If you have been through the C1 Truck Driving School leave us a post about your experience! How much did the C1 trucking school cost? How long was the C1 training? Did C1 trucking do a good job training you? Would you recommend the C1 Truck Driver Training to a freind? Etc…
Click the comment link below to post your comments.
Tags: c1, c1 cdl training, c1 truck driver training, c1 truck driver training school reviews, C1 Truck Driving School, c1 trucking, c1 trucking school, c1 trucking school reviews
Attended this school during October 2008 at the Springfield Missouri campus. First week great, no problems passing cdl permit and all endorsements. Second week was mass confusion. 2 skills instructors quit, leaving one who only had 1 weeks experience, and a scramble to fill in with inly 2 instructors to teach 20 students backing skills. Some students only had one attempt at manuvers, good bad or ugly. Then we were given a new layout the third week and were shown how to do the backing differently per the state of Missouri. The pass rate for my class was so bad at the end of 3 weeks (7 of 16 with an average of 3 attempts) that they asked the local examiner to observe and show what was wrong. Held over for 4th week and had 3rd week students mixed in and got a third course layout and you might get to do a manuaver once a day. road time was great, Yard instructions changed every day. 12 of 16 students passed with an average of 5 attempts of skills to pass.
attended C1 Indianapolis, it is a no frills, strictly business school with an excellent staff. I graduated in 13 days taking my state exam once. I believe I was the 5th student to graduate out of a class that started with 42. Of the 42 I believe 50% quit or failed their medical in some way. My range instructor went to the hospital for 5 days, but I think I gained range time while he was gone with other instructors. I got great road time, between 45min and 2 hour per day after the first week was over. It was high stress, high anxiety, but that’s what I expected. Ten days after graduation I was picked up by a PAM instructor who I spent 5 weeks and a day with.
Don’t believe that. I am in Ft Worth, TX C1 school now and it is terrible. Mass confusion, no instructors… the students with previous CDL are teaching backing skills. The yard “manager” is a jerk and very rude. The “classroom” instruction consists of handing you multiple choice tests AND answers keys for you to fill out and turn in. Then you go to DPS and take tests as many times until you pass.
Let me add that you are forced to sign contract relinquishing Driver Solutions from any liability to you, yet full liability of you to Driver Solutions. The job guarantee is nil… there is no job guarantee. If you don’t get hired immediately after obtaining a CDL, you’re on the hook for $6300.00. But, you’re already committed to being there… at your own expense. So leaving isn’t really an option. You lose your liscense the 1st week and won’t have an actual DL until the 3rd week. DON’T GO TO C1 OR TRUST ANYTHING DRIVER SOLUTIONS TELLS YOU!!!!
C1 Saint Louis was god awful, didn’t get to read over contract, just sign, and if you try to back out you already owe C1 2,000 dollars for the first week. No driving or range time, no real truck driving skills that you really need were taught. They put you with PAM that has no business and you make half of what C1 says you will make. They will lie to you to no end.
Stay away, stay away please, nothing but lies, I attanded C-1 in Litte Rock AR. God Help me
the school was bad enough but when placed with USA Truck and after 4 weeks OTR training
I was given my owe truck, all I did was sit in truck stops, one week I’ld clear $397.00, the next week I’ld clear $97.00, the next week I’ll clear another $397.00 and the next week I’ld Clear you gust it $97.00 so there was no money to keep. now i’m back at home with a $6,422.49 bill, and USA Truck black list me from getting another job, who wins? something needs to be done about this ripof like class action let me know your thoughts – monson2121@yahoo.com
WOW!! It seems everyone whom went to school outside of Indy had a bad experince.Have to say I’m sorry.In Indy you got all you was told and if you did’nt get it you got 1on1 training.I’ve been at USA truck 10months and have’nt seen less than 3,000miles aweek.I will recommend C1 in Indy any day.My classmates went to other companys and we just had a reunion over the phone bcause we have very little home time.(Only bcause that’s why we chose this career to take care of home)Again I’m sorry for drivers with bad experiances.I recommend Indy C1 and all the instructors are people persons not just a INSTRUCTOR.
