Question About Parking/home Time
Topic 34631 | Page 1
At my 1st company they had parking at our main terminal , where I left my car. So when we ever came back there, I had my car to drive home and back. 2nd & the last place I drove for, I just took my tractor home, or with a trailer on my way out, and just parked outside on the road(rural area)and actually just slept in the truck rather than my 5th wheel in the back yard hahaha. Truck had better creature comforts than my schitbox trailer (heat & or ac) in (So Cali)
That company I didn't really need "hometime" since I usually took the I-40, I-10 east, and could stop by home. Take my 10 or my 34 breaks, and 3-4 days off a month, it all worked out good for me.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Thanks Stevo.
Would just not having a personal vehicle be a bad idea? The more I think about it, I wonder how necessary it really is if I'm going to be on the road the far majority of the time. I have a 2 year old paid off Honda Civic that I could sell and get about 20 grand for and just put that in savings, plus not have to pay insurance and maintenance on something I'm not really using. If my situation changes and I need a car, I figure I could always buy another one at that point.
Shane..............That'd probably what I would do, save the expense of a car you're not using enough to justify the cost. My mentor and friend drove 10 years with my 1st company. He didn't keep a car for that reason, he said why waste the money. He would Uber when ever he wanted to do something away from work. But they drove 3-4 months usually stacking cash on a dedicated route. Taking home time/off when ever they'd decide to. He just recently retired @ 70 and is loving it hahaha.
Stacking cash is a lot easier without all the other obligations @ home. I lived off grid, bought cheap 5th wheel, parked at buddies 2.5 acre yard in a back corner out of sight. Gave him a couple $100 a month to help him out a bit. I had prior sold off all my vehicles, 3 cars, my custom dropped Silverado, and my custom vw bug, and a 69 vw bus I had & custom honda cruiser. NO more DMV fee's and insurance. BEST thing ever dumping all the material crap we collect in life hahaha...Just have a shed and my 45 years of tools in the back now. Never will get what all my tools are worth($75,000 maybe lol ) hell $10k would be hard, or I'd fly home n sell all that off too!
Good luck and Best wishes pursuing a truck driving career !
Dedicated Route:
A driver or carrier who transports cargo between regular, prescribed routes. Normally it means a driver will be dedicated to working for one particular customer like Walmart or Home Depot and they will only haul freight for that customer. You'll often hear drivers say something like, "I'm on the Walmart dedicated account."
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.
Shane selling the car might be a strong move as you can get an Uber or Lyft around town when you are on hometime/34 hour DOT restart. Also check your carrier's policy for the use of Personal Conveyance as you may be able to Bobtail to get groceries, laundry, or visit friends/family as long as they are a reasonable distance from where your home parking is.
Bobtail:
"Bobtailing" means you are driving a tractor without a trailer attached.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
New Reply:
New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features
Preview:
Why Join Trucking Truth?
- The High Road Training Program
- The High Road Article Series
- The Friendliest Trucker's Forum Ever!
- Email Updates When New Articles Are Posted
Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth
Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:
TT On Facebook
Hi everyone, I'm looking forward to starting CDL school next month and had a question about parking and home time.
For those who don't have a place to park your truck at home (or live OTR), how do you handle switching to your personal vehicle and back during home time? I'm going to be mobile out of trucking school (single, no kids, trying to save money by not having to pay rent), but I still want to maintain having a personal vehicle for a few reasons. I know that I could potentially park the truck at a terminal or dropyard but where would be a good place to leave my personal vehicle while I'm on the road that is close by for convenience, especially if I don't have family or friends within a reasonable distance to shuttle me to/from the truck?
I'm going to be using my sister's address as my "permanent" residence for mail, etc. but I don't necessarily need to go there or even to the same place for home time and think it might actually be kind of fun to spend home time in different cities (and in that sense, I wouldn't even necessarily need to access my personal vehicle during every home time). Unfortunately she and her boyfriend live in an apartment that only allows 2 cars so leaving it there wouldn't be an option so I'm trying to figure out what to do. Any tips?
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
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.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.