Truck Driving Schools and Student Responsibility

Truck Driving Schools are a big business. Their purpose is to educate and train students so that they may become licensed Professional CDL Drivers. There are basically 3 types of Training Schools you can receive your CDL training from. In any case, you must make sure that the School is certified by the Professional Truck Driving Institute, also known as PTDI. It will be up to you to confirm this certification. All it will take is a phone call to contact PTID at 703-647-7015. Remember, in order for a training facility to be PDTI certified, the schools must allow for 44 hours of driving time.

Here are your 3 Types of Truck driver Training:

1. Training through a Trucking company or motor carrier. This will most likely require a contract with the trucking company that you must sign stating you will only drive for them, usually for at least 12 months.

2. Private Truck Driving Schools- Assuming they are PTID certified, this is somewhat acceptable, however they are usually very expensive. A thorough investigation of this type by the student should be made.

3. Public Truck Driving Schools- These schools include your community colleges and your Vo-Tech Schools. They usually provide extensive training and take at least 3 months to acquire your CDL. The cost is much less than the private schools and the training is usually better. Remember though, your quality of training depends on the instructor you have. Some public programs will be better than others, this is just the nature of the beast....and life. Ask questions to others who have received training from the school. This shouldn’t be difficult as it is most likely a local school near your home town.

The amount of scams concerning truck driving schools is growing at a rapid pace. This is because there is big money to be made teaching those interested in getting their cdl. Most people will need to be taught through a truck driving school training program, therefore the demand is there for these facilities.
Because of this, many greedy people have decided to create so called “Truck driving schools”. A portion of the Trucking Companies are among the guilty where this topic is concerned. Also, guilty of the truck driving schools scams are some individual private companies.

The best advise I can give is to read ALL the fine print when attempting to achieve your cdl license from any truck driver training program. Just because they offer you a CDL license doesn’t mean you are guaranteed the training that a professional truck driver requires to in order to run the road safely. Not only that, if the training is not recognized by the trucking company looking to hire you ( PTDI certified), you will be out Thousands of dollars. Finally, look at the fine print. Many trucking company truck driving schools require a contract that you will have to sign. This could mean driving for many months at a minimal CPM, and much of that will be taken out for the tuition you owe them. If you quit before the contract is up, there are consequences for that too, so don’t even think about it.

The most important aspect of getting your CDL is to make sure that upon completion of the truck driving school training program, you are a qualified and safe professional truck driver. This above anything should be your top priority. Do not allow your enthusiasm to carry you away when it comes to making a choice for your cdl training. Do your research! It is your responsibility to make the best possible choice for success in your truck driving career.

“The Truth About Trucking” is designed to show you which schools are the best value and most importantly, the best truck driver training. Many have benefitted already from this honest and straight forward information. Before you make the move to sign anything, it will be in your best interest to read Allen Smith’s “Truth About Trucking”

About the author:

Aubrey Allen Smith is a veteran over the road driver with over 2 million safe miles and a former owner of several successful trucking companies. He is an expert in the area of truck driving schools and an advocate for trucking safety. Please visit the Truth About Trucking to learn how to avoid the scams of the trucking industry.