The following reiterates my first post. Also to add issues I wanted to mention as well as revise and refine my previous post. I also am not shy about using my name as I have nothing to hide, nor have I made anything up or blown anything out of proportion or context.
I attended CDL training at C1 (Indianapolis) back in July 2008 (graduated Aug. 2008). Since then, I have had nothing but problems and my life ruined. I was originally contracted with Decker. I was to work for Decker for a year in exchange for my school being paid for by the company. After background checks – etc., I was accepted for employment with Decker and was set up for training at C1. Two weeks into my training, I was dropped by Decker. It is alleged it was because my drivers license was not in the area of the terminal I was to be assigned to. First: I can not figure why I was permitted to attend C1 under contract with Decker in the first place if this were true. It is supposed to be the job of the recruiter and those making the hiring decisions to have decided this BEFORE I was in school – not DURING. Second: I was told by my recruiter of it not being a problem to get a license in the state near the terminal upon completion of CDL training as I had duel residency (I could have worked out of Florida or Pennsylvania/New York as my home state). Per D.O.T. regulations, I had to give up my Florida license for Indiana anyway for CDL training; so during my training, I did not have a Florida license either, as I would have no longer had a license in any other state other than Indiana upon completion of CDL training. The license (state) issue is a moot point. In not knowing at the time of the reason for being dropped, I called PAM/Decker to ask why I was dropped, and they told me they had no record of my being dropped by them. I later heard that Driver Solutions are the ones who drop people from certain companies after they are already in training at C1. At the time (after heated discussions with Driver Solutions), I could have gone home and not owed the school anything. Instead I let Driver Solutions talk me into working for Swift. I had no real time to decide. I was given the choice at the end of the day, and I was told they needed to know the beginning of the next day. I agreed not knowing of the anomalies with trucking companies as a result of the recession, and took people at their word that I’d have no problems. Unfortunately this economy has had the trucking industry become more and more an ambiguous and frivolous system.
Other than my instructor (he goes by D.C.) at the Indianapolis school thinking he was an Army Drill Instructor, all the training I got was fine.
Swift was a disaster. No truck after training, and set up to either quit or my driver code be terminated. I was then set up with Werner. Another disaster. Faulty equipment not fixed in a timely manner. Then the lack of production because of being down excessive times for one problem being put on me. A Qualcomm that said the truck was idling when it was not (people get fired for idling, so I saw another set up). Loads with just enough time to run at best speeds to deliver ontime. In other words, no time to stop for breaks, eating or showering. Even on LONG HAUL loads. The Werner and Swift experiences can be sent to anyone wishing to read them in e-mail attachments which can be opened using Microsoft Word.
I could care less about what the school contract says. I was not given what I was told, and given nothing but problems with the (crap) trucking companies they (Driver Solutions) deal with. It’s true this economy has a lot to do with so many drivers getting screwed over. And it is a fact these companies who take recent CDL grads get subsidy money for each student they take (like $5,000.00 to $10,000.00 for each student they hire). I see these carriers hiring just to get the subsidy money which is supposed to be used as the tuition reimbursement by the carrier for the student. Instead, they take the money and run by screwing up most students soon after being hired. They have the money from the government as soon as the student is hired, then make up any scenario or excuse to get rid of the new driver so they do not have to pay the school for the student training. They POCKET THE MONEY!!!!! And these carriers are also running brand new drivers like they have 10 years experience on the road, while the veterin driver with years of service in (and of course making more per mile) sit and wait for days for loads and struggling to get 1,000 – 1,500 miles a week when I was expected to run 3,000+ miles. And I talked to other Werner drivers sitting at truck stops who were on the same region as me, and in some cases, even had the same dispatcher! These guys were sitting around waiting for a load, while I’d get a preassign before I was even out from under the load I had. The reasoning is simple: It’s SHAVING NICKELS! It’s cheaper to run a driver who makes only 25 or 26 cents per mile than a driver making 30 to 35 cents per mile. As much as I have seen drivers fired before obtaining any real experience, I also saw a lot of veterin drivers being terminated for the most silly of reasons. I only had to train with Werner for 70 hours as I had training with Swift first. During those 70 hours, I had TWO trainers. My first one was fired only 3 or 4 days after I got on his truck. He was fired for the same thing I was set up for – LATE LOADS. Then Werner gets students to stay on the instructor’s trucks extra time citing “No Freight Out Of Your Area”. They tell this to EVERY STUDENT. They do this for the TEAM OPERATION they have on the cheap. And drivers are being terminated in droves so the carrier can continue to hire students for the subsidy money. See the monopoly here? On top of my being terminated for late loads, I was also told it was for disciplinary issues. That stems from my arguing with dispatch over the tight load times I was given when I knew for a fact larger delivery windows existed.
