I'm looking for some advice on getting started as a husband and wife team truck drivers. Both my wife and I want to attend either a driver training school or a local community college to get our CDL's. I truck driver friend of mine recommended Central Refrigerated Service, telling me that they will pay for our training but we would have to work for them for 6 months to a year. He said he had recommended them to another friend and she now works for the company and is happy with it. I did some investigation of the company and found alot of complaints from other truckers about them. Looking for any suggestions on how my wife and I can get our CDL's without getting scammed.
CDL schools are a scam period (IMO). You shouldn't have to pay someone that kind of money to get it. With that said, Pick a company and go with it if that is the option you want. It will save you money big time especially with two of you doing the same process. Expect to be apart for 1 or 2 to even 3 months for the training you will have to do before you can team. Otherwise, look at financing it yourself and having to dish out $4000+ (X2) for you to complete a course.
MNdriver, you seem to hate truck schools, but judging from the truck-drivers I see out here I would disagree with your rants...although there are bad schools and policies, there are also good ones that offer good financial assistance programs. Just because you caught on fast and feel school was pointless does not mean everyone is like you. To the original poster, remember, EVERYONE will post bad things as soon as they happen but seldom will you find all the good that is happening. These are companies with 8-17,000 rigs which equates to 8-20,000 drivers...there will be complainers. Just do your research and choose a company you feel comfortable with and go for it.
I actually went to one myself at mitchell votech I mitchell sd in 1990. They are a waste of money to something that should be an apprenticeship, not allowed college course. They are big business for taking people for money to teach a skill that is best tought OJT
I see the schools can be quite expensive and companies want a guarantee from you if you start with them. I never went to a school-this was about 1987 when I started and there was no CDL. I learned by asking questions from older drivers at truck stops and warehouses etc. and I have never ever had a trucker tell me to do it myself. You will find that truckers will help you everytime. I went over to a small trucking company and only bobtailed around a lot for 2 hours and then hooked to a trailer and practiced backing in for 2 hours. That weekend I passed my test for North American (road test and backing) and was on the road. Granted, the schools teach a lot of formalities. But I see many small companies that need drivers. It might be possible to approach one near your home that is decent and ask them if you could get some experience on the lot and work for them for a while. Thats how I did it. The pretrip and CDL questions are all online and you can memorize that. What you really need is practice turning and backing and shifting, hooking up-all which can be done on a small company lot-then go over the road with one of their drivers for a week or so. If you can get your basic CDL-a driver should let you drive with them. I don't know how many times over the years a driver picked me up for orientation and then they just jumped in the bunk. Point being, you should have not problem getting behind the wheel. I would give that a shot before spending up to $10000 on a school.
If you and your wife want to be team drivers focus on researching companies specializing in teams. Not all trucking companies offer teams, especially to new drivers. CDL paid training is only offered by a handful of trucking companies these days but it is available. CRST offers paid training and you must sign an 8 month contract. Their training is reputed to be very good. Some companies require 12 month contract. A word about complaints: you will always see complaints about trucking companies, or just about any industry for that matter. People tend to voice their complaints more often than their praise. Good luck !
