So many choices!!!! So little time!!!!

Hi everyone, I have been involved in the mortgage and real estate industries for over twenty years... and I am looking for a new career before I am homeless myself! My husband was a truck driver all of his working life, he is disabled now. He loved it and I want to give it a try and hopefully retire from this new venture in about fifteen years. There is so much information out there that my head is spinning. I live in Logan Utah and am willing to relocate if necessary but think there are enough companies in Utah that I probably won't have to. I don't have a lot of money and coming up with cash for training could be difficult if not impossible without borrowing from friends and I would rather borrow from an institution. I need a company that will allow me to bring my husband along when he is able and also a dog when my husband is with me... after training of course. Road Master will finance but it is quite expensive ($6500 if financed, $5000 if paid upfront). We have a local program through a technical college but they have no financing options. I need to get to work as soon as possible and start making money. I have read many of these threads but am hoping that someone could give me some advice directly. I will be fifty this year and need to make the career change now or never. Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

the technical school is the best, you will realy learn how to drive after all they are not just out to get your money, cdl mills "road masters" will ONLY teach you how to pass the cdl test and nothing more. my tech school was 8hr's a day 5 days a week for 3 months. think i learned more than the $5,000 2-3 week schools....? when i got on my trainers truck i could drive as well as he could just not as good at backing.

backing is the one thing you realy need to be good at, if you can't back at nite in the dark between 2 truck you don't get to go to bed..!

most of the companys will let your husband ride with you ($25-$35 a week) BUT most will not let him on the truck if he still has a cdl....!

a few will let you have a pet but it will cost you around $500

hope that helps & best of luck

 

Thanks for the reply! Did you have enough money to just pay for the technical school? When I called and talked with them that didn't offer any options at all. In fact, out of everyone I talked to the man down there seemed to be the least friendly or helpful. I could keep working where I do now and attend that school... just put in more evenings and weekends... and that is what I would have to do in order to keep going financially. I really wanted to get on a truck during the good weather and get as much time in while the weather is still good before the winter sets in here. I have driven in snow all of my life but know that driving a semi in the snow will be a whole different animal. I found another school last night and sent off for some information.... Sage schools. They are suppose to have one on one instruction while driving and a friend of ours that has been driving for about ten years went there. He suggested them over Road Master and they are a couple of thousand dollars cheaper. My husband does not have his CDL license anymore and won't ever be able to get one again... I don't think. The dog will be a real issue though and so I will have to go with a company that will allow the dog when he rides with me. Who did you end up working for when you got out of school? Do they pay you enough to live on yet? We do get disability for my husband and so we will have some money and we also have an apartment in our house that we have never really rented out but we are getting it ready to rent next week. With the money from those two sources we should be ok making less for a year or so. I can always start a loan while I am home and pay my processor more to finish it as well. I think it will be a way for the two of us to spend time together. He is in bed most of the time anyway and so now I just won't have to holler from the kitchen or living room to talk with him! Again, thanks for your response! I will call the technical school again in the morning and see if I just caught him on a bad day.

 

If you could keep your current job and get your school done on the weekends w/ a tech/ community college that would be your best bet.That will give you a little taste of big rig driving,and you can pay for it w/your income/rental. My son's went to a school that cost $2,800 payable as they trained.What kind of $ do you expect to make driving compared to your current income? You must know from reading the threads that drivers pay has decreased since your hubby stopped ,due to deregulation of the trucking industry and HOS rules.

 

This is what I am doing. The school that I will be going to has evening/night classes

Not to hijack a thread but does a six week course roughly 5 hours a night sound like I will learn a good bit?

 

You'll learn enough to pass the behind the wheel portion of the test.The real training starts when you get hired and go OTR w/ your trainer.That's when you learn how to handle all issues w/ shippers, recievers,breakdowns,logs,dispatchers, traffic,weather etc.

