switching companies right after CDL training

I went to Wolf Driving school in Schaumburg, IL. Currently $1990. www.wolfcdl.com There is also CDL Mega driving school http://www.cdlmegadrivingschool.com/ in Franklin park IL, currently $1800. The others were in the city ofChicago, cant remember the names,

 

Hi Crazyk;

I start @roehl on Jan 12th

When do you start?

Ernst T

 

How about health insurance what company has the best . I am going with a school I tought I could get help from some friends who has there cdl but it was more of a head ache trying to run them down .The school was much easer. And I hope to get the bang for the buck cost 3200

 

If you want 700 a week go to Prime. Call Grace A. tell her Bev P sent you and u will earn that kind of money.

 

Hard to say which has the best healthcare insurance since Obamacare started. Melton Truck Lines used to have the best and maybe still does.

 

I'm one of the cdl instructors at Prime and I'll tell you I wish I had gone through this program instead of CRST. You are learning one on one with an instructor on the road what is required to pass your cdl exam.

During the PSD CDL training phase you are advanced $200/week for basic food and needs while with the trainer. You'll complete 75 hours of driving in this phase before you go test. Once you pass your cdl exam you'll be upgraded to a "B" seat and start the TNT program where you'll be with an instructor and have to complete 40k miles. During that phase you are paid $700/week.

Once you complete your TNT training, you'll come back to the terminal and take your upgrade test to become an "A" seat at which point you'll be assigned your own lightweight tractor and start making ¢43/mile, which for me I would average between $800-1000/week take home after taxes and benefits. Prime offers many opportunities to earn more then that with some of there dedicated accounts and bonuses. They have a dedicated account in Illinois.

I did the CRST 8 month program and couldn't wait to get out of there. The equipment was always needing repair and they didn't have the miles. In my 8 months there all but 3 trailers need to be repaired and CRST takes forever to approve a repair. We usually sat waiting 5-7 hours just for an approval for the shop to do the work. Plus, with them, they are team driving only.

I'll put it this way, to make what I was making at CRST here at Prime, I would only need to run 1,200 miles a week. I usually average 2,500 miles a week here at Prime.

I hope that helps you. Shoot me a pm if you need any help or info.

Good luck!
-Redoctober

 

Yes that is true you are not suppose to believe me at all since I'm an instructor [emoji12] lol.

In short, yes Prime has the miles and a very big freight network. They are the second largest if not the largest refrigerated carrier out there. Do your research on all the options out there before you make your move.

I believe another person posted saying that if you just get your cdl and jump ship with no experience to another company they'll send you out with a trainer for awhile or make you take there training program before they let you loose to drive solo. It's best to find the program and company you like and go through it all and get your one year experience in and that way you can jump to another company pretty easily.

Good luck!
-Redoctober