Cdl Endorsements

Topic 8327 | Page 1

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Dennis S.'s Comment
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Some companies may not require all endorsements, if any. Is it still good to know about them? And why?
Brett Aquila's Comment
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Hey Dennis. We always recommend that drivers get all of the endorsements. The Hazmat is a bit more of a pain because you have to get a background check, fingerprints, and renew the endorsement every two years. That's the most tedious of all of em.

But the rest are a rather simple written exam that only take a few minutes each and you have the endorsement for life. It takes hardly any study time and the tests are pretty simple.

The bottom line is that you never know what opportunities will come along someday. When they do you want to be prepared to take advantage of them. I mean, if they needed someone in a hurry to drive a bus full of NFL cheerleaders to the stadium you'd hate to find out they required a CDL A with the passenger endorsement which you don't have! Why? Cuz you didn't anticipate the opportunity to drive around in a bus full of cheerleaders. But we all know it happens to someone, so you better be prepared!

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When it comes to studying for the CDL permit and endorsements our High Road Training Program was built for the task. Here's how our materials break down:

To Get Your CDL Permit:

  • Rules & Regulations
  • Driving Safely
  • Transporting Cargo Safely
  • Air Brakes
  • Combination Vehicles
  • Pre-Trip Inspection
  • Driving Exam

To get your CDL endorsements which are optional but we highly recommend you get:

  • Transporting Passengers
  • Doubles And Triples
  • Tankers
  • Hazardous Materials

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:

  • Logbook
  • Weight & Balance

Pre-trip Inspection:

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.

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.

Logbook:

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.

HAZMAT:

Hazardous Materials

Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations

Combination Vehicle:

A vehicle with two separate parts - the power unit (tractor) and the trailer. Tractor-trailers are considered combination vehicles.

Doubles:

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.
J. Snow's Comment
member avatar

Going to get my HM endorsement today as a matter of fact. :)
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