C1 truck driving school/Springfield,MO

I wouldn't go near C1 they have mostly lousy teachers and the room is horrible. find any other school. If you still decide to go...you will need a lot of contacts 8 or so. and they will take your tuition of about 5,000 out of your "pay" if you get any. A lot of students get dropped before they have even a 2nd chance and they don't have to give a reason because you sign so many documents. A friend of mine got into c1 and by the 3rd week had only about 20 hours of time in the cab. some maneuvers only 5 times before the test. Most rigs are not safe and only 2 or 3 were road safe. others have dead plates, bad breaks and transmissions. All aroung beat up pieces of 30 year old junk. Go anywhere else than C1

 

Two posts....both bashing C1 in Springfield. Oh, hmmm....your other post said YOU are in your third week with only 20 hrs blah blah blah, and this post says your friend 20 hrs blah blah blah. Sounds like someone isn't cut out to drive a truck and is blaming the school for that.

 

You do realize that a lot of people get dropped for mainly 3 primary reasons don't you?

1. Did not pass the drug screening
2. Health related issues and cannot get their medical cards
3. Carrier drops a new hire due to background related issues (in case you didn't know this, Driver Solutions only does a regional background check under your name, however the carrier will do a regional and a nationwide background check.) So, if anything comes up on those backgrounds that doesn't meet their requirements for hire, that they cannot overlook, they are naturally going to drop you.

I did not attend the C1 in Springfield, but I have it on good authority that the "lousy teachers" instructors do get transferred from C1 locations occasionally. And, all of my instructors were great. A 3 week program doesnt give them enough time in the world to teach you everything you need to know about trucking, but they do try to teach you what is required to get your CDL license if you apply yourself to their instructions, and do the best of your ability practicing and each time you practice you are going to make a mistake, no one is perfect. Practice is to prepare for the real thing, therefor, its in your best interest to realize your mistakes and correct them, gaining the knowledge to do the task on hand correctly in the real world. Besides all that, these instructors at C1 have good and bad days like the rest of us, so don't expect them to be perfect either.

Yes you sign documents, its part of it. You should be familiar with the way most businesses set up a new hire, you sign documents for just about any job that you don't get paid "under the table" for. Yes, there is more paper work than usual, that is mainly because you have taken out a loan for truck driving training. If you paid up front, then you have less paperwork to fill out. If you are not prehired and simply there on your own terms, or already employed, then there is even less paperwork to fill out.

There was a 3rd weeker at N. Little Rock, Ar C1's location where I went. He was an experienced driver, drove very well and safely. Driver Solutions/C1/P.A.M. all dropped him Monday on his 3rd week. He was scheduled to go take his CDL test that next day Tuesday.
Why? Because P.A.M.(his carrier) dropped him because of a warrent for his arrest that was issued way back in 2006 that came up on a nationwide background check.
So, P.A.M. did not just drop him for no reason, without any explanation as to why they let him go.
I do, however, believe they(the carrier) reserves the right to deny you any explanation.
There were also a few other new hires at my location where the carrier dropped them, but Driver Solutions worked on qualifying them with a different carrier, and kept them at C1 continuing their training.
So, uhmm, yea, don't mislead people like you are please, because if someone gets dropped, there is most likely a good reason as to why they were dropped.

I got cheated out of some Pad time for my basic skills. It wasn't any of the instructors faults. What happened is an Oil/Water separator failed and C1 had to have it repaired, so the pad i was on was destroyed, dug up, and barricaded off. Additionally, other times our truck(yep, a POS) was borrowed several times for either Pre-trip inspections, or USA Truck basic skills test for new hires that have their CDL's. I was a bit upset over the matter, but it wasn't anybodies fault, it was just bad timing. I still got my CDL regardless.

Most rigs are old, out of service, POS... with good reason. Students don't need a brand new fleet of trucks just to completely destroy. So, old pieces of **** trucks serve the purpose rather well. Its a learning experience, not your truck that you have been assigned to deliver freight in. And I will admit, before going to C1, I have never shifted a manual transmission other than once in a little Nissan car with a manual transmission... I probably would have been a hell of a lot more worried about trying to drive a late model good condition, or even brand new tractor ... rather than trying to learn to shift on an old peice of out of service junk that will never see the highways again. So, yea, their trucks are old, and beat up, what do you expect??? We, the students had to learn on something that isnt worth $750,000 or more.
Yea, even the street tractor/trailers are mostly old worn out trucks. Still, the same thing applies, we are in the learning phase. For anyone doing a refresher that has driven a big rig before, they already know this is mainly for students that have never driven a tractor/trailer before, and they drive it just like the inexperienced drivers do, getting their training.

Going to a community college or a trucking school that last 8 weeks or longer is probably the best idea to do. You will most likely get the best training, and you will have more time for basic skills and driving. But, not everyone has the option of going to a trucking program like that. I tried to, with a Pell grant, I got my pell grant, and yet the community college flat out refused that as payment, as well as all other near community colleges. So, i said screw it, I'm doing exactly what I DID NOT want to do. Go sign a contract and go to a CDLmill. I did it because I (key word is I) made the decision to get my foot in the trucking industry, one way or another.

 

Well said guys. I was thinking pretty much the same thing when I saw that all 2 of his posts were bashing somebody else when he should've been looking in the mirror.

 

I wouldn't go there if I were you, I just quit that school. The hotel had bed bugs the first week and the manager at the hotel said, "I probably had them when I got there." She was hateful and rude. She didn't want to give me another room and wouldn't even check my room for them! I said that I would turn it in to the Health Dept if they didn't do something. I called the director of the school and he totally stuck up for the hotel manager. He got mad at me because I told other students. We already had a guy who had gotten them! Then Monday I went out to train with an instructor and he was so hateful. He chewed this lady out and she started crying. He said he told everyone that his job was making men cry! Yeah! He got mad at me because he told me I didn't need to put my seat forward but I said that I couldn't reach the clutch if I didn't, so I moved it forward a little. He said that I failed to listen to instructor direction and he grabbed my book and started writing in it. I was already nervous and he barely gave me ANY DRIVING INSTRUCTION during my second turn! Just because I put my seat forward, he said that his first time driving he went to Chicago by himself. I turned him into the director and asked for another instructor but the director, IS NOT AND WILL NOT BE ON YOUR SIDE ABOUT ANYTHING! The sad thing is the guy professes to be a Christian and so am I but when it comes to doing the RIGHT thing, he doesn't. Oh you can't say a curse word or anything around him, he appears "good" but he won't right any wrongs that are done to any of the students. You would not believe the conversation over this instructor crap he tried to give me or the things he said to me about the BED BUGS at the hotel! Its sad, I was so looking forward to it. Oh and one of the instructors said, they hired a new director because this guy is going into the "ministry" but he has tried to get the director job and so has another instructor and they have been passed up for it even though they are AWESOME instructors???? Who ever runs the show at C1 is CRAZY!!! I usually don't like to complain but the heck I went through at that school is beyond anything that anyone should have to go through. An older guy told me when I was leaving that he has been reading a lot of negative things about C1. BE AWARE IF DARE TO GO THERE. I would go to Route 66 or OTC community college if I were you!!!

 

Beware, this person could be from c1 and i went there as well, he is not lying about this stuff!!!!

 

You have to decide for yourself who is telling the truth and who isn't but why would anyone lie? There are other schools to go to and I'm going to another one, why would we lie about C1 because we can get our CDL license at another school!!! I'm not out anything, I did my first week, now i only have to do 2 weeks at another school. C1 won't get all their $4,000 but only for the first week, I'm not out to "get" them, I just want people to know the CRAP goes on there.