It’s those who allow themselves to be abused, abuse themselves, and easily brainwashed who are able to keep their jobs in Tractor Trailer driving these days. In short, unless you are a 100% YES MAN, and be the slave they want you to be (working 80 – 90 hours a week for $600.00 – $700.00 which does not add up to MINIMUM WAGE), you will be terminated. Never mind about the safety issues that stem from pushing a driver too hard. While drivers are not allowed to run 24 straight hours anymore, these carriers have loopholes they use to get a driver to be on OFF DUTY when technically (and according to D.O.T. Logging regulations), you are ON DUTY. They have a driver log line 4 to save on the 70 hour clock so you do not have to a 34 hour restart. This works you more hours. For the drivers who want to use this loophole – more power to you. But I resent it when I am given crap when I log legally because I am expected to be dogged like a slave because I am at the bottom of the pay scale. No load is worth my life or someone else’s on the road. Supposidly trucking is among the most regulated of jobs. I think the D.O.T. should look more into what goes on in the industry.
As far as anyone being blacklisted, that is only with your last carrier. The termination will be on your DAC, but that can be disputed (my dispute form along with the attached letters here with the e-mail I am sending to you have been submitted to DAC). Sometimes other carriers look at what other carriers say with a grain of salt. Most carriers look at safety issues like accidents – etc.. But one of the “politics” of getting a job in trucking more and more is now the 6 months of minimum OTR First Seat Driver experience. So most CDL-A licenses are not worth the plastic they are printed on thanks to the economy, unemployment and added politics these days – not if you lose a driving job (whether to your fault or not) before you have 6 months to a year with the company who hires you after school. I for one, will only pay for the CDL when (and if) I am driving a job that requires a CDL-A. If a year goes by since losing the Werner job and not driving, I will have the CDL dumped at my license branch and just go back to the regular operators license. If I can’t use the CDL, there is no sense in having it because of the physicals, added expense to renew, and the fact that cops look for reasons to give a ticket to a professional driver at a traffic stop than a person with a regular license.
There is a lot of reading in my writings about Swift and Werner, but it outlines all my experiences in detail. And these details are things I am going to start making well known in all blogs, forums, and any other whatevers I can find. I think it’s time people start fighting back, and start making the D.O.T., Labor Relations and the government listen to the crap and fraud that goes on. My credit is shot now anyway, so not paying for the CDL unless I get another CDL job will not hurt me more than I am hurt now.
Anyone wishing to read the full details of my experience with Swift and Werner are encouraged and welcome to e-mail me at flyinonmyway@hotmail.com. Let me know it is for trucking experience in your subject line so I do not delete an e-mail I may think is spam or something.
Remember; all these trucking schools are a BUSINESS. A business must make MONEY to stay afloat – YOUR MONEY. In trucking, you will be promised the world and a lucritive pay. These schools KNOW FULL WELL what is going on in the industry. This recession started in December, 2007. We are all told that freight continues to move no matter what. Sure, it does. But what will not be told to you are the nonsense games these carriers are playing in this economy because they can get away with it, and because they want to make money (the government subsidies for one). These schools know what is going on now especially, yet recruiters (who are probably in cahoots with the schools) and the schools make the job seem so attractive and without issues. Trucking is difficult enough with the hours a driver can work, little time off, and away from home weeks at a time. They throw more at you and expect more now because drivers are now easy to come by.
