ok i really need to know about Knight

[jrhbull]

What about Knight out of Florida??? What do they offer??

[fireman932003]

What about Knight out of Florida??? What do they offer??

Best way to find out is to pick up the phone and call!
Knight Transportation Lakeland Terminal
1314 George Jenkins Hwy.
Lakeland, FL 33815
Phone: (863) 802-4893

[Truck Driver Dave]

So I am looking pretty much at Knight as a company to back OTR with. I talked to them the other day and I just need me to call back and get they will get the ball rolling. So I was just wondering about the trucks and terminals.

I know they have the heaters, what are knights plans for the generator units, anyone know? Do they care about small inverters? What about CB's I run a general lee and it needs a solid power supply, do they help out with this at all? Do they care if I mount an antenna? Any other info you can give about the trucks in general would be great. I have driven a freight shaker all my 2.5 yrs of driving, so I don't know anything about Volvo's.

As for the terminals what are they like? Showers, washers and so on or just drop yards? Any info would be good.

Thanks!

[Uturn2001]

Knight does not allow anything to be hardwired to the batteries.

As far as the terminals go they run from everything from little more than a drop yard to having shower and laundry facilities. It just depends on the terminal, and more often than not how long it has been there. Often times Knight terminals start out as just a building for the office staff and a yard for the trucks and trailers, and then they expand.

[oklagp1200r]

Hey dollarshort Iam in need of your truck number so I can put it on the application to get you the refferal bonus since your info here was a great help to me in my idea of going with knight!

[TruckinGeek]

I know they have the heaters, what are knights plans for the generator units, anyone know? Do they care about small inverters? What about CB's I run a general lee and it needs a solid power supply, do they help out with this at all? Do they care if I mount an antenna? Any other info you can give about the trucks in general would be great. I have driven a freight shaker all my 2.5 yrs of driving, so I don't know anything about Volvo's.

Thanks!

OK, all of my information is from the Chicago recruiter (Christy) so take it with a pound of salt. She said they were researching the APU issue, and they were looking at the ThermoKing units, supposedly. Those should have a 110 outlet, so you could run a microwave, but probably not a fridge (no sense running the APU down the road).

Not sure on the linear. Volvo's usually come with lightweight antennas, but there shouldn't be any problem with mounting on a mirror arm.

As far as driving the Volvo goes, you should like them. Turning radius is on par or better than Freightliner, and the ride is generally smoother. Volvos also come standard with their dash computer system. You have access to alot of the gauges Freightliner reserves for O/O spec'd trucks, such as differential temps, oil temp, etc. If you like to keep track of your MPG (which affects your review) they have some excellent tools in their as well. And having two trip meters is just convenient.

They are also the only semi trucks (that I know of) that come standard with driver's side airbags.

The sleepers are pretty sound, all in all. The nightstand has a slide out "desk" where you can do paperwork for a short while (I always got a crick in my back after about 15 minutes). They also have an alarm clock built in that wakes ME up, so it should be OK. They also come standard with the wraparound curtains for the windshield.

I think Freightliner has a slight edge in under bunk storage, but cabinet storage is about even.

Oh, and the headlights ROCK!! You can actually see at night!

Things I don't like about Volvos? Well the dash shakes a bit (they are designed to give way in a crash), which makes the cupholders dance - use the coffee lids with the folder cap for the drink hole.

The fuse panel is under the CB mount on the dash. Not very convenient, or quick, access to the fuses.

The big cooler won't fit underneath the bunk, nor will it fit in any of the cabinets.

The sidebox lights are manual. They're pretty convenient - you just slap them to turn them on and off, but I always forget to turn them off!



All in all though, none of those are so inconvenient as to cause a temper tantrum, and I prefer the Volvo's interior to the rest on the market. I think you'd like them alot.



Bill

[kcfalcon]

I tryed and tryed to keep my freightliner, when they finally caught up to me and took it, I was not happy.
Got a brand new volvo, and was totally blown away.
Handles like a dream, rides way better the the freightliner and even the little things I don't like about it are minor.
Really happy with it, and I drove a freightliner for 5 years.
They will let you run a small inverter, only the kind you plug in, no hardwire.
No mod's to truck, or offensive material can be displayed (they are kind of tough on that )
however if you can mount it and remove it without drilling holes or leaving any damage to the truck they are ok with it.
Take your C.B. and stuff to the guy's at the shop, and they will install it for you, they put my sat radio in, and hooked up my C.B. when I could not figure out what was wrong with it.
Get in good with one of the guy's in a shop and it will make your life alot better!

[greg3564]

How is Knight when it comes to the different divisions? If for example, you work out of the Katy, TX yard, do you tend to stay within a certain radius? Or is it true 48 OTR? Thanks guys.

[Uturn2001]

How is Knight when it comes to the different divisions? If for example, you work out of the Katy, TX yard, do you tend to stay within a certain radius? Or is it true 48 OTR? Thanks guys.

That is pretty much up to you. If you want to be home every weekend they will keep you close to home. If you stay out 2, 3 or more weeks at a time they will run you all over the lower 48 (or what ever area(s) you prefer to stay in.)

[Graymist]

How is Knight when it comes to the different divisions? If for example, you work out of the Katy, TX yard, do you tend to stay within a certain radius? Or is it true 48 OTR? Thanks guys.

