CDL school on my own or through carrier?

Driving is the easy part of this job. It's he frustrations of traffic, unreasonable appointment times/customers, and getting yelled at for problems created by other people that is difficult.

 

Carter Express has their own cdl school and hauls auto parts out of Laredo, Texas using dry van trailers.
Where is your location?

 

CDL schools that provide 160 hours of training are what you need. Whether that school belongs to a trucking company, or is funded by the trucking company is less important.

Here's how I think about signing a contract with a trucking company in exchange for "free training". As long as you pick the right company that fits what you need, the contract is no problem. BUT 99% of rookies see "free CDL" and think any company is as good as any other company. That is not true. Even some good companies would not bee good for some drivers. Signing a 1 year contract with the wrong company, even if it is a 'good company' is a mistake. If the company isn't a good fit for you handcuffing yourself to them is going to make you miserable, cost you a lot of money, and possiblly both. In some cases you can put yourself on the hook for expensive CDL school, have no job, and be virtually blacklisted in the industry until you either go to CDL school again or pay an inflated price for the CDL school you attended before you quit.

Think of it this way. Very high quality schoes that are much too small or too big are not going to work and even if they are at a bargain price it would be stupid to buy them. The fit between you and the company is worth everything. It can be the difference between a pretty easy 1 year and a very hard year where you have almost no chance of completing and you may owe a lot of money.

Company first, school second. Do what you want.

 

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The best info you can get about any trucking company is from the drivers already working there. In my mind, don't work for a company until you talk to drivers working there now, not drivers that quit that company years ago. Make any company you consider put you in contact with current working drivers at the company doing the work you are applying for. ALSO DO NOT CONSIDER ANY DOLLAR STORE TYPE OF ACCOUNT AS A NEWBIE.

I would sign a contract with a company that was a good place to work. I also picked a 3 week CDL mill school and paid for it on my own because I already had a job waiting for me at a copany that hired students from that CDL school. Signing a contract is not the big decision, picking the right company is the big decision.

 

Some of the school buses are now owned by subcontracted companies who hire bus drivers and also offer training. You could check with some on what they offer for training and part-time positions

 

Yes, I could understand that, but you could always update it later.