Hey Casey.
What you'll want to do is go through our Truck Driver's Career Guide beginning to end and follow all of the links you come across. That will teach you a ton about the trucking industry and what it takes to get your career off to a great start.
In short...you'll study our High Road Training Program which contains the CDL manual and a series of short quizzes to help you learn the materials. Here's how our program breaks down:
To Get Your CDL Permit:
To get your CDL endorsements which are optional but we highly recommend you get:
And two sections we've built ourselves with info you'll need for everyday life on the road but the manual doesn't really cover it:
You can study the materials and go to your DMV office and take the written test for the CDL permit and endorsements on your own. Anyone can do that anytime. Once you've done that you'll want to attend a legitimate truck driving school - either a Company-Sponsored Training Program or a Private Truck Driving School - either one will work. It's a simply a matter of personal preference and finances. All of that will be explained in our career guide.
Keep in mind...each state has an expiration time for the permit so you don't want to get your permit until you know when you'll be starting school. They're normally good for 90 days.
A pre-trip inspection is a thorough inspection of the truck completed before driving for the first time each day.
Federal and state laws require that drivers inspect their vehicles. Federal and state inspectors also may inspect your vehicles. If they judge a vehicle to be unsafe, they will put it “out of service” until it is repaired.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
A written or electronic record of a driver's duty status which must be maintained at all times. The driver records the amount of time spent driving, on-duty not driving, in the sleeper berth, or off duty. The enforcement of the Hours Of Service Rules (HOS) are based upon the entries put in a driver's logbook.
A vehicle with two separate parts - the power unit (tractor) and the trailer. Tractor-trailers are considered combination vehicles.
Refers to pulling two trailers at the same time, otherwise known as "pups" or "pup trailers" because they're only about 28 feet long. However there are some states that allow doubles that are each 48 feet in length.
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
A Company-Sponsored Training Program is a school that is owned and operated by a trucking company.
The schooling often requires little or no money up front. Instead of paying up-front tuition you will sign an agreement to work for the company for a specified amount of time after graduation, usually around a year, at a slightly lower rate of pay in order to pay for the training.
If you choose to quit working for the company before your year is up, they will normally require you to pay back a prorated amount of money for the schooling. The amount you pay back will be comparable to what you would have paid if you went to an independently owned school.
Company-sponsored training can be an excellent way to get your career underway if you can't afford the tuition up front for private schooling.
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Hello. I was just wondering if anyone can help explain to me the process of getting a nj class a cdl. (Will also need tanker and haz mat in future) Please explain in as great detail as possible the steps it takes to get it. Please any help would be appreciated
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles: