Truck Driving Schools

By Author: Troy Dudenhoefer
Total Articles: 3764
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Finding a truck driving school is the easy part. Picking the one that is right for you is the important part. If you are ready to go to truck driving school there are several things you need to know before you run out and sign a contract or finance your life away.

Company paid truck driving schools are CDL training schools run by trucking companies. They put you through their truck driving school in exchange for a commitment to work for that trucking company for a year or more. The trucking company has its own truck driving school and provides CDL Training at no cost to you as long as you fulfill this obligation.

You will be required to sign a contract, usually for one year, agreeing to work for that trucking company. If you break this contract you will be responsible for the cost of the truck driving school. Usually these trucking companies that provide the truck driving school will put a big price tag on their cdl training if you break this contract.

You should read these contracts carefully and understand the consequences if you should change your mind after or during your stay at the truck driving ...
... school. A company truck driving school is a great option for people with no money who do not qualify for a grant or a loan although there are other options.

There are other important factors to consider here also. Most of these trucking companies that offer Paid truck driving school tend to over book their training classes. Why would they do this? They know that some people will not be able to keep up with their fast paced trucking school and quit. Some people will not keep up and the company truck driving school will let them go.

The bottom line here is that they want the best trucking students driving their trucks. The problem with this is whether you quit, or get let go, you are responsible for the portion of the truck driving school you did complete. You signed that contract and if you were there for a week, you will owe the school thousands of dollars for training and have no CDL! It happened to several people in the truck driving school that I attended.

So if you are a slower learner, not mechanically inclined, or don't perform well in stressful situations, I would go with a private or independent truck driving school.

These private or independent truck driving schools have job placement assistance. Usually the trucking companies that these schools place you with offer tuition reimbursement. This is similar in the fact they will reimburse you for the money you spent for your truck driving school usually over the course of one year of employment. It is almost the same as a company paid truck driving school in this respect.

The difference here is that private truck driving schools make money off of training students to get their CDL. Without students they don't make money, so they will be more likely to get you your CDL without letting you go. If you choose this route just make sure it is a large truck driving school with several large trucking companies using the school as a hiring pool.

Paying for your own truck driving school gives you the freedom to choose where you want to work. This way you can avoid any long term contracts with a low paying trucking company. Very few truck driving schools are able to finance students any more but there is one school that will, and it happens to be one of the best truck driving schools in the country!