In calling Renee at C1 (Driver Solutions) Indianapolis to get assistance in finding another driver job (I’d think Driver Solutions would know better than me of who I could work for), applications were sent on my behalf to companies I already knew required at least 6 months OTR experience. And these applications were submitted knowing full well I did not have that minimum. Also, when asked the circumstances with Werner, I was often cut off in mid sentance when explaining. Interruptions are rude. On top of this, I was upset with being set up with shady carriers by Driver Solutions. The final thoughts from renee were “I am going out on a limb for you, so you should be more respectful”. And “I have enough drivers, so I am dropping your file as I do not need your attitude”. This means I am supposed to be happy about the nonsense I have been set up with in the past, and happy about my life being ruined by an industry I was told I’d have no issues with. On top of all this, C1 still wants their $7,000.00. Then PAM takes my application, processess it (does all background checks), then tells me that they are short of trainers and the trainers they have are only picking up contracted students. Little did they know is that I know drivers/Trainers with PAM and Decker. I asked one of the guys I know about this, and he tells me that he has not been given a student in over a month. Other trainers he talked to about what i told him said that it was nonsense – pretty much a lie. Tell me what confidence drivers are supposed to have in the trucking industry.
None of this has anything to do with whether or not trucking was for me. I knew of the long hours, time away from home, and only one day off per week. I knew of the low pay (I never bought into the $40,000.00 a year crap). I knew of other aggravations most do not want to deal with. I knew of the roads. I have spent years driving 50,000 miles and more. I was in acceptance of the usual issues in trucking. I did not know of the other things being thrown at drivers now that make the job deplaurable.
Bottom line is I would gladly pay for a CDL-A I can use. But how long do I have to wait before the economy gets better, unemployment is not so bad, and these carriers stop playing the games with people they are playing these days?
I could have been a safe driver, an asset to any carrier I was to work for. I was denied that. Even if hired by another carrier later, I will be on the side of extreme caution and skepticism thanks to my past experience.
Okay, the school (C1) in general? The training overall was okay. But be advised, things move real fast. And looking over contracts before signing is a near impossible proposition. The school is a cram course (3 weeks) of things others take 3 months to teach and train you at. One annoyance: C1 can dispense with the Drill Sargeant ways too many instructors have of teaching. Maybe the 20 somethings can use a little discipline at times, but people in my age category don’t need to be yelled at like we are a raw recruit in the Marine Corps – ESPECIALLY WHEN BEHIND THE WHEEL OF THE TRUCK ON THE FIRST DAY ON THE ROAD!!!!!!! Grabbing gear shifters while driving almost had me pull over, set the brakes, and tell the instructor to drive the truck himself. Extend the same respect and courtesy you yourself want, or find another profession. You are not paying the student, the student keeps you in a job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
C1 should screen applicants fully before committing them to the school. Or maybe they do and have them come to the school anyway just to get some more money. I have seen too many applicants going back home on the first or second day for all sorts of issues which should be known before the student is accepted and leaves for school. If a student was stupid enough to do drugs before attending, then that is on them. I am talking about things like license issues, things on a background check – etc. that should be known long before the student is told to leave for C1 – their time and money wasted. I saw about 15 or so out of the original 50 gone the first couple of days because of “surprise issues”. FYI: of the 50 in my class, only about 15 or so of us made it to getting our CDL-A.
And above all, if you are CONTRACTED to work for a spacific carrier upon successful graduation, and you are DROPPED during school…… GO HOME RIGHT THEN AND THERE!!!!!!! Especially if you call your carrier and they do not have a record or explanation of why they dropped you!!!!!!!!!!! Don’t let them (Driver Solutions) sweet talk you into another carrier as I did. I should have gone home when it was aleged I was dropped by Decker (PAM/Decker had no record of my being dropped, or why when I called them to inquire while at school, and a few months later). Bear in mind that large corporations and businesses care not about the little guy, and some even get off on the kill and ruining the lives of others. Check into things. Read forums. Talk to other drivers.
Remember, these schools are a BUSINESS. They want your money. Also remember your LIFE is a BUSINESS, and you need to look after your number 1 business – YOU.
I agree my experience showed me what a scam thees cdl mills/ schools
really are. true enough about the goofed up mentality of the driver solutions/ c1 truck driving , which are one in the same entity.
