Questions that a company driver should ask a potential new company

What patty said! And thanks, it was good that somebody mentioned to check out the companies website FIRST. And yeah, hanging up the phone and having forgot to ask certain things stinks.

 

As far as I know, the safety people working with a trucking company all work for DOT. Am I right? I was told that it is set up that way so that Safety won't just rubber stamp everything the company does. They are to uphold the DOT regs regardless. Can somebody please verify this?

Good idea about "open door policy".

Yea, I suppose a separate list for CDL students would be good as well. Or maybe just take the existing list, and highlight the questions of (more) importance to them. Also, they would have other questions, not included here, like CDL reimbursement.

I'll think about it, see what I can do. Thanks

 

All added. Wow. And here it was the list looked pretty complete. Thanks.

 

This is the (hopefully) final revision. Thanks to all who submitted suggestions. Remember drivers, this list is a buffet of questions. Pick and ask the questions most important to you. Also, check out the company's website FIRST, where you'll find a lot of this information.

Note: Besides the questions below, you may also be interested in checking out the company's CSA scorecard.

QUESTIONS:

About truck:

- Make, model, year, auto or stick?
- Super singles or dual drives?
- On Guard or other collision avoidance system?
- On board cameras? Facing driver?
- Idle shutdown? If so, what temps?
- Trucks governed at?
- When park at home, attached or not? Or park at nearest terminal?
- Procedure to fix truck?
- Procedure to fix trailer?
- Truck washing? Procedure?
- Personal conveyance policy? (i.e. using truck occasionally to bobtail to shopping)
- Inverter supplied? Allowed? What size?
- APU supplied?
- Any amenities in truck, i.e. refrigerator?

About Company:

- Number drivers?
- Truck to trailer ratio?
- Average age of tractor fleet? trailer fleet?
- Does the company own or lease their equipment?
- Number of Terminal locations, terminal nearest to home?
- How long orientation? How much paid?
- Driver amenities at Terminals?
- Where run? Regional or everywhere?
- Training company?
- Leasing opportunities?
- Fueling locations?
- Number of drivers per dispatcher?
- Average length of haul?
- Driver turnover %?
- GPS supplied? If so, are locations automatically entered on dispatch?
- In cab scanning of bills?
- Cell phone supplied or subsidized?
- Any company discounts (e.g. show company ID to get % off at Hertz, etc)
- Pre-Pass?
- E-Z Pass? Any other (Kansas, Florida)? i.e. how handle tolls?
- How scale tickets handled?
- Lumper pay procedure?
- Detention pay? How much and when kick in?
- Breakdown pay? Procedure for breakdown/hotel?
- Routing solutions supplied or follow own?
- TransFlo? Trip Pak?
- Electronic logs?
- Longevity bonus?
- Performance bonus?
- Recruiting bonus?
- Medical Plan?
- Dental Plan?
- Vision Plan?
- Retirement Plan?
- Profit sharing?
- Do You Slip-Seat?
- Any contractual work with other companies? i.e. Walmart, Target, etc.? How is pay determined?
- Teams?
- % of Northeast driving? Any extra pay?
- Safety Bonus?
- Fuel Bonus?
- Tarp pay? (if applicable)
- Layover pay?
- Loading/Unloading pay? (if applicable)
- NYC pay? (if applicable)
- Stop off pay?
- Per Diem?
- Road test in Auto?
- Overnight deliveries?
- Store Deliveries?
- % of Drop and Hook?
- Easy/hard to switch dispatcher?
- Whose decision to stop in inclement weather? i.e. chaining policy?
- "If I were to ask your drivers what's the biggest problem with this company, what would they likely say?" Depending on what the answer is, the followup question could be "What is the company actively doing to address this problem?"

For Driver:

- Practical or Household Movers pay?
- Pay per mile, and what does pay go up to after a year?
- Bobtail miles payed as well as loaded?
- Forced dispatch?
- Miles per week avg?
- Trainer Pay and benefits?
- How many days off per running time?
- Do days off accumulate or lose?
- Total number of days off at one time allowed?
- Allowed take any day off during week, or limited to specific days?
- Sign on bonus?
- Paid holidays?
- Paid vacation days?
- When Benefits kick in?
- HAZMAT required?
- Passport required?
- Direct Deposit?
- How dispatcher handle 34 hour reset?
- Procedure for getting home?
- Rider policy?
- Pet policy?
- Emergency home time?