No Money for CDL School? No Problem

You can get CDL training with no money upfront even if you have lousy credit or no credit at all.

Yes, you can go to truck driving school, get your Class A CDL and land a job in about four weeks. How is this possible? What’s the catch? Well, the only thing required of you is that after training you must work for the company for one year.

This is paid CDL training and lots of companies do it. It involves going to school at a company facility for about a month. Training is focused of you passing the state test and getting your Class A. Once you do this, you will be teamed up with a trainer and you will go out together for training on the road. During this time you’ll learn specific things about driving 18-wheelers and how to correctly do the job the way the company does things.

This one-the-job training will last around four to six weeks. Afterward, you’re assigned your own truck and you take to the road as a full-time company driver. This is all accomplished without a dime out of your pocket for training costs. Why do companies do this?

They do this type of CDL training because they want to train certain kinds of drivers. Specifically, over-the-road (OTR) drivers. Now, let’s not beat around the bush. Many truck drivers don’t care for OTR gigs because you’re on the road for a week or more at a time before you get home time. Many truckers hate being away from their families for these long periods.

But OTR driving is almost a must when you’re just starting out. You need experience. Most companies want at least one year of experience when they hire drivers. So by doing the paid CDL training opportunity you’re acquiring precisely the experience that companies want. It will benefit your career greatly down the road.

I said that “most” drivers don’t like OTR jobs. That’s because some people don’t mind them at all and still other drivers actually like doing it. I did this training and thought it was OK for the most part. It was even kind of fun at times, traveling the country and taking in all the sights.

And if you have no wife, kids or mortgage you can save some serious money during the year because expenses on the road aren’t high. And you can stay on with the company for longer than the first year if you want. Most companies will pay you a cash incentive to stay on after the first year is over.

The way most people look at it is, “It’s only one year. No biggie. When I’m done I’ll have valuable experience that will benefit me for the rest of my career.” And that is true. One year of OTR experience is seen as solid experience in the trucking industry.

So don’t think CDL training is out of your reach because you have bad credit or you’re broke. With paid CDL training that doesn’t matter.