That is pretty much up to you. If you want to be home every weekend they will keep you close to home. If you stay out 2, 3 or more weeks at a time they will run you all over the lower 48 (or what ever area(s) you prefer to stay in.)

If one is out for, say, 2 weeks, can one be home for 4 days before going back on the road again ? Also, 2 weeks mean 14 days, which translates to 13 days of driving / working, with one day in the middle for the reset....would the miles driven be something like 3000 for the first 6 days, then the reset, and 3000 for the next 6 days before one is back home ? Or would the miles be more ?

[Doktari]

I run out of Lakeland, FL. Just went teams but b4 that I had no problem getting miles, time off that I wanted, etc. I run about 11 days out with 3 days home. I typically get home on Friday and leave out again on the following Tuesday. About half the time I get a run that allows me to drop a trailer or deliver in the lakeland area so I can sleep at home 1 night in the middle of my 11 days out.

From my experience, (which only includes May Trucking and Knight) Knight doesn't micro manage your logs. If you give them a reason to review your logs, they will otherwise they just file them from what I can tell.

Knight is very flexable when it comes to letting you run where you want to. One person was asking about Katy, TX. If you want to stay within about 1000 miles of that then you can probably do so without much problem.

This first run out with my co-driver included the following:

Lakeland-Marriana, FL for a trailer swap then back to Brandon, FL (675 miles)
Pickup in Ocala - Ft Worth, TX (95 miles +1050 miles)
Deadhead to Ft Smith, AR for delivery in Salt Lake City (310 miles + 1340 miles)
Deadhead from Salt lake - Cortez, CO. (350 miles + 1340 miles)
Delivery in Baton Rouge, LA
Pick up in Baton Rouge - Miami, FL (920 miles)
Deadhead to Palatka, FL (312 miles + 958 miles)
Delivery in Milton, PA
Pickup in Baltimore and deliver in Lakeland (150 miles + 950 miles)
Hometime.

If I add that correctly it's 8450 miles over 12 days. It was also our first time out so we were kinda getting a feel for driving as a team. Not too bad IMO. Coulda been better. We had to wait 8 hours for our P/U in Ft Smith due to my dispatcher getting the wrong info. (or so he says)

Anyway, hope that helps shed some light.

[Piece Of Work]

With those miles, you could have done better as a solo driver. 8400/2=4200, 4200/2=2100 per week as a solo driver. Most solo drivers should get more miles than that.

[Doktari]

With those miles, you could have done better as a solo driver. 8400/2=4200, 4200/2=2100 per week as a solo driver. Most solo drivers should get more miles than that.

Sorry, forgot to mention. Solo = .34/mile Team = .42/mile. I know, it's split between the drivers.. but if he drives 500 miles /day and i drive 500 miles/day then we're still getting $210 / day.

Also, it wasn't 2 full weeks and it was our first time out so we ran it kinda slow. stopped for 4-5 hours/night for common sleep time while we get used to sleep when the truck moves.
We fully expect to get 6000 - 7000 miles/ week on average.

[davemaes]

I never, I mean never run over hours!!!! If your friend knew what he was talking about he would know that when you go over your legal hours you will get a message to stop the truck in a safe place and take your break.
If you don't stop you will get a phone call from safety to verbally tell you to stop. If you still keep driving you will be TERMINATED!!!

Knight pre-plans you to keep you moving. There is no trouble running 3,000 miles per week and do it legally.

Like Uturn said, "Knight is a diifferent kind of company." A very excellent statement. If other companies would follow what Knight does their turnover rate would drop dramatically.

As far as what was said by another poster about Smith Transport......If you like never getting out of the northeast then they would be a good choice. I have talked with quite a few of their drivers that weren't very happy. But I don't know because I never worked for them. However I have driven for Knight long enough to realize I will be staying here for a long time.

I am on pace to make about $60,000 this year :rock: arty: And not having to work very hard to do it either. I have never touched any freight, and alot of drop and hook.

So knowing now that I know I'm talking to someone who accually works for Knight, may I ask a few questions? #1 do they have pre-pass, pike-pass or any other? #2 Do you haul anywhere near your weight limit? #3 When you get reemburst for tolls does it take long? And do you do more drop and hook than anything else? Sounds like your'e happy. I talked to them today. They're supposed to get back with me. Thanks

[kcfalcon]

We run pre-pass, and some of the guy's will get local passes if they run in that area alot.
As far as weight goes, Knight will haul just about anything that can fit in a van, the weights will be all over the board.
I have hauled everything from two long strip's of metal (trim strips for a john deer trailer) 106 lbs, to dog food that put me at 79985.
Toll's will be payed on the next trip after you send them in.
But watch, and keep them till you see you got payed for them, Knight is kind of bad about missing them, they will pay you right away when you tell them however,
I do around 70% drop and hook,
I have been with Knight for over 2 years now and really have no complain's.

[davemaes]

We run pre-pass, and some of the guy's will get local passes if they run in that area alot.
As far as weight goes, Knight will haul just about anything that can fit in a van, the weights will be all over the board.
I have hauled everything from two long strip's of metal (trim strips for a john deer trailer) 106 lbs, to dog food that put me at 79985.
Toll's will be payed on the next trip after you send them in.
But watch, and keep them till you see you got payed for them, Knight is kind of bad about missing them, they will pay you right away when you tell them however,
I do around 70% drop and hook,
I have been with Knight for over 2 years now and really have no complain's.

Thank you verry much. I appreciate your'e responce.