Company Sponsored Training Vs. Central Refrigerated

I am looking into getting my CDL and driving over the road.

I am exploring my options and will probably end up going with Central Refrigerated if they will except me. (I have a big speeding ticket that will be 3 years old in August including two small 10 over tickets that will also be gone before that)

But I do have a couple questions if anyone here is willing to answer I would gladly appreciate it. Yes I did explore but the answers to my questions I cannot find.

I spoke with a recruiter from a private school today

Price: $4950 financing available on approved credit 950 down and 215 a month after you "graduate" Duration: 4 weeks Schedule: M-F 7:00 am - 4:00 pm Job Placement Assistance: Yes they work with 12 companie Percent of Students that actually got their license: 47 out of 53 in 2012 Job Placement Percentage: 45 of the 47 were placed

Emphasis: You will have access to the truck you practiced with until you pass your behind the wheel test.

Question number 1: Among the "Company Sponsored Programs" how many will allow you to stay and retest if you fail the pre-trip or driving portion?

Question number 2: How good are my chances of getting in to Central Refrigerated with 3 speeding tickets that are all on the verge of being 3 years old?

2 of them are 80 in a 70 (10 over) 1 is 100 in a 70 but was not a felony and was not called reckless. If you want the full story for this one. I wasn't going 100. at night it was dark I was passed by what seemed to be the fastest car I had ever been passed by, I didnt even see it coming and after it passed me it was already gone. like a bullet. I looked down and saw I was doing about 82 miles an hour and said that cars gotta be going about 150 miles an hour and was completely amazed. about 5 minutes later I was pulled over. The cop made me get out of the car and was yelling at me telling me hes going to take me to jail I asked him for what? He told me to give him a reason. I decided to not argue. He told me that he had calculated that I was going over 120 miles per hour for the time that it took him to catch me. I was stunned and said I do not think that was me. I don't even think my car can go that fast. He again told me to give him a reason why he shouldn't take me to jail. So I said because I have 3 other guys in my car and we just want to go home and then go to bed wake up and go back to work in the morning. he continued to yell at me about a calculation that the amount of miles yada yada yada... I again told him I really dont think you pulled the right car over and asked how fast was I going when he caught up to me because he almost hit me. he sat at his passenger door for a couple minutes running my record and then wrote me a ticket for 100+. I got a letter in the mail from the court saying it was a mandatory appearance. I went to court a day early by accident (a loss of $300) I then went to court the next day, the correct day, (another loss of $300) The judge asked me if I was guilty or not and I thought about it... If I say not guilty Ill have to come back to court again for another loss of $300. I could not afford to keep taking days off work to go to court so I pled guilty not knowing the fine was going to be through the roof. She offered me a discount if i chose to suspend my license for 30 days. I said no I cant suspend my license for 30 days... She said not a problem and told me the fine which was I believe 1100 or 1200. at this point I was very upset. I wasn't going that fast but what am I suppose to do? I went home and thought about it then called a traffic lawyer asking their price and what I should do yada yada... They advised me to just pay the fine and continue on because it would cost me more money. I was completely upset and decided to not pay the fine at all. THAT was the worst idea in the world. They suspended my license for not paying the fine. For 2 years I refused to pay the fine. Then in October 2014 I was offered a job by a friend of mine but I needed my license so I went and paid the fine and got my license back.

So with all that said. Is their a chance for me at Central Refrigerated?

I filled out the application... I just don't want to be told by a recruiter yes you can come join the team then get sent home because of the 1 big ticket. Keep in mind that the ticket is 3 years old on July 31st 2015.

If I don't have a chance... where should I go, what should I do?

Thanks

Sorry your questions have sort of gone under the rader.

I actually worked at Central for a little over a year. You can read about my school experience at the link below.

Daniel's School Diary

The only way I would go to a private school is if you can manage to get Pre-Hires . You don't want to attend school, pay all that money, only to discover that no one will hire you. Ask the school which companies they work with. Don't get a number, get the actual names of the companies. Then call that company to verify that they do in fact hire out of that private school.

#1: I know this is a completely innocent question, but don't focus on the "what if's", tell yourself that you will pass and have confidence. Don't set yourself up for failure by thinking you'll struggle. It doesn't matter how many times they'll give you a chance, you'll pass on that first attempt! Right? Believe in yourself that you can do it. You want it and nothing is going to stop you.

But to answer your question. Almost all major carriers give you three chances before they'll question your future. The average person fails on their first attempt, but it's after you fail the third attempt is usually when you'll be sent home. But by all means they do not expect everyone to pass on their first try.

#2: The 100 in a 70 is going to hurt you badly. The other two don't make your resume sparkle, the companies can live with that, but it's this 100/70 that's going to haunt you. You're going to have to work a lot harder than the average person to get hired.

The best thing you can do is to apply to every trucking company and just go with whoever gives you the opportunity. Tell them everything and hide nothing. It's better to be rejected than to be caught giving them false information - if you do that, all your hopes of trucking will be destroyed. Explain the situation in detail and hopefully they'll take a look at you. Don't aim for just Central, but go for all of them.

Also, that license suspension was indeed a devastating blow to your chances. That license is absolute gold, and make sure you treat it as such in the future.

If you get offered a job then trust them. They'll send all the information. Companies don't fake job offers, but for good measure feel free to save the emails you get from them.

All in all, I hate to be the one to break it to you. But at this time I don't think you have any hope in getting hired. You simply have too much baggage and I don't think insurance would take a chance on you because they would consider you a giant liability. I would wait a couple years.

It wouldn't hurt to try and just see what they say though. In the meantime, be good to that license. Slow down on your driving too. Two 10mph over speeding tickets is nothing to look away from and by now you should have learned your lesson. So please, if you want a chance to ever drive a rig, start driving that car smarter.

I'll answer Q.1, as I have just finished Swift's school (Central Refrigerated is owned by Swift.

Chance #1: you take the rest the first time.

If you fail #1, You go on Academic Probation, stay an extra week, then take the rest again. (No extra charge on tuition or hotel)

If you fail #2: You pony up $750 and stay another week. Even that $750 is not an extra charge - it is a big payment on the $4400 that you already owe.

Three chances!

I to went to central and it's 3 chances and I was a class of 80 to 100 students and I can tell you this that everyone that made it to test day either passed on the first try or maybe the second try and only a few failed the auto fail test which is the air break inspection test.... What I did was syke my self up and kept telling myself one and done....

Thank you for the response guys.

Daniel I'll be reading your experience.

Again thank you. Your comments are appreciated.

The reason I asked about the fails is because when talking out loud my brain stutters instead of my mouth. Where as I might end up calling the tie rod a pillow... I Can only imagine the look on his face when I say properly naked and secure no money bends or brakes... So I'm practicing now...

Thank you for the response guys.

Daniel I'll be reading your experience.

Again thank you. Your comments are appreciated.

The reason I asked about the fails is because when talking out loud my brain stutters instead of my mouth. Where as I might end up calling the tie rod a pillow... I Can only imagine the look on his face when I say properly naked and secure no money bends or brakes... So I'm practicing now...

English isn't my first language. I've been known to say names, parts, and especially city names wrong. Just do your best with it and try to sound like you know what you're talking about. You'll be fine.

Chance #1: ... take the rest the first time.

If you fail #1, ... then take the rest again. ...

My apologies! I may have given you the wrong information. There is no rest at Swift's Academy!