CR England "refresher course"

My experience with CR England was good. I made good money, and was treated with respect. I spent 1 and a half years as a company driver, then about a year as a lease operator. Personal circumstances dictated my life and I had to give up OTR. CR England, and Dan England in particular, made the transition painless and easy, and I was told that when I could go back OTR that I would have a place.

CR England was a company that provided everything I wanted in a trucking company, plenty of miles, great equipment, and fair treatment. That is all I ever asked of any company.

 

I am completely new to this site but wanted to follow up on this. Regardless of what a website has to "offer", as you state, members are allowed and welcome to post. Fawne is absolutely correct tho that people with good experiences just plain do not post. Maybe some do here, but the majority of ppl who wish to post, wish to do so because they are upset from a good situation. Few people think they need to comment on their good experiences. I talked to my mother a while back about truckers and she said she feels if she ever calls a driver in for back driving, that she need also call in about good drivers. How often does that happen? Who sees the "how's my driving?" stickers and calls in for good things? Most are ignored until there is something wrong, and the same happens on these websites.

I personally am in the hiring process with CR England now. I don't really want to go to them, but it's because Id rather stay local than go long haul, not because of having to go take some refresher course in Indiana. I welcome the opportunity to receive more training, and of course I have to pay for it. pulling from cr englands website:
"After successful completion of our Advanced Training Program you will be hired and begin your on-the-job training."

If you are not responsible to pay for it... and you complete the refresher course and receive your certificate and you decide to walk away instead of be hired on, than the refresher course bill (costing $1500) is stuck for the company to pay. So while their instructors are putting their hours into you and the company is paying them to do so, you expect them to pay for it? It isn't CRE's fault you (or I) dont have the experiece, but they are offering to provide training to get you out on the road and driving, while all the other companies turn us down because we don't have the experience. Everywhere I have gone to tells me they'd like to help me out, but the insurance companies wont even look at me because I dont have minimum 1 year class A driving experience. I dont want to be stuck in class B so I am not going to try to get one with the *hope* of getting bumped up. If I am good at Class B, they will want to keep me there and hire someone else for class A who has 10 years experience instead.
If I really don't like the company, Ill suck it up for 1 year, get that experience and get on with life. 3 months down the road, I can be a company driver making however many cpm for 9 more months, then switch to something that pays decent. Id rather take the year, get the experience, than sit around for the next couple months looking for something else that will just require a refresher course - which will probably not free then either.

 

This was my experience too. A rough experience beyond my worst nightmares. I know from experience other companies will help you get your wings far easier, though im still earning mine.

If you are a new graduate try :
USA TRUCKING
PRIME
STEAVINS TRANSPORT
FROZEN FOODS EXPRESS
GORDON TRUCKING
MAVERICK

Swift, and Werner can get you started too. But everything is order of my preference.
Never ever ever go with CRE.

 

The voice of experience?

LMAO

 

It stands for "Every New Guy/Gal Leaves After Ninety Days. Not a good sign. Heard some other stories such as:

1. Trainers are not England Employees, but rather people under contract to teach their school in Salt Lake City.

2. If a student has never shifted a manual transmission, they put that student into a tractor with another new student who has shifted a manual transmission and is supposed to be able to teach others. So a student leading a student.

3. Their instructors give the road test not the State of Utah, so you can see why right? so they can put bodies into a leased truck situation.

I have these things on good authority.

 

I remember when I did my road test with the CRE instructor to get my CDL he told me not to grind because he had a hangover. He had his hat and sunglasses on and only said about five words to me during the whole test. Good stuff.

 

From my own experience at CRE school in Salt Lake:
1. The trainers were indeed England employees who taught at the school.
2. When I went to the school, I had never shifted a manual transmission or driven anything larger than a small box truck (automatic.) One of the instructors spent time with me and three others simply sitting and shifting, then got moving and practicing. This was an instructor, not a student.
3. The road was indeed given by the same instructors who taught the school.

 

does cr england require u to do the l/p deal or can u be a company driver

 

They may tell you that there is no company driver positions open but there always is. You may have to team for awhile but if you are patient a company solo position always opens up.

 

I must agree...
At Burns Harbor:
The instructors were all CRE employees that at one point drove for CRE and/or had previous experience and hired on as an instructor.
The ones teaching you to drive enough to pass the Indiana CDL Exam were the same instructors.
The CDL exam was given by a 3rd party, those that didn't pass on first try were given immediate assistance by same instructors.