Profile For Charles T.

Thank you Scott & Scott. This new CA DMV was just brought to my attention, and from my understanding this change was just implemented. The school I'm attending has contacted the CA DMV and is waiting to hear on the exact details. For me, I'm currently out of state attending school, so obtaining a CA state ID card or passport would be hard to do until I complete school.

Hello All,

Was wondering if there are any recent CA residents who recently graduated from trucking school, and converted your permit into your CLASS A license, and what the process was for doing this. The reason I'm asking is that, I was told that once I graduate from trucking school, and go down to the CA DMV office to obtain my CLASS A license, that they will take my current CLASS C license from me and hand me a paper/temp copy of my class A license until my hard copy arrives in the mail 14 - 60 days later.

Now here is where I was told that the issues could start. Because I now have only a paper/temp copy of my class A license, I will not be able to take a drug test for any trucking companies because they will not except this paper/temp license as an "official" ID. Because the CA DMV takes my hardcopy of my class C, and I have no other form of an official ID (passport, etc), I basically have no official ID until I receive my hardcopy of my class A license.

So I was hoping that someone from CA who has recently graduated from truck driving school, and obtained there actual Class A license, can shed some light on the above as to actually if this is true or not the way I described above. From what I was told, is that the CA DMV just recently implemented this . Any info would be appreciated, thank you.

Congrats on getting your permit. I also just got back from taking my permit test here in CA. Had to take GK, AB, & Combo as well. Passed all on first try, was happy about that because I've been doing nothing but studying, and girlfriend feels abandoned. I plan on going back on Monday, to do Tank, Haz, and Doubles/Triples but here in CA (maybe other states as well) you can only have Tank endorsement on your learners permit. The others will be added once you obtain your Class A. As for having your tank endorsement, this is what the clerk at the DMV said "the tank endorsement can be put on your learners permit but you are not allowed to have any cargo in the tank, while your driving it". This may be a new federal/DOT issue cause she said, this is something new and there having to comply with Fed regulations. Sounds like you can train driving with a tanker trailer, but obviously we know that once the tank is full of cargo it's a different story then just "pulling a trailer".

@Ryan B - I too had this same question, as I plan on starting with Roadmaster's Truck Driving School - Salt Lake City location, but I live in CA. I found an earlier post from Errol that basically states what he is saying above. I did email the admissions rep, who told me that I needed to have my DOT physical and CDL permit from CA, and then the school in SLC would be able to test me out then submit those test scores to the CA DMV, who then would issue me my CA CDL license. If you find out any other info, please post. I'm Scheduled to start school on Sept 21st.

@Professor - based on your time so far with ROADMASTERS, Can you recommend them and are you happy with your decision to go there?? Just curious, as I am contemplating on attending there Salt Lake City location.

Brett,

Thank you for your response, and I agree with you about wanting to learn on 53' trailers. I read on this forum and others about making sure the school your looking at has 53' trailers to train on. I am going to call around as well as call this school and get more info on this. This particular school is not a mom & pop type operation, they have 3 schools here in the area as well as Oregon & Washington State. They seems to have a good reputation in the area and they many of there graduates go on to drive for OTR companies (swift, systems transport, gordon, may, watkins/shepherd, dot foods, Schneider)

As a side note, I don't know if California only test for commercial DL with 28' trailers, but today my GF was across the street from the Stockton, CA DMV for her job, and she noticed that there were 3 tractor/trailers all with 28' trailers going through testing.

Good afternoon TT members,

I am considering a career change, and have been "lurking & learning" on this site for awhile now. This is my first post, and was hoping to get some advice on a trucking school that I recently visited. Prior to visiting, I did some research on this school, and from what I gathered they seem to be a reputable company. During my visit I asked what size trailers they train on and was told they use 28' & 48' trailers. I was told that you do get time training with the 48' trailer but they do concentrate on the 28' because this is what you are testing with at the CA DMV in there area. I just assumed that testing at the DMV was done with a 53'. From what I can tell this school has solid job placement with the mega carriers as well as some smaller OTR companies in the area. There test passing rate seems to be acceptable, they are around 96% passing rate on 1st try. I've read on this forum and others that "you should only attend schools that train on 53' Trailers".

My question is, do you think this would hinder my training or not give me the training I need by attending this school?

Thanks in advance for any advice.