Your Personal Vehicle

I was wondering, where do you park your vehicle when your driving, if your a company driver?

I was wondering, where do you park your vehicle when your driving, if your a company driver?

Usually - at home.

Unless you live close to where your orientation/training is going to be - you are likely going to be taking "commercial transport" to your initial starting point in the process.

When you get out OTR , and get "home time", you are usually going to bring your rig home - or park it somewhere real close to home (if you can't actually park it at home).

I've been wondering the same thing - as I'll essentially have to "go homeless" for the first year or so (if I ever get my butt out there) - so everything that's not sold or in storage, will be in my vehicle.

From what I hear - most companies have "secure parking" at their terminals. How secure "secure parking" actually is - when leaving your vehicle there for a few weeks - has yet to be determined.

I'd be interested to hear how others have dealt with this - but for the most part - a majority of the folks here, are probably going to be "maintaining a homestead" to go HOME TO - when they enter the industry. I, on the other hand - will not be.

Rick

I park my pickup at a storage facility within walking distance of my local Pilot truck stop.

Some companies allow drivers to bobtail home and some do not. However, it is much better to take an empty trailer home if you can, because it will be much easier to get a load out of the house when your home time is over.

If you aren't fortunate enough to live close to one of your companies terminals or drop yards, you can sometimes find an arrangement similar to mine if you give it some thought.

I was wondering, where do you park your vehicle when your driving, if your a company driver?

Usually - at home.

Unless you live close to where your orientation/training is going to be - you are likely going to be taking "commercial transport" to your initial starting point in the process.

When you get out OTR , and get "home time", you are usually going to bring your rig home - or park it somewhere real close to home (if you can't actually park it at home).

I've been wondering the same thing - as I'll essentially have to "go homeless" for the first year or so (if I ever get my butt out there) - so everything that's not sold or in storage, will be in my vehicle.

From what I hear - most companies have "secure parking" at their terminals. How secure "secure parking" actually is - when leaving your vehicle there for a few weeks - has yet to be determined.

I'd be interested to hear how others have dealt with this - but for the most part - a majority of the folks here, are probably going to be "maintaining a homestead" to go HOME TO - when they enter the industry. I, on the other hand - will not be.

Rick

Welp, I'm in exactly the same boat. No home, basically homeless. my training is local to me, I'm going to Alliance Tractor Trailer Training Center in Arden, North Carolina, starting this Monday. I'm just thinking after training. I guess I'll be parking in the "secure parking"

Most terminals have a parking area for driver's vehicles. It's often in an area that's easy to patrol. My bad is Swift in Memphis. The entire terminal has remote-guarded gates and is surrounded by electric fence.

How about mail if i dont have a valid address how do i renew cdl license and insurance for car I heard they dont accept po boxs

How about mail if i dont have a valid address how do i renew cdl license and insurance for car I heard they dont accept po boxs

Would any friends or relatives allow you to have your mail sent there?

How about mail if i dont have a valid address how do i renew cdl license and insurance for car I heard they dont accept po boxs

When my wife's dad drove for Werner, from 1999 to 2006, he went to the post office, and used their PO box service. It is shown as an actual address, and not as a PO Box. Not sure if that is available nowadays, but worth a check. He sold his home, and lived on the road, during that time, too.

How about mail if i dont have a valid address how do i renew cdl license and insurance for car I heard they dont accept po boxs

This is exactly my situation. I decided to put all my belongings in storage, to reduce my total bills down to around $300 per month. I'm glad I did this, because I doubt I could have ever made it through my first year of driving making only 25 cents a mile if I had tried to maintain a residence and all the overhead that goes along with it.

Locally I have 2 options available for mail. The UPS Store and another private mailbox company called Pak Mail. The first 2 years, the UPS Store charged me $140 a year for my mailbox. This past August, they went up to $250,and I was pretty upset about the jump. I called around, and found the Pak Mail option for $80 a year. Any of these type private mailboxes will work when obtaining your CDL, but a Federal Post Office box will not, so plan accordingly.

Also, larger mailboxes are available for higher rates, and may be an option you want to explore. Before I decided to cancel all my company benefits, they were flooding my private mailbox with insurance related mail, which was forcing me to come home more often than every 3 weeks. I have found that every time I come home, it costs me quite a bit of money, so I was trying to stay out around 6 weeks to keep more money in my bank account. All this insurance related mail was such a hassle, and considering that I was paying over $2200 a year for these so called benefits, and my medical insurance had a $2000 deductible, I realized that if I were sick enough to actually spend the $2000 a year out of pocket to kick in my benefits, I would also most likely be too sick to drive, and would have to stop driving. Once I quit my job, my insurance would cancel, and all the previous premiums I had paid would do me no good.

The conclusion I came to, was that company insurance is best suited to the driver who has insured family members at home who are sick, who can receive medical care, while the driver who is in good health can stay out on the road and earn the money to pay for the premiums. We all have Obamacare to blame for these sky high deductibles we are seeing now. I just decided that having the penalty took out of my income tax refund would be cheaper in the end, since I can't afford to go to the doctor anymore for everything that ails me.

I had considered renting a mailbox that would hold all the mail the insurance companies were sending, but that would have cost me around $600 a year at the UPS Store.

I just decided that having the penalty took out of my income tax refund would be cheaper in the end, since I can't afford to go to the doctor anymore for everything that ails me.

Have you considered the fact that the penalty will increase each year you are hit with it?

How Much is the Penalty Fee for Not Having Insurance?

Shared Responsibility Payment for 2014 – If you Went Without Coverage in 2014

The annual fee for not having insurance in 2014 is $95 per adult and $47.50 per child (up to $285 for a family), or it’s 1% of your household income above the tax return filing threshold for your filing status – whichever is greater. You’ll pay 1/12 of the total fee for each full month in which a family member went without coverage or an exemption.

Shared Responsibility Payment for 2015 – If you Go Without Coverage in 2015

The annual fee for not having insurance in 2015 is $325 per adult and $162.50 per child (up to $975 for a family), or it’s 2% of your household income above the tax return filing threshold for your filing status – whichever is greater. You’ll pay 1/12 of the total fee for each full month in which a family member went without coverage or an exemption.

Shared Responsibility Payment for 2016 – If you Go Without Coverage in 2016

The annual fee for not having insurance in 2015 is $695 per adult and $347.50 per child (up to $2,085 for a family), or it’s 2.5% of your household income above the tax return filing threshold for your filing status – whichever is greater. You’ll pay 1/12 of the total fee for each full month in which a family member went without coverage or an exemption.

I don't like it anymore than anyone else but the first year fine was no biggy, but then 2nd year it's almost 2x as much and then if you go the 3rd year it's $347 min... or 2.5% of your AGI (Adjusted gross income)... if your AGI is 30,000 then your fine for 2016 tax year will be $750!!!

Oh you say you can't afford health insurance... let us hit you with a huge fine that you probably ALSO can't afford... yup that's the irs for ya... steal from the poor give to the... wait they don't give to the rich either they just give to themselves :P