Question About Getting My CDL When I'm Only 19
Topic 17468 | Page 1
Your best bet is to wait until you're 21. In the mean time keep your licence spotless and don't take any illegal drugs even pot where it's legal. With that said go through these.
- Truck Driver's Career Guide
- Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
- High Road Training Program
These will help you prepare for this career. Most companies will not hire you until you are 21. Also, having a job for at least 3 years will help. I'm sure others who know more than me and can say it better than me will chime in. Good luck and read through the info on this site. It will help you prepare.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
It really depends on what you do after school. If you get an in-state job right away and keep driving then you could find an over the road job once you are older. There are no extra tests to take. You just have to update your status as interstate with your state DMV. Be aware that many OTR companies won't hire you until you are 22 or 23. If you don't get a job right away after school you could have trouble. I've heard of people being unable to find work if 3-6 months pass after finishing driving school.
If you want to get started and know of some companies that would in-principle hire you as a 19 year-old, go for it. Otherwise it would be better to wait until you are old enough to be sure of finding a job. Also, make sure to find some class A work if possible. Even though driving a class B truck could help you gain some experience, most companies won't see it as meaning as much as experience with a tractor-trailer.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Over The Road:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
Good idea; get the cdl now. Attend a 160 hr. cdl school. You won't have to retake any tests when you're 21, but maybe IL has some rule where they must note you're then interstate eligible. When you're 21 there's dozens of companies that will hire you for OTR and I have a good long list of those. FFE (Frozen Food Express) is one of many. They may put you through their refresher course to prepare you for coast to coast running. Plenty more to choose from. In the meantime, some household goods companies will hire you as a driver helper. Maybe some local delivery companies can use you such as lumber companies, etc.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.OOS:
When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.
You're almost certainly wasting your time getting your CDL at 19 I'm afraid. While there's a remote chance you might find someone to hire you for some Class B work or intrastate Class A the chances are extremely small. Insurance companies normally set the minimum age requirement anywhere from 21 - 25. When I was 21 I went to trucking school and even I only had a short list of options available to me. At 19 years old it's almost a certainty no one is going to hire you for anything worthwhile.
Then when you turn 21 and you find an OTR company that will hire you you're going to have to go through some or all of the training again because you haven't been travelling interstate and you almost certainly were not driving a Class A truck to that point, either.
So in the end it's really not worth doing until you turn 21 unless you know for certain you have a good job lined up after school. If someone will assure you that they'll hire you at 19 and it's a good paying job then go for it. But don't get the license assuming you'll find a worthwhile job somewhere. People hear, "truck drivers are in demand" so they think holding a CDL is something special. They figure they'll get their CDL and someone is bound to hire them. Unfortunately that someone might be one or two highly undesirable struggling mom-n-pop companies will deadly equipment and deadly expectations of their drivers.
Waiting until you're 21 is almost always the way to go. In fact, in all my years and driving and then running this website I can't give you a single example of anyone under the age of 21 driving a Class A truck. I'm certain it happens, especially on farms I would imagine. But I've seriously never spoken with anyone who landed a Class A job under the age of 21. So be aware of that.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Intrastate:
The act of purchasers and sellers transacting business while keeping all transactions in a single state, without crossing state lines to do so.
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I live in Illinois and I am only 19 but planing on going to truck driving school now I know I can only go intrastate but my question is when I turn 21 will I have to redo the tests to get my license to go interstate?
Interstate:
Commercial trade, business, movement of goods or money, or transportation from one state to another, regulated by the Federal Department Of Transportation (DOT).
Intrastate:
The act of purchasers and sellers transacting business while keeping all transactions in a single state, without crossing state lines to do so.