Pros and cons of husband and wife team driving or solo driving

Hi,

We are enrolling in trucking school next year and we are debating whether we want to team drive (husband and wife) or if one of us wants to solo drive while the other rides...at least at first. We have researched a lot of sites but want some real advice from real truckers about whether the benefits of team driving really outweigh the constantly keeping the truck moving, having limited time to share with one another, etc.... I've read teams get more miles but is the pay really enough to outweigh some of the disadvantages? Regardless, both of us are getting our CDL's but we just don't know if we want to jump into team driving right away. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

Thanks for your advice and you made some good points. We've been really tossing this back and forth and trying to get a real feel for what a day in the life of a husband/wife team is like because, while the money sounds good, we are in our late 40's and we do enjoy our time together and don't want to spend all our time sleeping while the other drives etc...Keeping that truck rolling 24/7 and passing like ships in the night is pretty unappealing to us at this stage in life...but for a while it may be worth it. Like you said, work, bank the money and get what you need, and then take it from there could be the way to go. Thanks again

 

Would love the info thanks! Will they work with new teams with little to no experience? Some people have said it is hard to get started in trucking but everyone has had to start somewhere. We appreciate any advice you can give us because I know there are good and bad companies to get started with. It seems some people do not want to share info about the good companies....kind of like a live and learn lesson I guess...lol I for one appreciate any help steering away from the bad companies...and now I know two so thanks!

 

Thanks Scott101 ....I will check out the shows on you tube. We watch some of them but must have missed that one. And thanks for the info on the CDL riders...I would have never guessed that so I will try to get some more information about that. Really appreciate your help!

 

Miss Elvee....thanks so much for your reply and your help. I think for us being able to talk to people that have, or are still, doing team driving with their spouse will do us a world of good in making the right choice. We are very much like you and your hubby....my husband and I are best friends....and so, the being cramped up in a truck together doesn't scare us at all. In fact, even though we have a house right now we still spend all of our time in one room together in about a space 10 feet or so from one another. That is where we sit and watch movies, get on our laptops, just sit and talk, all right next to one another. One question I have is do you think it is an easier choice for him to get his CDL at first, me ride along for the first year and help him and observe and learn, and then after a year or so I can go get my CDL and we can team drive and sock away any money earned? Some people have said it helped them so much just to have their spouse along to help them, rather than to team drive with them, so I can see the benefits in that...at least for a while until we would actually get used to the lifestyle. It seems that us both learning at once may make things even harder than it needs to be in the beginning? Also, some people have told us that many companies won't let a rider with a CDL ride along in a truck (for obvious reasons) so me waiting a while, until we know for sure team driving is what we want to do, makes sense. Also, can you recommend a good starter company? Thanks again for your help...much appreciated!!

 

Miss Elvee....one more question....how was the starting pay for you and your hubby? I know you said you make over six figures now....is team driving in the beginning a great deal more money than solo or does that come later? Thanks