 

my school was TTC Nashville and it was $1000 7 years ago

 

Today I am driving to Salt Lake City, Utah; it is only about 79 miles from where I live; to meet with Sage Truck Driving School. I will find out how much it is... there are different programs and their website doesn't list prices AND they wouldn't tell me over the phone... I am not liking that part but I guess time will tell. If I don't think this school will work out I am going to visit Road Master while I am in Salt Lake.

I talked with a recruiter at Watkins and Shepard in Montanna and they will allow my husband and the dog when they can make it. So, if I can get hired by them after school it will be great. They are really picky. I went to the DMV and got my driving record and it is as clean as a whistle so they shouldn't have a problem with that. As far as the last three years employment I have been basically self-employed for the last twenty years with a couple of short sprints of employment (to get on insurance and then go on COBRA for eighteen months but other than that I have been on my own. I have my tax returns for 2010, 2009 but for some reason cannot find the ones for 2008 so I might have to stop by the IRS in Ogden Utah on my way home and see if they can give me a copy. Hopefully that will be enough to show my employment history. One company I worked for on the side for about four years is out of business and I have tried to find the owners phone number without any luck. I called a number listed on the internet and the poor kid that has it told me no one is calling him but bill collectors on that number. He said he would give me a great reference though (ha ha!). I can show 1099 income from that company and a w-2 and that they went out of business... it was all over the internet, and the newspaper for that matter! Nothing shady here in Utah but someplace back east a loan officer that worked for them got them into a lot of trouble. Isn't it sad how one or two people in certain industries have the ability to destroy an entire company?

Enough of that.... now Watkins and Shepard. If they do hire me they will only train me at their facility for eleven days and then put me in a truck. I asked if they thought that was enough training and they said that when I get out of either Sage or Road Master that I will be able to drive a truck or I won't. They use to send students out with other drivers but it was more trouble than sending them out alone. She said she wouldn't send me to New York City right away though . I am kind of panicked about that but the more I think about it she is probably right. I will take the whole month and drive as much as I can in school, into the night if they will let me! I am going to practice backing so much that my neck will ache but I am going to learn how to drive a truck!

Thanks for all of the comments and everyone cross your fingers for me! I want to work at Watkins and Shepard!!!! It sounds like a company that I might be able to start at and stay for my whole career. Insurance isn't as important to me now as it was before my husband got on Medicare and disability but having it for me too would be nice.

Now I will find a renter for the main apartment in this house to cut our expenses as much as possible for the next year and here we go!

How much does it usually cost to stay on the road (food etc.) a week for you guys and gals?

Thanks!

 

Food cost is entirely up to you,you can buy bread,and eat PPJ every day,or truck stop food,your choice.You already know your food preferences,not much will change OTR;except you won't have a kitchen to prepare meals.You might be able to hook up a small refrigerater and micro wave using a power inverter,depends if the co. allows it. Also save your reciepts,it's all tax deductable.Lots of luck!

 

Sometimes there is nothing better than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich... makes me feel like a kid again! I think most of my husband's current health problems stem from eating poorly for years while on a truck (before I got him . That and smoking and , and.... I am really going to try hard to avoid developing the poor eating habits while driving even if I have to chew on carrots and celery and suplement with fruits. Hopefully they will let me have a little fridge and microwave but if not there is always a cooler and a convienance store that will let me heat an occassional cup of noodles in one of theirs.

I am also going to try keeping my tax records very current so it isn't a hassel at the end of the year. Isn't there a standard deduction of $46 dollars a day that you can write off if you are an over the road trucker or something like that anyway? It seems to me that it would be hard to eat that much a day! But I guess with showers and everything else it would start to add up. Do you raise your exemptions on your payroll because of that deduction so they don't hold as much out in taxes? I am also thinking that the school will be a write off since the companies that reimburse do hold taxes out of the reimbursement. Actually everything should be a tax write off but I am not sure if the $46 dollars a day includes everything like laundry etc. etc. I have some time to research it but thought you guys might already know.

I am so excited!

Thanks for your comments.