Questions to ask a car carrier at the interview

Geeze, if home time is your priority, you may be in the wrong line of work! How about things such as salary, benefits, type of equipment and it's age, condition of equipment, salary, benefits, company's safety record, forced dispatch, salary, benefits, breakdown and detention pay, salary, benefits. . .

You get my drift?

 

Ask if you are loading out of rail heads, factory yards, or if you are doing used/spot market cars. Will you have backhauls or come back to the terminal empty? Average lenght of haul, do your dealers allow after hours drops, do they have pullers to bring the cars to the loading area or do you have to pull your own loads? Are the trucks assigned or slipseat, chain or strap trailers, high rail or eazy load? Stinger or highmount, how many units per load on average? Is pay based on just miles, just percentage, or is it a formula with load, unload, miles, zone, per unit, etc. Union or non-union, benefits, uniforms or clothing allowance, are accessories provided such as height sticks and gloves or do you have to buy your own.

These will tell you much more than hometime, which can be anything from daily to monthly depending on the operation. High dollar enclosed haulers can be out for weeks or months at a time where a new car hauler pulling from a railhead can be thru the house daily or at least weekly. If you are doing spot market OTR then it will vary with the season.

 

How about asking how you as a rookie driver can fit in there? The interviewee is you, the interviewer is the company. A sharp manager knows the right questions to ask. Inexperience takes about 5 minutes to surface in a driver interview. The interview is what you can do for them and why they should hire you, then it gets around to driver pay and benefits.

 

Great points slant6, it is all about what you bring to the table at a good company.

 

I just read your other post. You have an interview with Jack Cooper? This is a union job. Your benefits, pay. etc. are guaranteed by the master contract and any local rider that may be in place. Everything is predicated by seniority. You as the bottom driver gets what is left over as far as loads go. If you get hired and stick it out you can make a very good living and retire with a nice pension. The key is to stick it out. And don't go in there asking about your "home time". You will fall in to whatever board based on your seniority. If there are others hired at the same time as you, on the first day they will probably have you all draw numbers out of a hat to decide where you all will fall in to the seniority roster. Forget all the BS you read in the other sections here, like the driver mills, Swift, Prime, etc. This is the real deal. They don't put up with nonsense.

This is an excellent opportunity, try and make the most of it. If you happen to interview with the Terminal Manager, Bill Schaefer, he has been in the business a long time. Good guy. Firm but fair.

 

I opened your link. All the stuff in there is for the driver mill rookies. Just be yourself. Go in there looking like a professional. Leave the chain drive wallet and cowboy boots at home. No one at Cooper will be impressed with that.

They are basically sizing you up to see if you will fit in. Coming from another transport company, they know you know how to drive. Don't over think this.

BE YOURSELF.