those with cdl's

im thinking about picking up my class a. mainly just to have, but also for some side work with a friend.

how did you get yours?

anyone go to any of the local driving schools? are they worth while? i may have access to a truck to use for a road test, should i save some money and do it that way?

If your looking to get your A to drive a wrecker then you just need a class a truck trailer license.(thats what I have from when I worked for a towing company) Basically don’t waste your money on the driving school if your not going to drive a rig. Only thing that sucks about a CDL is the BAC limit is .02 then you get a DWI in any vehicle so if you go out to diner with the wife you have to be very careful. How big of a truck are you looking to drive. You can get the A truck trailer w/ anything over 26k for a truck and anything over 10k for a trailer. (I took my roadtest in a 15 ton wrecker w/ a dually on the wheel lift. Easy to drive around and manuver, but it meets the criteria.)

Won’t be for towing it will be for driving rigs.

That’s a good point with the wrecker and dually for roadtest.

Does your friend have the time to teach you how to drive and do you have any experience with big trucks and would you be driving a auto or standard?

Yes id roll with him for however long it took. I have a little Exp, and stick. Real rigs are sticks, fuck autos.

For road test I’m sure a auto would be better. But don’t have access to that unless I go to a school.

Has anyone on here gone to bishops or the cdl school? I’m looking for some feedback and quality opinions.

[quote=v8lonoma;936639]Yes id roll with him for however long it took. I have a little Exp, and stick. Real rigs are sticks, fuck autos.

For road test I’m sure a auto would be better. But don’t have access to that unless I go to a school.

IMO you would be putting yourself in a potential bad position if you go to a school and learn on an auto then switch out ot a stick. My 2 cent opinion would be get the permit, drive as much as possible with your friend supervising so your comfortable with the rig you will be driving when it’s time to go solo. Plus last I checked CDL schools are rather expensive.

Expensive yes but driving with someone isn’t going to show him what he needs to do on the road test. Most guys forget half the steps they are suppose to perform before they even get in the cab after they get a licence. Not saying you or your buddy or whatever. Just saying what happens.

This is true. I almost failed my roadtest, because I forgot the sequence for all the prechecks. However that info is readily available on the DMV website, thats something he can read and do a couple times to get it memorized.

I’m the only one in the family that doesn’t have a class A. You don’t need a school for that shit, just someone willing to let you learn on their equipment.