This trucking is confusing, help.

Be sure to check with the company how long you have to work for them to pay back the training cost.....I think it is a year for most. If you quit before the year is up, you have to pay them back on a pro-rated basis.

My community college training was a 16 week course, but most of us finished in 12 weeks. Once you got your cdl and a job, the course was over. So compare 12 weeks training to 2 weeks at a company....the odds are you will have more driving time with the community college.....I had 10 weeks in a tractor and shared the time with two other student drivers.

I felt very prepared to take the dot driving test. In fact we did a dry run on the course with our instructor in the days before the test.

If NY will help with your tuition you may find the community college to be the cheaper route.
You would need to check with the state to see if a company school qualifies, as I don’t know.

 

driving a manual in a car or a truck is the same, it has a clutch, it has a gear shifter and you push in the clutch and let it out. Some make it out as special because it is a big truck but after learning how to drive on a stick, driving almost every different type of vehicle ever created - it is almost all the same.

 

Personally I would pay for training out of pocket. I'm nobody's stooge and I won't let a company twist my arm because they have leverage (ie training costs) over my head.

I don't know if its common in the US but here we have a logbook/HoS course you can take that teaches you how to fill out a log book and what the HoS rules are.

Honestly, a lot of drivers don't know a thing about how a truck works (just read the shop subforums on this site lol). If you know how to check fluids, belts, lights (you know, typical pre-trip items) you'll already be head and shoulders above the majority of drivers I've encountered lol.

 

I got my CDL training through Roadmaster, as someone said it cost $5,000 ( 7 years ago ) but I was receiving food stamps at the time so the county paid for the training. It only took 3 weeks from 1st day to test day and I passed my test on my first attempt. I can tell you those three weeks were strictly to pass the test. I did five weeks on the road with a trainer at my first company I worked for. That time with a trainer at a company is when you really learn how to drive.

 

Dont watch scary truck movies! You will get to see some in class, of a driver speeding and going off the road. Speeding down a mountain is suicide.

You have driven your car on snow covered roads, so you know more about driving in the snow than most of the people living in the southern half of the usa.

With a truck, the first step is to learn how to drive in the mountains without snow. Once you are comfortable driving in Pa or other Appalachia states, you will be confident in driving the Rockies.

When climbing mountains in Pa loaded, most loaded trucks go about 45 mph. Shifting while climbing a mountain takes some practice to feel confident, as many drivers worry about missing a gear and losing all their speed...but you will be able to do it.
On a 10 speed you may go up a Pa mountain in 8th or 9th gear on a 10 speed transmission.

As you go down the mountain you pick your gear to determine how fast you want to go, and you change gears as needed. There is an engine brake, called a jake brake, that will take about 25% of the braking load off your regular brakes, so your brakes dont over heat. You will get very used to going down a Pa style mountain at 55 mph.

Now, for driving on the snow in the rockies you have to put chains on your tires., and not drive over 45 mph. You will need chains on your drive wheels to make the truck go, and to use the truck brakes to slow you. You will need chains on the trailer tires to make the trailer brakes safe to use. And you will need chains on your steer tires so you can steer. Others here can tell you how many tires they chain up in the Rockies in snow.

The rockie mountain passes have signs indicating when you have to chain up. And what the downhill speed limit is.

I have driven Pa mountains, and the midwest in winter....I have never had to chain up. The interstates are cleared off and the pavement may even be dry.

As far as I know, the rockies are the only place you have to chain up due to snow. I have never driven in the Rockies because I only did regional driving in the midwest.

You have some special knowledge about driving in NY. You know the roads etc....do you want to drive truck in the northeast....some companies will pay a little extra to drive in NY.

Companies have various regions they go to. Some in just the SE. some just NE, Some, just cover east of the Mississipi River. Some do all 48 states.
Some that cover all 48 states will give you a choice of a certain area, based on what they need. So you need to check with prospective companies about your choices.