anyone familiar with the cdl school?they have locations in miami,jacksonville and lake worth florida,the bronx and menands new york.they claim they offer a 40 hour driving class,for 1500 dollars.im in south florida mid way between miami and palm beach locations.it seems too quick to be possible,regarding the week long class.

I dont think ANYONE can safely learn how to operate a CMV in 40 hours. My schooling is 200 hours and thats just enough to get on the road. Ill need years to learn more.

That school got in a bind here in Jax with FlDMV. I know of no reputable company who'll hire a newb with less than 160 hours with another 200 hours or so as an externship. BOL

Yup,

Went there in 2005. Would I do it again. NO WAY!!!!

I will give you my reasons why.

1. I did alot of backing, which was great. But the problem was it was in an automatic and a 36 foot trailer. Not practical enough for OTR.

2. I had exactly 1 1/2 hours of shifting time in the truck. I took 160 hour class. quite a few of us were complaining becuase the truck they used to learn how to shift was broken and they did not fix it.

3. Drive time on the roads were limited as well. When we went out driving we drove an automatic. Now, that truck, we used for our road test which was great cause we were all a nervous wreck. So not having to worry about shifting was one less thing on our minds.

4. Class room training was kind of goofy as well. From my understanding we were supposed to get grades like High school. I never saw one. When the recruiter from Roehl asked me where I scored in my class I said I had no idea. Come to find out I finished in the top 2.

When I was going through the school at the the time. The school in Miami had just had the Feds in there because they allowed a few (towel heads) (no disrespect ta anyone here if you are one) in the school and they got arrested for constantly talking about hazmat. Turned out they were terrorists. Good they caught it, but the process for recruiting students I would say definitley broke down.

If you are looking at getting hired by say Werner or Swift and having them pay for the school. Look elswhere. I think $8,000 is a little to much for a license. I paid cash for 160 hour course and I paid $2400.

You could do better with another school. I wouldnt recommend anyone go these schools due to what I have said so far. The shifting got me into a little trouble when I went to Roehl. I couldnt do it!!! Thank god I had an awesome trainer who spent numeorus anmounts of time to teach me how to get it down. Backing was not a problem and driving on the roads were not a problem. I think some of that is common sense.

So, to wrap it up. NO!!! Do not go to them. Find a good ptdi school I think its called. College or Sage trucking is very good I hear. I hung out with a few guys when I went to orientation that went to Sage and they were ahead of the curve.

BTW, I went to school in Menands NY.

Good Luck

We are just finishing up at Watkins Shepared school here in Missoula Mt . Don't waste your money anywhere else . Get a hold of Roxy here at school , She will explain all and how it works . I can say for the last 30 days I have been taught how to drive a 70 foot truck and operate it in a safe way . Now I have a little truck experience , but not over the road , We got back last friday from a 4 day trip to LA and it was a great learning expereince. for my money I choose W/ S.

I went thru a 40 hour program over 5 weekends at Sun Prairie. That was $3500.
It was marginally useful, but it was best because they got me my CDL. That made applying to Schneider much easier. Then Schneider put me thru their training program at no cost to me and reimbursed me for my tuition at the Diesel Dummies School.
So the only real benefit to one of those factory schools that barely gets you any training is that you are in a better bargaining position to get a job.
However, if your preferred company has an in-house CDL program, you might as well go thru their program instead.

Back in the early 80's I took the Sun Prairie Diesel Driving Course. After I graduated, I couldn't get an OTR for the life of me--no one would hire an early twenty-something with no experience. So I settled for a local driving job. After 4+ years of doing that, I moved on to other things.

Fast forward to 2004 and I decided to once and for all to become an OTR driver. After deciding to drive for Roehl Transport, I took their training course, passed, submitted my application, was accepted, and re-started my driving career with them. BTW, IMHO Roehl Transport has a great training school up in Marshfield, WI.

So, I agree with Phreddo: after you narrow down your carrier selections, check and see if they have a training school. It may be a good route for you to go.

The school I went to was a whole 10 hours, took two weeks, and I got my Class A license - but this was the "contractors special" ... I got my license that way because my original intention was to just have my class A and go to school for Diesel Mechanics.

Cost me all of $600.

They do have a program - 160 hours, for 4k. Based on the instruction I got for the contractors program, if I were to look into OTR driving, I'd go to this school for their full training. They're all truck drivers, they're all patient, and they're all very good at communicating what needs to be done, and how to do it properly, and safely.

I posted about it in the school section.

--Dave.

Mine cost $300.00 to give the O/O money for fuel I'd wasted, and cost my dad 2 personal days since I took the test at the DMV in his company rig.
Not too shabby..