Profile For PJ

I’m in NJ. 18 deg dropping to 8 tonight. Guess I would have had it if I stayed home too since the south got hit again.

FMCSA’s task force on truck leasing just released their final report on jan 16.

Bottom line; they believe the practice of companies leasing trucks to drivers is so broken they urge law makers to ban the practice.

They covered the various aspects of the process and found the common practices are tilted toward the carrier and in some cases found outright fraud. They found 1 in 100 people that enter into a lease purchase actually complete the process and own the truck. They also covered the AB5 laundry list.

Those are powerful statements, however many of us here and smart drivers already knew this information.

I am one for smaller gov’t, not bigger gov’t. I also am not a fan of people being preyed upon either. This is one of those issues I really hate to see because their really are no winners.

OOIDA is supportive of the report, but I guess ATA sure won’t be.

We’ll see how this all shakes out under the new admin.

This is certainly a very hot topic for many of us. I don’t know where it lands but I do know that with the explosion of brokers the last 5-10 years they are not held accountable and some are very corrupt.

I actually have a list of brokers I refuse to work with because of them pulling deceptive practices on and flat lying to me.

I have in the past hung up on more than a few brokers that offered me a very low rate.

I do know brokers would not have done some of the deceptive things they have if the rules were followed, and some parts of their arguement don’t hold water.

This has been around for many years now. The very first thing brokers did was find a legal workaround. They mandate in their contracts for a carrier to waive their right to disclosure. That in the very least suggest to me they are trying to hide something. What only they know for sure but it plants the seed of distrust.

I know for a fact there is a practice within some brokerage’s of negoating a rate with customers and if the broker gets it pulled at a certain rate they kickback funds to the customer. How wide spread this is I don’t know, but I know two seperate brokers that do it. They are also by the way the two same brokers that always have the lowest rates on popular load boards.

One of those two also has a long standing reputation for fraudlent cargo loss claims. They know that normally if a claim is under a certain amount the insurance industry doesn’t question it, they just pay it.

Not only should the insurance industry investigate each and every claim, anything fraudlant found should be prosecuted in federal court.

This happened to me personally on one occassion. The broker didn’t know two key factors. I’m a retired cop and my insurance agent is a retired cop. We both did some digging, then presented our case to the FBI proving as best we could that this broker was working with the customer to defraud the insurance company.

FMCSA has a history of holding carriers to a very high standard, but failing to hold brokers to a similiar standard.

Both carriers and brokers are important to this industry. Each should be held to the same standards. If that had been the case in the past, we would not be in this place now.

We are at a time in the industry where bad actors on both sides have risen to an all time high. This causes unintended consequences for all of us.

You need to check the state laws where you got the citations. All states are somewhat different on the severity of the driving w/o a license violations. Check with the court you were assigned to for the final disposition. It could be an infraction or a misdeameanor. That determines the length of time it stays on your record. Most states are 3-7 years for what is considered your public record. That is what insurance companies and law enforcment see without your consent or court order.

However companies can request a 10 year record or even your lifetime record. Alot of people don’t even realize there is a lifetime driving record, but yes there is such a thing. Also once you get a job your employer is mandated to run you mvr annually.

When I first started the application asked for 3 years for some things, 7 years for others, and even 10 years for employement.

These are big deals in this industry that is why you haven’t found a job as yet. All you can do is be honest on applications and pray someone will give you a shot. Your attitude will play a huge part with recruiters.

Send your application out everywhere is about all you can do. Check local listings and craigslist in your area. Even if you have to take a class B job for awhile it will be better than nothing.

Your climbing a huge hill with your past. Stay diligent in applying because the longer you go without getting on some where the worse your situation will get. Your CDL will be considered stale and that will compound the problem.

The past 3 years has been extremly tough in this industry, with many companies going out of business. Hiring has been slow and companies have generally got very picky who they hire. Alot of experienced drivers with spotless records are looking for jobs.

If you have been waiting a year then something is going on. Hiring has been slow to non existent with alot of companies the past 2 plus years, but to lead you aling without a deeper explanation is beyond unreasonable in my opinion.

Start applying to other companies and see who else is interested.

Wow!!! First time for that one. Hopefully everything turned out ok for you. I hate driving at night any more.

Quality Carriers, Heniff and Slay.

The driving without a license is your biggest hurdle. Those are very serious in a company’s eyes.

Apply everywhere and see if someone is willing to give you a shot.

Your situation is exactly why we recommend company sponsored training.

NE Ga is an ice rink. Should clear up tomorrow.

I hooe and pray everyone is safe!!