Trying To Become A Truck Driver. What I Need To Know.

Hello. My name is Luke and I really want to start driving a truck. This is my situation. I am 32 years old and have done alot of different jobs up to this point in my life. I grew up on a farm so my first jobs had me driving tractors and operating big machines. Since then I have worked with food, done heating and ac, drove box trucks, and at this point I am a manager at a non-profit where we work with local farms and distribute local foods to schools, restaurants, and retailers. I studied very hard and took the test and now have my commercial learners permit and I also got my tankers and doubles/triples endorsements. I was very nervous. Anyway I am trying to get my cdl on my own without having to pay a bunch of money to some school (hard to spot the scams) or by signing my life to some company that will use me for slave labor. I may do some team driving with my dad until I can save enough to get my own truck. It will be a challenge being in a truck with him 24 hours a day but I think I can do it. I have so many questions at this point... The team driving with my dad will be us pulling a dump trailer which sounds like alot of fun with the chance to see many cool places. Not sure how the pay will be pulling a dump trailer. I see people talking about pulling other things but not much on that. My dad is a Kenworth man and says that Freightliners are cheaply made and I should not look at those. My budget is only going to be around 20,000 and it seems I can get a newer truck with less miles if I go with a Freightliner or Volvo. To be honest I kinda like the layout of those trucks and do not think I would mind driving one. I have a wife and an 11 year old son so whatever I get myself into I do not want to be away from them for months at a time. The dump trailer thing will work well because I will be home every weekend. It sounds like pulling a reefer van is good money but does have its downsides too. There is so much information to sift through and to figure out, really not sure on the best path. I know going to a good school would help alot but I do not have the money for it right now and the only other way to do it would be to sign up with an otr company and having to ride with some stranger for a few months and I feel like that has the potential to be a very terrible situation. Owning my own truck is the only way I can see at getting around that. Sorry if I rambled but I am hoping by telling you more about me that anyone who can give any advice to me the background may help. I have many questions but any advice would be great. Thanks for taking the time to read my story.

I will let others give the reasons why not to own your own truck. I can truly say "Been there done that" cause I have.

Unless your dad has his own truck and he will be your employer AND your insurance provider no insurance will touch you cause you have zero official training by a state recognize Accredited School. Gone are the days of self training and having a family member teach you. Insurance companies are demanding drivers be trained in a school now. Even if you have the money to buy your own truck still no insurance company would touch you cause you have zero training hours as a driver and constitute a huge risk to them.

I appreciate the fact that you are trying to save money but there are very few things in life that you can shortcut and and getting your CDL is not one of them. There are reasons why you have to take certain steps to getting a CDL and none of them can be skipped.

Hey Luke - all of that information was incredibly valuable to help us figure out the best path for you.

I am trying to get my cdl on my own without having to pay a bunch of money to some school (hard to spot the scams) or by signing my life to some company that will use me for slave labor. I may do some team driving with my dad until I can save enough to get my own truck

Ok, this is pretty good - you managed to hit on the biggest issues we deal with here at TruckingTruth on a daily basis all in one shot. Let's break it down...

First of all you do not want to get your CDL on your own. You can, but good luck finding someone to hire you. Companies want to know you've had the proper training as opposed to memorizing the minimum requirements to squeak by the CDL exams. So nobody is going to want to hear you were "self-taught" to drive their 80,000 pound rigs 500 miles a day surrounded by minivans full of children. Their insurance companies want to know you were trained properly.

As far as Company-Sponsored Training Programs where they'll train you and you sign a contract to work for them in order to pay the schooling back - don't you see the opportunity in that? What other industry do you know of that companies will pay to train you straight off the street and then hire you upon graduating from training? Welding? Electricians? Auto mechanics? I don't know of any other industry that does it quite like trucking does. And the obligation is short - anywhere from 8-12 months at most companies. You're going to want to stay with your first company for a minimum of one year no matter what anyhow. You're never going to get anywhere bouncing from company to company because you won't have an opportunity to make a great reputation for yourself and develop a good relationship with a solid dispatcher - the two keys to making good money and getting home when the time comes. So in my opinion the obligation doesn't mean anything. You would stay with that first company that long anyhow. And it costs these companies thousands of dollars to put someone through training. Don't they deserve a return on the investment they're making in you?

And the expression "slave labor" is awful. You grew up on a farm. You know what real labor is. Now go work the fields 12 hours a day by hand for free while someone is beating you and feeding you dog food seven days a week. That's slave labor. There isn't anything resembling that in the trucking industry in 2013. You're getting paid well to drive beautiful trucks around this awesome country. I'm sure that doesn't compare to slave labor.

