Wanting to become a otr driver

Keller pays for the cdl school, then you work for them 6 mos. After the 6 mos. you can stay or go to another company. As for the permit, not sure who pays, but it's cheap and easy to pass. As @kemosabi49 posted, you can study on here for the permit test. Scroll to top of this page and click on "CDL Practice Tests" and memorize as much as you can.
The CDL Permit does not require training at all; just memorize the answers on here.

 

It's okay, Kyle.

Most of the time x1 isn't sure what he's talking about.

Might have something to do with his "get fired for any reason if you don't get killed first....." newbie doom -n- gloom speech.

I'm surprised he didn't cut and paste it here again.

 

You might consider Carter Express they offer training. Don’t worry about your permit as mentioned you can learn everything you need to know here online.

 

in the school I went to, they sat us down in a classroom for 4 hours, gave us a highlighter, read the answers to the most commonly asked questions from air brakes, combination, and general knowledge - then I went to the DMV and took the permit test. I think I only missed 3 questions total. It's a fairly straight forward test. For the endorsements, I took a bunch of online practice tests after I read through the book one time and I passed them all easily. Don't stress too much, just make sure you pass the practice tests online a couple times and you will be good to go. I think it's only like $25 for the permit and $10 for each endorsement (that may vary by state, though)

 

the endorsements are definitely not required. I would even recommend waiting until you choose a school as they might pay for them. I suggest getting them as they can only make you more desirable to a potential employer. The hazmat one does come with a bit of a higher cost, the background check was $87.50 (thankfully the school I went to paid for it.) Typically, pulling a load that requires endorsements pays more as well.

 

You only need general knowledge, airbrake and combination.

DO NOT FORGET as you pick out a school to lean on the people there and CONFIRM they actually have a manual transmission 18 wheeler for you to test in. It's a restriction to autos only otherwise on the future CDL if you tested in a automatic.

 

Get the hazmat endorsement. Even refrigerated companies sometimes haul a hazmat load, such as fingernail polish, cans of spray paint, and other simple freight most of us don't think about as being hazmat.
I hauled a load of used car batteries, in a refrigerated trailer, one time out of Ohio that had to have a hazmat placard because some of them still had acid in them. If I hadn't had the hazmat endorsement, would have had to spend the night in a truck stop waiting and hoping for another load.
Another time when I was pulling reefers, there were about 5 of us in Ohio needing a load. The dispatcher had only one load available and it required a hazmat endorsement. I was the only driver with hazmat, so I got that nice load of paint going to Los Angeles.