Trucking School Scams Exposed

What the Truck Driving Schools and Companies that hire new drivers

don’t want you to know!

Before you even think about going to truck driving school and getting a truck

driver job you need to read this! I guarantee you the trucking schools and

trucking companies that hire new drivers do not want you to read this eBook!

Introduction

If you are considering getting a commercial drivers license and driving a truck for a living there is much

to consider. You can go to the trucking company and trucking school websites and really get sold on

what seems to be like an incredible opportunity to make a great entry level wage for blue collar work,

travel the country, and even get your training paid for. These company and school websites paint such a

pretty picture of being a truck driver it is no wonder so many people fall victim to much of this

nonsense.

The fact is that some can become a truck drivers and make a living but at what cost. If you find a decent

trucking school that doesn’t scam you (more later) and somehow quickly get a job like the ones talked

about at richtruckdriver.com it is possible but with much risk and no guarantee.

The purpose of this eBook guide is to give you an honest look at what the school and trucking company

sites are not showing you, or the downside, and what the schools and company recruiters that hire new

drivers will never tell you. Then, if you decide to enter the trucking industry, go to trucking school, and

get a truck driving job you will not be surprised or feel like you were scammed when you experience

these things.

We want to explain to you what you won’t find on the corporate trucking company and trucking school

websites so if you choose to move forward you will have all the information up front to make a more

educated decision. Reading this guide could save you thousands of dollars in training and interest for a

school that you might not even graduate from not to mention all of the wasted time you will have lost.

*note – not all trucking schools, company schools, or company sponsored CDL training schools are

corrupt. The statements made here are a generalization of the majority of the programs out there. You

are encouraged to conduct your own investigation and come to your own conclusions about any trucking

school or company.

School and Company Websites

If you go to the majority of trucking company school or company sponsored CDL training websites you

will see offers of tuition reimbursement, company sponsored training, partner schools, paid training,

great benefits, top equipment, and dedicated runs and so on. This is for the most part, all bologna. They

make it seem as it is all just going to be great! Is there no downside to trucking? Really? If they

government forces tobacco companies to put warning labels on cigarettes they surely should have a

warning label on every trucking company website as well. This eBook will serve as that warning label

for now.

Starting a career in trucking starts with going to a trucking school so that is where we will start. Your

choices are basically to decide which way you prefer to be ripped off. Some are better than others but

unfortunately most people going into the trucking industry don’t have the money to drop on a

community college school so they jump at the offer of a company school or company sponsored CDL

training. This is where the trouble begins.

Trucking Company School or Sponsored Training Contract

Ah yes, the contract. It is always in the fine print that people seem to get screwed it seems in life.

Trucking companies and schools love the fine print. I wonder why these companies do not put their

contracts in full on their websites for you to read in full. They are always in a rush to have you sign one

and they always need it back right away.

Company sponsored training consists of a trucking company that will hire a new truck driver and

multiple trucking schools across the country that the trucking company has partnered with to train and

accept drivers from. For instance, if you lived in Missouri and you contacted trucking company B who

was advertising that they will train and hire new drivers. Company B would refer you to a specific school

near you that they are partnered with for your training.

Company B would present you with a contract stating they will hire you immediately after graduation of

the specific school they are sending you to and that company B is going to sponsor or pay for the

training in exchange for a commitment to work for usually a year. Sounds great! You just have to agree

to work for them for a year and then you are free and clear. Your training will be paid in full and now

you can go wherever you want to work.

The big trick, gimmick, or scam here is that you have to graduate from the school and work the job for

a specific amount of time to get the training paid for. If either of those two things don’t happen for any

reason at all you will be stuck with the cost of everything up to that point plus high interest and fees. It is

all in the contract that you will sign. They often title these contracts using titles like “Job Offer

Guarantee” or “Guaranteed Offer of Employment” to make it sound like a good thing that you are

signing yet they will not bring up the fact that you will pay if you do not make it.

Most people never even realize that there is so much risk involved at this point. They assume that they

will be going to school where they are going to get trained. They assume that they will be trained and

when the school is over they then go to work the exciting new job. They are thinking they are getting a

great opportunity! After all that is what they have been told up to this point. No one ever explains to

them that they will be entering a fast paced training program and if they don’t keep up or if they

struggle in any area they will be sent home and charged at a prorated rate for everyday of training they

received up until that point plus interest and fees totaling thousands.

It is more like a truck driving school competition reality show and people will be kicked off the show

every few days. Pay attention to the cost of the training if you paid out of pocket vs. the cost of the

training if you default (Get sent Home). These numbers never seem to be even close. It always costs

more if it is sponsored and you quit or get let go. Let’s break this down and look at it. Here is what else

that is in the contract and what they are not telling you.

How many students like you do they pack into these truck driving school classes are there that actually

graduate? Why do you think the class over packed with students? Could this be part of their business

model? Do they count on sending people home and charging them money to earn more revenue? Are

they looking for the best drivers to fill the seats of their trucks and are they capitalizing by making

money off the bad ones they weed out and send home too? You can be the judge when you learn more

and investigate.

Why would a school accept more students than they can place with jobs? Did you know that in some

states if the school keeps you at the trucking school for half the scheduled training period before they

send you home they can charge you for the full amount of the entire training? That would be a dirty

trick and a trucking school wouldn’t do that would they? They wouldn’t pull you out of the main class if

you are falling behind and let you study or practice for a few days in an effort to get you over the

halfway mark to get more money out of you when they send you home would they? Think about it and

you can read about it later.

