I don't know anyone who can claim to be an expert on truck driving schools or the best method to pay for your truck driving school! The fact is most people have only gone to one trucking school and if for some reason they have gone to more than one I would stay clear of them!
The choice of a trucking company school or a private truck driving school is a personal one and depends on your unique situation. Location, money, time etc. The only comment I really have on paying for a truck driving school would be if you can pay on your own go ahead.
If you are paying out of pocket make sure that the school has job placement with a decent trucking company! Some trucking companies will reimburse you all or part of your tuition depending on how long you drive a truck for them. You will have no commitment to any trucking company and can move on when you feel like it if you pay for your CDL training out of your own pocket. You can judge the quality of a truck driving school by the job placement they provide.
If several large trucking companies recruit from a particular truck driving school graduate pool, that particular trucking school probably trains students well or the big trucking companies would not want to use that truck driving school has a hiring pool. Company trucking schools will usually train you well because you will be working for them and driving their trucks! Make sense?
After you have been driving for a while you will realize that most of your learning is on the road and the truck driving school served no other purpose than just getting your CDL, learning the basics, and job placement.
I personally went through the Schneider training academy when I started driving and I can say it was a good school and that they probably over train their students. Schneider is known for having one of the best truck driving schools in the trucking industry but I have nothing to compare the experience with. I only went through truck driving school one time myself.
So, you have planned to make truck driving your career because you want more money or you love to hit the road? However, to get your dream job you need to learn professional truck driving from a truck driving School. This will help you to get Commercial Driving License (CDL), without which no person is allowed to drive a truck and you will also get placement assistance, if it is a good school.
There are a few points you should consider before signing a learning contract with any school. If you wish to work with a particular company, first go and clarify if they take people only from a particular driving school. If not, then you can make your own search to find the best possible school for yourself. You should compare the prices of different schools and also the number of facilities they provide like placement assistance or skid pad driving.
Many schools pay for your traveling expenses so find out that as well. Again, many schools have high fees, but if you agree to work with them for a certain period of time, they accept you as their students, while deducting the tuition fees from your salary every month when you work with them for the stipulated time. You also need to check out costs of other pre-qualifying tests like DOT physical and Drug screen, application and registration fees, license, loan fees, books, insurance, lodging, transportation and other applicable fees. Also read the school policies before signing the enrollment contract. Make sure to know the refund policy in case you need to leave the school.
A very important point to be clarified is to know how many students there would be, per instructor. Lesser the number of students, the better is the training. If you are getting one-to-to training in some institute, it is always better for you opt for that, of course keeping other points in mind. Usually 3 to 5 months of training period is sufficient to learn truck driving. Many schools claim to provide 160 hours of training. But that also includes break timings and observation time. Be sure to confirm the number of hours you will get as classroom teaching and practical training.
Schools that have high educational standards can receive accreditation from the U.S. Department of Education. Such schools have instructors with a minimum of 3 years of driving experience and also a background in formal education. It is not necessary that if a school is not accredited it does not have high standards. If a school is proving you minimum 44 hours of driving time it is a good school. To be sure ask the present students if the school really provides training for the number of hours it claims.
Some schools provide skid pad training that is highly practical. In it, you are trained to drive on a giant special surface that is wet with water. This is done to train you to manage a truck after it has skid on a wet road.
A very important thing that is not to be missed is to find out if the school provides placement assistance. It is really no good if you have a CDL, but there is no one to hire you. Some companies want you to go through their own training program to provide you with the CDL and employment. It would be wise to know this beforehand, rather than paying twice for your training. Usually, the training provided by these companies is of high standards, as they do not want amateurs to drive their trucks.
With these few useful tips you are sure to find a good truck driving school, which will teach you to hit the road with confidence.
Both Jim Olivero & Kris Koonar are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Jim Olivero has sinced written about articles on various topics from Property Investment, Home Accessories and Video. Troy Dudenhoefer is a Top Paid Truck Driver and the Author of " How to Make $65-95,000 driving a Truck... and Be Home EveryDay". For