What to do when you get your truck assigned to you

o.0 The first truck we got this co was like this, it was so disgusting, but they just wanted us to move it to Michigan to get our truck. I took alot of pictures of that crappy truck before we moved it anywhere lol.

 

Very good advice! Even working for a small outfit, the trucks can get pretty bad. We have 2 drivers whos trucks nobody will even get into, mechanics included. They have been with the company for years, though, so nobody says much.

I got lucky with mine. I still took it home and scrubbed the #### out of it, but it wasn't really dirty. The driver before me was nearly as much of a neat freak as I am.

 

Another thing to document for "rookies", especially if team OTR driver, on separate pad, write your oddmeter reading before and after each turn at the wheel, then you know for sure if codriver is "padding" their miles. Also if you have a lazy one (codriver) or one that gives you other problems, document it! I did and it helped my attorney with unfair termination suit! Also, "know your codriver beforehand" It was a long & miserable 5 weeks with that guy I will never forget!

 

Great post....

This should ba pinned..

 

RTO: Thanks for the great post. It is nice to see more experienced drivers will help out rookies and not leave them to the wolves.

 

the first truck I got with my company was a mid-80's Int'l daycab that had multiple problems. The floor plate surrounding the gear shift was loose and occasionally on a rough road would pop up and I could see the road. Wouldn't been so bad if I hadn't started working for them in Nov. Thankfully after about a month the power divider grenaded itself. I was given a '91 Mack CH sleeper, at this point the company was going with all white trucks, this thing they had just bought this thing used 6 mos. earlier (mind you this was in '97), and it was grey with multi-colored stripes. The guy who drove it before me a pack a day smoker. He got put on work release right about the time my Int'l died, so they gave me his truck since he couldn't go anywhere. That #### thing reeked, I must have gone through 3 rolls of paper towel, three cans of glass/interior cleaner and every 4 days I was buying a new air freshner for it. Took me 3 months to get the cig. residue out of the interior and another 6 mos. to get rid of the smell. Finally they bought me a new mattress for it as well but man, I was scrubbing the floor with hot water/simple green every week or two, spraying air freshner in the vents. Drove that for 2 yrs til the A/C gave out and they gave me different truck to drive.

 

Thanks for lookin out for us new to trucking! And Grace to you rollover. What is CSA 2010?

 

I won't take a tractor that a smoker has had. This is one of the things I would walkaway for. But I tell an employer up front I won't do it. I keep them clean and they have to be that way when I get them. When I turn in a truck it is clean, like detailed clean its the way I keep them always.

 

I think that had it not been a rush situation, they would have had it cleaned for me. The reimbursed all my cleaning expenses for it though.