After my bad experience with the trainer a couple weeks ago I have decided to go a different route in becoming a OTR Driver.

I have been offered a job driving a 26' straight truck in a 4 state area for $15hr. The job will last until the first of the year.

Can I count the time driving a straight truck as experience when I look for another job? I have found numerious jobs where the insurance company says "must have 6 months experience".

 

In most cases, driving a straight truck won't count for OTR combination vehicle experience unless it may be within the same company. BOL

 

Driving a straight truck to my knowledge doesn't count as exp. for driving a tractor-trailer. HOWEVER, ANY truckdriving exp. is better than none at all.

If I were an employer hiring tractor-trailer driver at an interview, I'd rather hire someone who had driven straight trucks for the past 5 years rather than someone who had flipped burgers the past 5 years. :

 

When an insurance runs your MVR they will primarily look at how long you have had a Class A CDL.

 

What if you've had one for some time but haven't done any tractor-trailer driving? Just mainly straight trucks? :?:

 

When I look at hiring a new driver, the insurance company will pull an MVR and ask for a 3 year work history. I don't believe they actually talk to the employers, that is something I do once we get to that point.

 

From what I've seen recently, it depends on the company and how badly they need drivers. I recently called an employer in WY who hauls mostly propane and nautral gas hauling with rocky mountain doubles set-up and asked what kind of experience they required and he said 2 years driving experience. Well i've been driving since 2000, and I thought he meant 2 years class A driving and I mentioned something about I had experience in a bobtail making residential propane deliveries and then he responded, "It's pretty much the same thing your just hauling more of it." :shock: :roll:

But in most of my experience the class B work doesn't usually help, but atleast your working, and around here $15/hour for straight truck work isn't too bad at all.

 

Here is my whole plan:

I wanted to buy my own truck with cash and lease on to a local company that has 8 trucks running to Southern California and back to Iowa everyweek.

My best friend has his truck leased on with them and is doing very well.

He has offered to let me go with him until I am comfortable to go on my own. (6-8 weeks if need be). The only hitch in the plan is the insurance company said no because of my lack of experience. (They gave me 1 year credit for going to school but they wanted atleast 6 months and school)

I was hoping if I drove this straight truck till the first of the year it would be enough to get covered on insurance so I could drive his truck for training and then be able to get insurance on my own truck when I was finished.

I had hoped I could buy insurance on myself while I was driving someone elses truck but haven't found anywhere to even buy it. I talked to the owner of the company my friend is leased onto to see if I could do that and he said no the insurance had to go through his company and I would have to be approved till I did anything.

 

I don't recall my insurance company asking how much 18 wheeler experience an applicant has, only how much driving he has had in the last 3 years. They check to see how long the applicant has had a Class A CDL. That information is on the MVR when they pull it, at least up to the last 3-7 years, depending on the state of issuance.

 

Thats good to hear GMAN I just might get this pulled off the way I wanted it to work.