Ok, another one - buying a truck. We always recommend against buying or leasing a truck in a big way. But that goes ten-fold for rookies. Don't even consider something like that until you have a few years experience in the industry and hopefully by that time you'll realize that buying or leasing trucks is a terrible business proposition.

I know going to a good school would help alot but I do not have the money for it right now and the only other way to do it would be to sign up with an otr company and having to ride with some stranger for a few months and I feel like that has the potential to be a very terrible situation. Owning my own truck is the only way I can see at getting around that.

So you don't have $3,500 to go through the proper training at a Truck Driving School but you have $80,000 to buy a truck?

As you can see you're approaching all of this pretty much exactly the opposite of how we recommend doing it. Start off by going to a legitimate school - private or company-sponsored - either way is fine. Get out there and get some safe driving under your belt and learn your trade. Then if you decide you want to buy or lease a truck a few years down the road then give it a shot - but don't say we didn't warn you.

And there are a lot of companies that can get you home on weekends straight out of school. You'll have to fish around a bit to see who is offering that in your region. Generally speaking the flatbed and dry van companies have the best home time options, companies like Roehl Transport, Schneider National, TMC Transport, and others. Take a look at our truck driving jobs to get more ideas.

Luke, I know we are kind of bursting your bubble here, but I can assure you that we want the best for you. I'm not going to pile on here but want you to know that I agree with the advice you've been given. It's pretty obvious from the way you worded some of your comments that you've been over at some of the notorious trucking forums that are always bashing the so called "starter companies". You're going to have to clear your mind of their foolish ideas about "churning drivers" and "slave labor".

I just want to share my personal experience with you so you'll have a better perspective than you've previously been exposed to. I started my truck driving career at Western Express. I challenge you to find a positive review on this company anywhere. You'll search high and low, and all you will find is how they are miserable lousy low down cheats who are putting drivers in dangerous situations and then putting erroneous information on their DAC reports so that can't even leave to find another job, and on and on and on.

Now if you think making about a thousand bucks a week while you get to enjoy seeing this country running like crazy with runs that take you from upstate New York to San Diego California, or from El Paso Tx to Norwich Connecticut all while you don't have to give a care in this world about paying for the fuel or the tires or the repairs on the beautiful rig your driving, then you definitely need to buy a used truck and go ahead and spend the 1700 dollars a week in fuel that I normally use up, or the 35,000 dollars it took to put a new engine in the rig I was driving that dropped a valve unexpectedly one day out in West Virginia.

I happen to love working for a "starter company". They gave me a shot when no one else would, and they have treated me like a king. The people who talk all this trash on the internet are folks who just can't seem to cut the mustard like a true truck driver does. I work hard, prove myself reliable with every dispatch I receive, and they know they can count on me. That is why I make great money and get treated with trust and respect. I hope you will take our advice and get some professional training and then follow it up with a year of safe employment in an over the road position, then decide if you want to take another route with your career.

Wow. I thank all of you for your advice and insight. Let me start my responce with the slave labor comment. I have been reading everything I can find online about trucking. The slave labor comment is a very common expression people seem to use in describing their experience with going through company training. They say that the companies are not paying new drivers much because they know you have to stay with them. I am not saying that being a new driver I should make tons of money at first so dont get me wrong. I am looking at it from the point that I need to make a certain amount of money to pay my bills and if a company is not going to pay very much and not be concerned about making sure I get miles in and on top of it not worry about getting me home at all then it sounds like a very tough way to get into trucking. These are the things that many people write when describing there time at these places. I am sure all are not like this but how am I supposed to know when everyone says not to trust recruiters because their job is just to get you in the door. As for the comment about not having money for school but buying my own truck. I wrote that I would be driving with my dad while saving money to buy a truck. My dad does own his own truck and once I get my truck ( if I can ) then I would be driving my truck for his company. Not sure why people seem to get offended by me asking questions. The insurance thing is good to know. I am not trying to cut corners I just thought maybe there is more than one way to get into trucking. Thanks for tips.

I just called my insurance company and they said they do not require you to go to a cdl school. As long as you have a cdl that is all you need. They said the only factor is if you have more or less than 2 years of driving experience. There is so much to figure out. I guess the insurance thing may depend on the state you live in.

Luke, we certainly aren't offended by your questions, in fact that's the whole reason we're here. We sincerely want to help anyone trying to get into this industry . It's not easy doing research because there is so much bad information out there. We are accustomed to folks stumbling upon us after they've been led astray at some other places so we usually feel it's imperative to get them headed in direction that will serve them better.

I thank you for the info you have given me. Looks like there are many more hours of research ahead of me.