appreciated by me and my family.

Anything else that you would like to throw in that might help would be great too.

Thank you
Adam

 

I just graduated from the school on Midland Rd. in Freeland on Monday. Got my full CDL A license with tank and doubles on it and ready to go. I'm fixing up my resume and just hoping to be one of the lucky few to get a job around here. Right now I don't want to do anything else, I love to drive but I just dont want to lose my family over it if I have to go OTR. Opposablethumbs, do you work for Roehl?

 

Thanks I will check them out definately. Thank you I will take any help I can get.

 

Nationwide Transportation? Are they a good company? There was only one person that I have talked to after my class graduated and the last time I talked to him he hadn't found a job yet and as for me I am still looking for work unfortunately. Living on unemployment isn't working very well.

 

I thought there instruction was very good. The first week is easy and all class time, they go over log books and at the end of the week you go test for your TIP and get a physical for a DOT card if you don't already have one, and then the next 2 weeks is all driving. One thing that I didn't like was I wasn't familiar at all with manual transmissions (every vehicle that I have ever driven has been auto) and they just kind of threw some people in a truck together and said start driving. I would at least have thought that they would have kind of went through with you showing where reverse and 1st gears and the rest of the gears where but they were also very patient knowing that some of us were have a little trouble getting started. Within a couple days I had it down quite well (your doing it all day every day so it didn't take long). By the end of the first week of driving your shifting is getting better and they take you on the road everyday and really push double clutching which isn't really that hard once you get the hang of it. Once you are one the road they are very thorough on tips and techniques, what you should and shouldn't do, how you're supposed to do this and that, and turing corners. That was what I really liked about the school. The second week they get alot more strict and do alot more city and downtown driving. They also allow you to "float" gears when shifting if you got double clutching down good enough. After 2 weeks of driving they run you through a mock test what it is going to be like when you are tested by the state. Just make sure you don't miss anything when doing your pre-trip inspection. Then on Friday of the last week the state tester comes to the school and you do your pre-trip test and yard manuevers test and if you pass those two then you will proceed to the road test and if you pass that you get the certificate to go get your license. If you can get through the second week without hitting anything or running anybody over (someone in my class ended up hitting a fire hydrant) then you will pass the state road test because it is EASY compared to the second week downtown city driving. One more thing that I didn't like was they said pretty much nothing about coupling and uncoupling which I wasn't very happy about but all in all I thought they were very thorough and patient and the instructors were funny and easy to get along with.

I don't know much about CDI and there curriculum so I couldn't really help you there but that was my experience with Tri-Area Driving School. I would call both schools and find out what there curriculum is and what exactly they teach and don't teach.


good luck