Can I Get Hired With A Preventable Within The Last Year?

Hi everyone! first post here.👍😊

my husband has been a company driver for a large national company for almost 1 year. we are considering relocating our family (6 kids) to a more rural area and hopefully a "home daily" driving position.

we're looking to transfer with his current company, but the home daily positions are few and far between (ofcourse)

what i am wondering is; would anyone hire him with a recent preventable? minor fender bender, no injuries, no damage to truck. are we stuck with this company now?

we're new to the trucking life and still learning.

thanks in advance for your time.

If you go rural it will be even harder to find home daily. It wouldn’t be impossible to get hired somewhere else but it may drop chances quite a bit. Safe bet would be to stay with that company for awhile to put some distance between himself and the accident.

Welcome Jessica, and thanks for coming to us.

A couple things to consider:

Relocating, especially with 6 kids, will be both costly and challenging. I'm sure you know this already, but I bring it up to point out that throwing a job change into the mix will only add to your stress in this trying time.

Your husband's present company stuck with him during and after the preventable accident, something many companies won't do. Sticking with them during your relocation would be a wise decision, in my opinion. Get yourselves settled, reallocate your priorities, and as Papa Pig advised: put some distance between the accident and now.

As mentioned, rural areas may have less to offer in home-daily positions, so that needs to be a factor in where you ultimately decide to settle. I guess it depends on your definition of "rural". Some rural areas are still well within range of some sweet driving jobs.

Once you've gotten yourselves all cozied in, then maybe it'll be time to look around for that job, but he should do so while still driving for his company. Put the feelers out and see who takes a bite. No harm in looking.

I guess the point here to take a slow, steady approach to a job change with that accident being fresh. There will be opportunities, but more will come as time passes. Good luck!

Hi everyone! first post here.👍😊

my husband has been a company driver for a large national company for almost 1 year. we are considering relocating our family (6 kids) to a more rural area and hopefully a "home daily" driving position.

we're looking to transfer with his current company, but the home daily positions are few and far between (ofcourse)

what i am wondering is; would anyone hire him with a recent preventable? minor fender bender, no injuries, no damage to truck. are we stuck with this company now?

we're new to the trucking life and still learning.

thanks in advance for your time.

Howdy, Jessica!

Trucker's wife here, as well ~!

If you could let us know where you are 'from' and planning on moving 'to' (ie: Rural) some of us 'country folk' could help a bit more!

I agree with the others; sticking with your current company, however you can. My husband did almost 6 years OTR before he came 'local' / intrastate. And yes, he had a 'blip,' (or 2?!? IIRC?) early on in his career as a professional truck driver. As time carries on, so do the memories, LoL! Have you looked into regional , or even dedicated, within your company ?!?!?

Your husband should be fine..and the more time under his belt with this incident behind him, the better. First year drivers are almost 'expected' to have a blip. Or two. Then, that's it!!!!! The current company is and will be more forgiving than future prospects ~ not saying that it's impossible; just less probable.

Again, location!!!! Where are you now; where are y'all wanting to move TO?!?!? Freight lanes fit into this equation; the larger / nationwide carriers are like octopi ... they have 'legs' everywhere; as the smaller companies OTOH, do not.

Welcome to Trucking Truth~!!!

~ Anne ~

Keep in mind. . home daily means a 10 hour break between shifts. So his commute to and from work would be part of his 10 hour break. If he drives 1 hour to and from...he is left with 8 hours to sleep eat shower and see you before leaving. Many local jobs are 14 hour days so do not think it will be 8am to 5pm. I know fuel haulers who work midnight to noon. Then come home to sleep by the time he gets up his kids are in bed

Ask a ton of questions of any company and try to meet drivers for info

Thanks soo much everyone! great advice from everyone and we'll be discussing it all. so, we are definitely leaning towards staying with his company for a while, and i appreciate everyone's seasoned advice about relocating and the rigors of " home daily" jobs. to answer a few questions, we are currently in NJ (where we both grew up) and the property taxes here make it ludicrous to stay here long term and buy a home. we spent 5 years in southern NH, owned a hobby farm, appreciated the states' 2A stance, and enjoyed the green space. this is what we're hoping ( praying) to have again. this is why we are trying to relocate. ( side note, we left NH because everything is frozen 6 months out of the year) sorry I didn't clarify "rural living". we're looking to ( kinda have to) stay within an hour of a major city. looking at Indianapolis or atlanta i see enough properties that would suit us, roughly within an hour. we are keeping our eyes out for regional work as well. NJ is just not the place where we want to raise our kids. thanks again!!!

I am sorry that my reply came as one long paragraph.

that's not how I wrote it out. oops.

thanks again.