CRE Salt Lake

I was wondering if anyone has experiece with CR England driving school in Salt Lake. I have read some reviews which havent been all to pleasant but wonder if many of those are just disgruntaled students. So I thought I would hear from some of you experienced drivers or maybe some newbys that have been to the school. I will spare you some responses as I have no intention on leasing. Otherwise your input would be of great value.

P.S. I do have the permit (which I might ad I obtained after going through the training provided on this site)

Cheers

I went to their school in Richmond Indiana. I liked it pretty good, just had a few things go wrong, but it wasnt a bad school at all you just need to be prepared before you start any accelerated course. Use the High Road Training Program. I wish I had. O what I did hear about salt Lake is you have dorm style hotel rooms. Not like Indiana we had 2 to a room, but they have like 4. And you cant hit a curb at all. Its not just a instant fail there, but they send you home. Thats what I heard. I didn't hear anything really bad.

Make sure to explore all your options and find what works for you. There are many many companies in salt lake that would take you. Do the research and find what meets your needs.

The biggest issue with CR England is that they really push hard to try to get you to lease. And I mean, they really have their strategy down. They'll make it appear to be a road paved with gold. They'll have other drivers come up to you with stories of the piles of money they make. And when you finish the first phase of training they'll give you the option of going out immediately as a lease driver in a beautiful truck all ready to go or have you sit around for at least a few days waiting for phase 2 of training or your own company truck.

The best response I had heard to this situation came from a driver here on our board that went through their training and he said (to paraphrase): Just keep smiling and nodding while they try to sell it to you and then say no thanks, walk away, and forget everything you heard. Remain steadfast and become a company driver.

The schooling is indeed very fast paced. But company-sponsored programs like that are almost always fast-paced.

To be honest, I think there are better options. Central Refrigerated is another refrigerated outfit that I believe is out of Salt Lake and we've had a ton of people go through their program and really liked it. They seem to like working for that company a lot - tons of great reviews.

Centrals main terminal is one street away from CR England's terminal in Salt Lake City Utah. There is also a Pride terminal, Knight Transportation terminal all within walking distance of each other. I'm there every once in a while. In fact, that's where my profile picture was taken by my wife!

The biggest issue with CR England is that they really push hard to try to get you to lease. And I mean, they really have their strategy down. They'll make it appear to be a road paved with gold. They'll have other drivers come up to you with stories of the piles of money they make. And when you finish the first phase of training they'll give you the option of going out immediately as a lease driver in a beautiful truck all ready to go or have you sit around for at least a few days waiting for phase 2 of training or your own company truck.

The best response I had heard to this situation came from a driver here on our board that went through their training and he said (to paraphrase): Just keep smiling and nodding while they try to sell it to you and then say no thanks, walk away, and forget everything you heard. Remain steadfast and become a company driver.

The schooling is indeed very fast paced. But company-sponsored programs like that are almost always fast-paced.

To be honest, I think there are better options. Central Refrigerated is another refrigerated outfit that I believe is out of Salt Lake and we've had a ton of people go through their program and really liked it. They seem to like working for that company a lot - tons of great reviews.

Thanks for the replies. I actually tried to go to Central but because I have some felonies from 1979 they will not take me, no exceptions, even though I have cleaned up my act considerably since then. I have been in real estate for 20 years and owned a truck and trailer from 2008 and stopped running it in 2012 due to the cost and older equip upkeep along with a driver issue. I have the permit already and trying to find a local school to get the behind the wheel training. CRE is not my first choice and I dont know that I have other options at this time unless I go out of state.

Sorry to tell you this, but they sent people home for things as little as a seat belt violation after people paid the non refundable fee's

Sorry to tell you this, but they sent people home for things as little as a seat belt violation after people paid the non refundable fee's

To clarify, they sent people home for not disclosing an accurate driving history, not because they had a seat belt violation, am I correct?

Ya know just cuz you live in SLC, doesn't mean that your options for schooling is just there. You are on one of the MAJOR interstates for freight East to West. So any company, be it, CRE,Swift, CRST, Stevens Transport, Watkins Shepard, etc etc will be able to get you home easily. So just find a company you want to STAY WITH FOR A YEAR...and go where ever their school is, and go for it. Just take a look at all the trucks that flow thru SLC....any one of those companies are plausible for you to work for.....

I was wondering if anyone has experiece with CR England driving school in Salt Lake. I have read some reviews which havent been all to pleasant but wonder if many of those are just disgruntaled students. So I thought I would hear from some of you experienced drivers or maybe some newbys that have been to the school. I will spare you some responses as I have no intention on leasing. Otherwise your input would be of great value.

P.S. I do have the permit (which I might ad I obtained after going through the training provided on this site)

Cheers

I am scheduled for may 8th to start my training. I already have my CDL and will only have to train and then do englands road test. I will keep you posted.