Comments By Larry B.

Larry, If you dont mind what made you pick CFI over Knight? Might help. I have a medical procedure next month. After that I am going to start talking to recruiters. I was leaning towards Knight and Roehl but I will check into CFI as well

Thanks Rick

I already have my CDL but I don’t have any experience so they wanted me to go to Phoenix Arizona for refresher training which I don’t really want to do.

CFI said I could go through their school in Springfield (crowder cdl school) which I heard was very good and welcomed that plan because I have No experience to speak of. Plus I can take my vehicle to the school and come home on weekends if I want.

Forgot to mention, I am in the Kansas City area.

Rick

Hey Rick, I’m also in the KC area kinda. I have researched several starter companies too and plan to go with CFI in October. the recruiter said I could go Regional after training. I also looked at Schneider, Swift, Prime and knight. I’ve decided on CFI mainly because they put you through CDL school and then you are with a trainer for a minimum of 21 days and the trainer sits in the passenger seat the whole time. You don’t drive team during training with CFI.

You do have to drive for them for one year to pay back the schooling. The recruiter I talked to didn’t seem to know how much money you have to pay back if you leave before the year is over which I thought was kinda odd that she didn’t know that.

I’m looking at starting with CFI school at Crowder around the first of October. That would put me with a trainer around the first of November which would put me in my own truck at the beginning of December.

would it be better to wait until early spring to avoid the worst of the winter just starting out or should I just jump right in?

I have finally realized my goal of becoming a truck driver. Just started Monday on my trainers truck. I’m driving between 7 and 9.5 hours a day so far. I’m not having trouble at all mentally or getting tired/sleepy. But after a few hours my legs (especially my calves on down) and hind end start hurting bad. Is this normal for noobies or is there a special cushion or something I could get to relieve the pain?

I’m currently on my second trip this week to the northeast. Maryland and then Connecticut from Missouri.

My Maverick recruiter called me today and said they are going to start requiring a two year contract to go through their school. I'm considering going to a school here on my own now. I'm hoping I really like flatbed and don't plan on quitting but I'm just not sure about a two year commitment.

Hi Jeramy,

I don't live far from you (Warrensburg,MO) I have been approved with Maverick to go through there CDL sponsored school in April. I don't retire from my current career until then.

I have a question about transferring the CDL. The way I understand it is you get your permit and then CDL in Arkansas and then you come back to Missouri and transfer it back so you have a Missouri CDL.

Do you have to retake any tests or the CDL physical to get the license transferred back to Missouri?

Thanks

Larry:

Due to an acute family health issue, I resigned from CFI to stay much closer to my home area. I'll be starting with West Side Transport in a matter of days, as soon as CFI stops dragging their feet and sends my diploma to me. Paying my tuition balance was not an issue.

Since I resigned from CFI and turned in my truck, I will not be posting in this thread any longer. If someone asks me a question about CFI's training, I'll gladly answer when I can. Most of my energy will be focused on getting up to date with WST and dealing with the family situation. My Sister will be coming to Ohio, so that will definitely be a huge help to me. Unless I hear differently from West Side Transport, I will be starting orientation on 9/10. It will be interesting to see how I do on a manual the first day and how quickly I can catch on. In the future, I may post about my daily 'goings-on' with WST.

Wait. What? You quit CFI? What happened? Didn't you go through their sponsored school? Won't you have to pay them back for the school now?

I understand completely, I hope all goes well for you and your family.

Since I resigned from CFI and turned in my truck, I will not be posting in this thread any longer. If someone asks me a question about CFI's training, I'll gladly answer when I can. Most of my energy will be focused on getting up to date with WST and dealing with the family situation. My Sister will be coming to Ohio, so that will definitely be a huge help to me. Unless I hear differently from West Side Transport, I will be starting orientation on 9/10. It will be interesting to see how I do on a manual the first day and how quickly I can catch on. In the future, I may post about my daily 'goings-on' with WST.

Wait. What? You quit CFI? What happened? Didn't you go through their sponsored school? Won't you have to pay them back for the school now?

Just finished out monthly conference call where we get to hear all the great things CFI is doing and get to ask questions of our company president as well as heads of other departments. CFI has no plans to faze out training on manual transmissions in the schools. The fleet only has a few manuals left. Don't believe every rumer you hear.

I just got off the phone with a CFI recruiter named Courtney. Courtney said their school is now 3 weeks instead of four and you WILL have an automatic transmission restriction on your license.

I don't think CFI is doing that. I'll try to remember to try and ask that tomorrow.

Yeah if you could check that would be great. The guy that told me that went through the CFI training At Crowder college.