Is It To Late To get Back In To The Game?

No way, it is never to late to get back into the game. If you still want to drive and feel that you physically can, go for it. That being said, you will be treated like a newbie by many folks. Insurance companies rule the world. Many insurance carriers will feel that without recent experience, you are the equivalent of a brand-new driver. Crazy or not, that is the reality. If you try to drive for a big company, they might require you to attend a driving school.

 

Craisgslist is mostly garbage spam recuirters for the big company your never to old to get back into it I think. But alots changed since 1999 I started in 2005 and alots changed since then. I'm sure the pay has always sucked so that hasent changed

 

I'm afraid that leannamarie is most likely correct. You've been away from trucking for 12 years. Most, if not all, carriers are going to consider you an un-experienced newbie with a time lapse that long. While someone might give you a chance, you are most likely at the minimum going to have to go with a training company (Swift, Werner, Schneider, etc) and run with a trainer for a time.

 

I've seen a number of drivers who left for a few years and want to get back in, at my CDL school, they were told to take a 2 week refresher couse by the recuiters they spoke to.

Most of them, think they remember how to alley dock, and the instructor at the school always lets em try it a few times by themselves, before teaching them how to do it.

 

I was away from driving for 5 years and couldn't get back into the drivers seat do to the insurance company. You have to have 6-12 months behind the wheel experience in the last 3 years for a company to hire you. I ended up buying my own truck and said screw the companies....

 

WOW! at least they could have made it a even $10,000!

 

The drivers you are talking about were lying about experience.
A driver that really has 3+ years experience will not forget how to back up.
I have seen the same thing you are talking about.
These are drivers with a few months experience that could not hack it on the road and gave up. Only to want to come back a few years later.
Or local drivers that are not use to road equipment.

It had been 10+ years since I had been OTR when I went back out.
I paid for a refresher at a large company (1200 bucks) where I learned the new HOS.
That was it. I had to pay for a job. I remembered how to drive. I remembered how to back.
Though I did need some practice with backing. Since I had never backed a 53' trailer. When I was OTR before it was in a COE with a 48 foot trailer.
But a few backs and I had the feel for it again. So I spent most of my time at the school teaching students to back up.

A truly experienced driver will never forget.