3rd Times a Charm?

Wow, am I getting flamed. I didn't know I was so 'negative'. I'm not trying to be negative, my friend. I just hate to see another person, YOU in this case, of having gone to a school that did NOT give you Road Training.
I tell you what I would do. I would tell this school they had better teach you HOW TO DRIVE THE TRUCK, or you 'will get a lawyer, complain to NY State', etc. (doesn't matter if you get the lawyer or not,,,just bluff them!). Cancel that Road Test until you learn to drive the thing. That's what I would do.
My school did 58 hours of driving; most on their 40 acre course, and quite a bit on the highways of central oklahoma. 564 miles on the roads; I still have the paperwork. THAT alone will teach you to shift and be at least able to be put with a trainer. Its a #### shame they didn't have you on the road. Why bother with a school like that, ya know? Did you do ANY research before you went with them?
This is total, total BS that a school does not do road work. Totally useless. Let the word get out,,,the CDL School is a joke.

If you raise holy hell with this school, tell them you can't by-god drive,,,maybe they will let you back in school for some one on one or similar. Try , try,,try huh.

Here's some help on shifting. Perhaps it will help you out. Start out in 2nd gear, of course you use the clutch. Let clutch out,,, and go. When you shift to 3rd,,,you DON'T need to use the clutch. Just rev it to the sweet spot, let off the (gas) pedal, pull it to the 3 rd gear, then repeat.
I would demand they teach you to drive the #### thing. It is that simple... You paid for it. They failed to teach, and didn't you or someone DID say 'we get you your CDL, and you 'learn to drive' somewhere else. I did see that somewhere, and I thought you said it. Hey, sorry, if I offended.
Hang tough, and tell them you need '10 hours or so' on the road. Get tough with them.
Let us know what happens. Good luck.

 

OTF, check your PM's.

 

I may-be new but I asked to see a copy and have a copy of the contract my first time meeting the recurtier at the school I'm attending. When I went back for a second visit I said the contract was all about them and nothing about me, I wanted to amend it,, long story short,, I didn't get it. If I require extra training it's at a rate per hour for each hour of extra training. It's a dog eat monkey world and think you need to believe in yourself first and don't second guess yourself, I really hope the rest of your schooling taught you something useful. Relax give yourself a break,,doesn't help worrying until the moment of truth when you road test and then thats the time to pay attention to what your doing. Good luck and enjoy the time at home right now..

 

Among many others.

 

I would not pay these SOB's one single penny until they taught me to drive the #### truck. That is the purpose of truck driving school. I would let them know this today at your 5 hr training session.
Most schools do at least 50 hrs behind the wheel, and yours did 0? Hmm....something ain't right. How'd you fall for this? No research, at all??

And $6,500 at .18% is $97+ a month interest. I would let NY State know that you were filing a lawsuit against the school and against them too if they are the ones that wrote the loan.
Study your Small Claims Court procedures for your county/State, and bring a Small CLaims suit against the school, unless they teach you to drive in traffic, and are able to go on to a company and hire on for their 'training with a trainer'.
I would do this, in a heartbeat. It is easy to learn how to do. You do it without a lawyer, on your own.
No way in hell I would pay this bill since they didn't train you correctly. Let the State know, about your inadequate training. Complain, and bring facts of how many times you've been sent home. They will put it on your Credit Report if you don't fight them. Sue their as* in Small Claims Court. Check the limit if you can. You can sue anybody for 'fraud and negligence' but only if you TRY.

 

Good Luck today !!!!!

 

I don't understand how these road tests go... Do they just say drive, and you go, or what? Do they look for certain things? Do they tell you what they are looking for? Do they tell you what will make you fail?

I mean were newbies.. Do they not expect us to be ###### at driving? I would think they would pass you as long as you dont run a redlight/have an accident, etc... Are trailers loaded, or not?

How do these road tests work? Can anyone give me the whole detail of whart happens?

 

I wish you tons of success, but I really think trying to pass a manual transmission road test at any company will be nearly impossible without proper training, they are not looking for you to be perfect, but they want you to be safe and that requires you totally understand gear recovery so you can get the vehicle back in the proper gear, this takes some class room work to understand the RPM to Road Speed correlation and some hands on with a patient instructor behind the wheel.

I would check out US Express or Pam, they take students and you would not have to worry about shifting, just safe driving and not hitting curbs.


FreightlinerGuy, the tests are very similar to the DMV for student drivers, they know you will not be perfect at shifting but you should be able to recover a gear quickly and get the vehicle back in gear when you miss a shift. They will watch to make sure your using your mirrors and looking at the right things while driving, allowing enough room for making turns and proper location of the truck in the lane. They will watch your trailer management on curves so make sure you understand how to keep the trailer in your lane. Don't go through a yellow, and don't do any abrupt stops. Make sure you understand an emergency pull off procedure by heart. Just be safe at all times and allow extra room for curbs. Not looking for perfect, just safe and cautious. Your up grade test after training will be much more detailed and they will expect much more. Some companies like to make sure you can properly execute a soft 45 degree back like you find in a truck stop situation, before you even get on the road with your trainer. Often at school they only teach you how to back into spots with lots of forward room, not many like that in the real world.