Endorsements

Yourself, it's all pretty common sense except for hazmat. And for hazmat do a ton of practice test. I know last time I took it here in iowa you could skip questions. Skip the ones your not sure about then go back if you need to and answer them.

 

Also get TWIC because it might be needed for delivering to military bases, prisons, ports, oil refineries, etc.
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Passport or Passport Card for entering Canada.

 

Save your money and do them all on your own..they’re easy peasy..hazmat just practice it until you’re confident enough.

TTR has all the tests that you can practice for free..here’s the link if you can’t find it on the forum.

#1 Free 2020 CDL Practice Tests

I got all the endorsements when I started but looking back some were a waste of money and time. Doubles & triples for example was a waste because I never wanted to pull them anyway.

Twic and hazmat I let expire and have zero regrets. Those two I would forget about unless my employer was paying for me to get them. Gone are the days of being able to deduct from our taxes if we’re a W-2 employee.

Don’t know what trailer you plan to pull but if it’s dry van or refer I recommend getting the tanker endorsement. You need it to haul liquid totes.

 

I do not see a classroom hours requirement for HazMat in Cali.

For adding endorsements In Cali, I think there is a timing issue. You have only a couple of months window to add endorsements before you have to take all the written tests again.

I would encourage you to add the Hazmat and Tanker endorsement, just time it in that no retest window.

Hazmat endorsement could help to get out of a bad freight area if the carrier is set up for it. My money loads were typically Haz and Tanker in a dry van.

Have heard of a couple of trucking companies that use HazMat as a form of background check. If you have the endorsement you have not been caught doing bad things in the past.

 

Get all the endorsements before you graduate from cdl school.
Endorsements have nothing to do with passing the road test.