Can you get CDL without school

The young man's original question was about training, and you have admitted Prime's is better than most. 'Nuff said. AND I did warn in my original answer to avoid the siren call to lease. Their lease works for me, so I will take another one... and I already know they will rehire me without having to go through the whole hiring process with another company. Still looking at some other options, though.

 

If Prime is so great and you did so well with them, then why would you even consider a different carrier?

It seems to me that it would be much better for you to save your money for a good down payment and just buy a truck. You could save thousands of dollars from what you will pay Prime to rent one of their trucks. With a good down payment, you could buy a truck with a monthly payment of $500-800/month and save the difference in what you would pay Prime for a truck you will never own.

 

I went somewhere else for a while because I needed to be home every week as much as possible... family issues. Difference with Prime's lease - no credit check (which also precludes buying a truck). I have looked at some other leases, but they tend to be per mile rather than percentage of line haul. I can take the wife and the dog on the Prime truck without paying anything more. Most others want me to pay extra per month to have someone in the truck I am leasing... and the pets are not allowed. SO... for what we need, Prime seems to work best so far. Like I said, I am still looking at other options. I have a couple months to work with before we move to Texas and I have to leave this Omaha based company.

 

yes but it will be very hard to find work

 

I went to my local CDL DMV got a free book studied it went and took my written test,airbreak test,double/triple,tanker. All for $55.00.then went to a third party used their truck for a few of $250.00 passed it. took my paper work to my DMV then got a CDL TOTAL cost $305.00. then it took me two months to get a job. first company was a fleet of 93 trucks stayed their 1 year..
It just takes a little bit of time and clean driving record and clean background. and a drive to keep looking and filling out apps and follow ups.... YOU DON'T NEED A SCHOOL.there are thousands of companys in the U.S.A.
Not just prime,swift,crete,schnieder,ect!!! there are still small companys... there is my $0.02...

 

If you could put back $200/week you could pay cash for a truck in a couple of years. You would not need to worry about your credit or payments. I have seen decent trucks the last couple of years for as little as $10,000. The owner got into trouble or had something else happen and he had to sell the truck. Even if you only saved $100/week it would not take that long to save enough to pay cash for a truck. You could save that much as a company driver. If you are moving to Texas, you could probably go to work for one of the oil companies. They keep the roads hot. I see a lot of dumps around Texas, too. Texas isn't the best place for otr freight. It has been soft for several years.

 

Well said; thanks! Great info. I just started reading this thread, so I hope you have more to read on down.

I drove a dumptruck with a loaded equipment trailer back in the 80's for a couple years doing construction. I've been in structural steel construction ever since and had no need to get grandfathered in the "new" CDL program so I let my license lapse. Well as you know things have changed and construction is not what it used to be so time for a career change.

I passed the written exam for the A and paid $280 to Buffalo Rock, a local soda pop distributer that is a third party exam provider. I had a PTI orientation the Saturday before the test and took notes. The following Saturday I took the driving test and passed. It's funny but I'd never been behind the wheel of a true tractor trailer but I guess I got really lucky. The blind side parrallel parking was the toughest. The backing was a piece of cake probably from backing a boat all these years, lol. The road test went well also. I then went back and got my X endorsement, at least I'm waiting for it to show up in the mail at the moment. As soon as it gets here I plan to get my TWIC card as you can save $30 if show them your HAZMAT endorsement. While at it I'll go back and get my doubles/trips endorsement and throw in a DOT physical to round it out.

Soooooo....here I am, unemployed super trucker wannabe! What to do?

I have a hire date week after next with a small construction company to drive a dump truck and pull equipment....back where I was 25 years ago. The truck I'll be driving has a CAT with a Fuller 10 so I should at least be able to shift smoothly for any road test. I plan to drive for them for 6 months or more, they know my situation, and then apply for an OTR job with a company that provides OJT. I'm thinking May reefer division but I haven't talked to them yet (on my list of things to do today).

If this works, I will have saved myself or any future company that pays tuition reimbursement, 5 or 6 grand and I don't have to sell my soul to a trucking company to do it or have to get a divorce because I blew 5 grand and it "didn't work out".

 

I beg to differ on the time period. It is pretty much standard procedure to go back 10 years on anyone applying for a job as a CDL class A driver. I have had 7 carriers request my driving record as well as my CDL school and all 8 companies required the 10 year record.

 

If I'm wrong, please don't mistake it as being the first time, but...

My understanding is that it's 3 years for new drivers (maybe just those going to school?) and 10 years for experienced.

 

In my case it was 10 years every time. But now that I think about it perhaps it was because I had a CDL B license eversince the CDL program was enacted around 1990. I got the Class A in 2007 and everyone from the school to every carrier all needed 10 years. Perhaps it would've been different had I only had a Class C.