My husband went to Hi Desert Truck Driving in Lancaster, Ca and I believe he has been ripped off! When he started in Sept he was told they had 5 instructors. But while he was attending most of them quit and then they only had 2 left most of the time he was attending there. My husband passed the written permit test two days after he started the class because he had been studying online before he started the school. He passed the pre-trip & Air Break tests but failed the Alley docking 3 times! Then he had to pay the school $600.00 more to practice for a few hours at the school, ONE time out on the road for about 1 hour and to use the truck to take the test ONE more time and he didn't pass the alley docking once again! So we have paid them $2400.00 and have gotten NOTHING for it!
Then I find out that my husband was only taken out on the road 4 times in the 3 months he was going to the school and each time was only for a couple of hours.
Could someone here tell me if this is all common practice at other schools? For the money we paid I don't feel he got enough instruction and right instruction or he would have passed!

 

Sounds like you got ripped. I went to a school in Fontana and they had unlimited retesting for free. Alley dock seems to be the most common thing people fail on. At least is was at the DMV I was at.

 

What school did you go to? By unlimited testing do you mean they would take you to the DMV unlimited times?

 

I went to Advance School of Driving in Fontana. 1-800-635-0147. Unlimited times to DMV. Most people that fail the first time pass the second time. It cost them money so the try to get it right.

They aren't the best for teaching you everything about trucking. Their main thing is pass the test and let your company train you afterwards. BTW..they are on a lot of company approved schools list too.

The list for employment placement is BS. Just a bunch of names for trucking companies.

 

Did they help you get a job? How much was the training?

 

I got my own job. The just gave me a list of trucking companies which was worthless because most wanted experienced drivers.

My training was $1395.

 

Was it hard to get a job right out of school?

 

I created my own job. It was hard because I didn't want to be a slave with the mega carriers or drive a cement truck.

CA stinks because the insurance is so high. If you don't mind teaming there are Fed Ex Owner Operators that will hire a rookie. The school has a lot of them.

 

Thanks for the info! My husband went to check it out and he starts at Advanced next week. Hopefully all the money we are spending will be worth it.
We will be reporting Hi Desert Truck Driving to the BBB and taking them to court! They really screwed us!!!! And I think they are doing things illegally...they offered to get my husband his license through the mail for ANOTHER $3400.00!

 

Which schedule did he get? I had weekends. I agree about filing a claim against the other school. Hopefully, you'll get some money back.