Is there a short list of schools / companies to absolutely avoid

Put where you live in your profile...general area...this is the first step to others helping you become less confused.

 

Millis Transfer has a good company training program.

 

You do get what you pay for when it comes to CDL school.

I've heard stories of guys who went to "discount" CDL schools, or company sponsored school with CR England and managed to get a CDL without knowing how to shift gears properly...

I paid $5,000 for my school (Truck drivers institute, Dallas) and feel it was worth every penny ($6,000 if you financed through them) I learned more in school than I did with Werner in "training"

As for companies to avoid, CR England, Swift, Werner, the same ones you will hear named time and time again.

 

If you play your cards right you can get a leg up on most that just respond to the ads. I'd first look at the company you want to work for. Good money in LTL and Tankers. Check with the companies that look good and ask them what they want. Ask them where they see drivers come from.

 

you really cant go by what truckers say about companies 99% of the time the driver brings pain on themselves. just carry a good attitude and work with your DM as much as possible. stay with your first company for a solid year it looks better when you go for a job requiring more experience.

as far as picking a school my mom is an instructor with 20 years exp in trucking before she started teaching. class size isnt really as important as student to truck ratio. you really dont want more than 4 students per truck on the road and 6 per truck in the yard. you want to maximize your time behind the wheel before you head to the dds. if you see a class of 24 students and only 2 trucks on the yard and 2 on the road avoid that school like the plague.

 

You're supposed to learn more in school than in training.

Training is just to polish off the skills you should have learned in school.

I prefer the nepotism route for obtaining a cdl... but we all can't be so lucky.

 

Grrsh Dangit, had to google that one, nepotism

ˈnepəˌtizəm/
noun

• the practice among those with power or influence of favoring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

 

Pick the cheapest one that's at least 160 hr. course.

If you know which company you want to work for, call and ask which school they recommend, from the ones in your area.

Contact Schneider about their tanker division. I read recently they fund private CDL school if you agree to work in their tanker division. Don't know if their tanker division hires out of Riverside or not, but ask them.