Be Warned About Automatic/Manual CDL

South Carolina is the same way currently. They said its because a lot of companies are switching to fully automatics. But question is this: why are so many companies switching to automatics when they are just gonna switch back to sticks in a couple of years anyways? Case in point. Averitt switched to fully auto's and are now switching back to manuals. That's according to the Averitt recruiter who spoke to us last week.

South Carolina is the same way currently. They said its because a lot of companies are switching to fully automatics. But question is this: why are so many companies switching to automatics when they are just gonna switch back to sticks in a couple of years anyways? Case in point. Averitt switched to fully auto's and are now switching back to manuals. That's according to the Averitt recruiter who spoke to us last week.

I wonder if the automatic was not feasible for the long-hauls? And, I've been hearing the same thing for other companies about switching back to manual.

I just always thought a manual was the way to go in trucking. Now it's interesting to see 8spd auto cars on the road. Add two more gears and it's a semi.

Wow! I hadn't heard that yet. I mean, it makes perfect sense and I doubt very many people actually take their class A with an automatic. It probably plays a much bigger role in class B testing but it's obviously critically important to know.

Thanks for giving us the heads up on that Brian!

In Iowa it is already the law.

Dave

why are so many companies switching to automatics when they are just gonna switch back to sticks in a couple of years anyways?

Companies were switching to automatics a number of years ago but most of them have already switched back. I don't know of any companies that are switching to automatics at this point. Seems they just couldn't get them to be inexpensive and reliable enough to compete with the manuals.

I personally haven't heard of any companies switching to automatics. The industry is dominated by manual transmissions.

What about the "Ultramatic" types with a manual box being shifted by computer with an over-ride that lets you stick shift it in terrain that you don't agree with the computers choice of gear?

Same in Texas; if you test with an automatic, you are restricted to driving an automatic

What about the "Ultramatic" types with a manual box being shifted by computer with an over-ride that lets you stick shift it in terrain that you don't agree with the computers choice of gear?

As far as CDL testing goes, that's treated as an automatic. That's actually what big rig automatics are - manual transmissions with a computer-controlled shifting mechanism. They're not true automatics like you see in four-wheelers.

I personally haven't heard of any companies switching to automatics. The industry is dominated by manual transmissions.

My instructor just finished driving with US Xpress and he said they switched to 100% automatics 2 years ago. He loved his. We had a recruiter from Averitt said they had 1,100 automatics they bought 2 years ago, but are going back to Eaton Fuller Super 10's.

US Xpress and he said they switched to 100% automatics 2 years ago.

I drove for US Xpress for 6 years and they had automatics before I drove there. It was more like 12 years ago they made the switch to automatics. I've heard recently that they're thinking about switching back to standards also, but nothing definitive on that.