What I have noticed about this industry is that every thing is put on the driver & none on the carrier. You graduate the not so great school of three weeks. learning all theese safety rules & procedures you are supposed to follow. But from the time you get started with your carrier
you are then told & shown how theese rules are not followed.trainers who try to teach you how to lie on your log books. If any body with half of a bit of intelligence. looked at most drivers logs they would know that there is no way that it is humanly possible to log the amount of miles traveled in the recorded amount of time specified. Also I completely agree about the new drivers with lower pay being given ridiculus miles to be driven in unresonable amounts of time. Then you drive very illegally to try to make it & are so tired you should not be driving a big wheel let alone an 80,00 pound tractor trailor. especially in the mountains, so you call you fleet mngr. and guess what i’m very tired and over hours.
She says we need you to do every thing in your power to get that load there anyway and that you must have gone out of route or screwed up some way. I tried talking to her supervisor and proved mathmatically that this and most of the other runs that were given to me. Could not be made in the given time frame buy abiding by posted speeds, hours of service, andno extra time given for steep mountain driving. which if anyone has driven a rig up & down mountains, being very heavy or maxed out in legal weight or perhaps just a bit over. You are not going to ascend that hill or mountain very quickly. Oh but then you are supposed to descend one gear lower than you ascended it in as you were trained to do in school. Yeah ive got to tell you I must have been one of the only people following that rule for a while anyway. but back on point the supervisor had silence when i proved it out mathmatically.
Then he responded the way he must have been trained because they all seemed to handle what i was saying the same way by telling me how rude i was being by standing up to their lies.
Several times i asked to speak to someone in thier safety department as per training. But they just transferred me to different people in fleet operations. Supposedly by law their supposed to have this department (safety that is) to keep drivers from being bullied over h.o.s. and d.o.t. regs.I never did speak to anyone in any safety department.
So, then I was told I was to come back to joplin to have a disscussion about why i was un able to make deliveries on time. but firs t go from cookeville tennessee to st louis to get another very heavy load, then to joplin where it would be handed off to go to o.k. So then very tired again on way to joplin from st louis. I stopped to rest told dispatch they did not like that so they proceeded to harass me by qualcom and cell phone.
Then they used my locator to find out which truck stop i was at. So that they told the people at said truck stop they were worried because they could not get ahold of me. So they come out and bang on my truck door while im trying to get some sleep. Oh yeah their not supposed to do that either. So i had to leave truck stop and park in lot of closed store elsewhere just to get them to leave me alone to sleep. Remember that training and dot regs say if you are too tired don’t drive. but the carriers will not let you stop and get the sleep you need. Look at all the wrecks to do with drivers who are tired. I believe from my personal experience and speaking with other drivers as well as incident reports made by law enforcement. that we know and the d.o.t knows that the carriers are behind it trying to beliitle you or aggrivate you to keep on driving in spite of the law and good sense and your bodies need to sleep. But the driver is the only one who suffers and thoose the drivers kill or hurt.
Theese carriers just dont care it must be cheaper to just run your drivers into the ground and replace them with new ones and factor in so many fatalities and lawsuits. I say this because the driver has to know theese regs to pass their written exam. But law enforcement and government will not do enough to stop this madness. I say expose theese freight companies for what they are doing and fin them untill they stop putting driver and the general public at risk. That is why i quit my carrier. I just thank the Lord Jesus Christ I stopped the insanity before i became just another statistic.
I went to C1 truck driver school in little rock,arkansas and it was so bad that i didnt complete the first week.the rooms were molded and alot of us got sick because of the mold.this is not the place for you!!! especially if you dont have health insurance like many of us and have to go to the hospital from mold exposure.I was dehydrated and had to come up with $250 to pay for some IV fluids in the hospital or they would not even treat me.So i was out the funds for driving out to arkansas and had to borrow money from some relatives to make it back home.this place is a huge joke. LAST BUT NOT LEAST…..IF YOU DONT DRIVE TO THE SCHOOL YOU BETTER BRING 4 WEEKS WORTH OF FOOD WITH YOU BECAUSE THERE IS NOT A STORE FOR AT LEAST 10 MILES.