If you get a company to sponsor your training or go to an actual trucking company school and they send

you home all of a sudden that free or company sponsored training that you thought you were getting for

free just got real expensive. A new exciting career and a great paying job just turned into you owing

thousands of dollars plus interest, with no CDL, no job or career with any benefits. It is sad but this

happens every day. We will show you the horror stories later.

Graduation

An estimated 30% of all students that go to company sponsored trucking schools find out the hard way.

Some estimate the number is much larger than 30%. Falling behind, struggling with tests, or struggling

with any of the maneuvers can get a student sent home owing money. Then add the number who made

a mistake or intentionally failed to mention something about their past on the application they will send

home and charge this number rises.

The Company Recruiter

A recruiter may tell you to not mention something about your background or for you to not mention

something about your background when filling out an application. This happens often. Recruiters are

trying to make a commission and some will gamble and hope you won’t get found out so they make

money. Magically after about half the training or after all of the training the company or the school

seems to get their background check back on you and guess what?

It turns out you were not truthful on your application and you need to go home now. Oh, and by the

way, you owe 7 thousand dollars plus rapid growing interest because you listened to what their

recruiter told you to do or say. I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t part of their business model. If they

get you to school they can just sit back and wait and send you home once you have been their long

enough to rack up thousands in charges.

They also have a debt collector that is going to pursue this money relentlessly. Welcome to the trucking

industry and company sponsored CDL training. This happens all the time and you can read story after

story. We will show you the complaints soon.

If you Graduate

If you are at the top of your class and graduate you win right? Now you get to go to work for bottom of

the barrel wages in an indentured servitude type of environment to fulfill that contract you signed.

Did you really think they were going to pay for your trucking school? They pay you so little you will

struggle to feed yourself for a year or however long your contract was for that you signed.

Basically you are paying for your training in lost below average wages anyway. It’s important to

understand this because when it sounds like it is too good to be true that some trucking company is

going to pay for your training it most certainly is too good to be true. You are going to pay one way or

another and you can bank on that! Now it’s time to meet your company trainer and go over the road.

For many this is the end of the road.

Company Trainer

When you get to whatever trucking company you are going to work for you will have to go out with a

company trainer for a while. This can be ok or this can be brutal. Some people have been left in the

middle of nowhere after blow up disputes with a trainer. Remember these trainers are usually just some

guy who just made it through the whole process himself. Most of them, realizing that for a few extra

bucks, they can be a trainer and let the student drive and make a little extra money in the process.

Being stuck in a truck for 3 to 6 weeks with a stranger who you may or may not get along with can be

very taxing. This process gets many new drivers to quit or be let go by the company based on the

trainer’s opinion. I’m sure your getting the picture by now. You will be charged for everything up until

this point if you get let go plus interest.

The Truck Driver Job

Assuming you make it through all the training nightmares here are some things that will happen to you

as truck driver!!!!!!

What happens if you go to work for half a year and quit? Remember the contract? The trucking school

can put a price tag on that training that is much higher than the actual cost. Read the contract. Pay

attention to the interest and how quickly it will compound should you quit. They will still charge you half

of an inflated cost of the school that will seem like full price with the interest they will add. Then they

will charge you their attorney fees for having to go after you for payment. It will be an ugly bill.

Why would you quit? The question should be, why do the majority of students quit? We haven’t even

got to the good stuff yet. Why are these trucking companies hiring nonstop? You would think if they are

such great jobs (like their websites dictate they are) that these jobs would be full. If these are such

wonderful jobs we should be fighting to get them right.

They are such horrible jobs these companies hire 7 days a week 52 weeks a year. They figured out how

to make money off charging drivers who quit for training. It is a giant machine that just chews up drivers

and spits them out.

When drivers screw up and they do every day they have to get rid of them to keep their insurance costs

in check. You need a driver with a clean record to take his place. There are regulations for drivers and

these companies use dispatchers to push drivers to run illegally to make money for the company. They

will use peer pressure, threats, and punish drivers with low miles and or leave them sit for days if they

don’t comply.

So, starving drivers will push the envelope and run over there hours of service and break laws in an

attempt to make money and stay on the good side of dispatchers that control how much money they

can make. It doesn’t take long and these drivers end up having an accident or get caught by the dot

running illegal. The trucking company will then fire them and replace them with a fresh driver with a

clean record thus chewing up and spitting out drivers.

If you happen to be in your first year (most drivers) you now have a screwed up record and now owe the

company for your training. The company will put negative comments on your DAC report and now no

one will hire you but a company that pays even less and runs their drivers illegal and probably won’t

even pay you on payday. Welcome to the trucking industry!

If you think that’s negative go read these Reports!

This is how to investigate a trucking company or a truck driving school. Copy and paste the phrases

similar to those below into a Google search box replacing the school or company name with your own

with the words ripoff report or rip off like this: Berts Trucking ripoff report. Understand many of these

schools and companies have their own review pages that they have stacked with their own reviews in an

attempt to clog up the search results so you can’t find them.

Make sure you search the Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines as well for a different list of review

sites and complaint boards. The stories, complaints, and reports are endless!!! You could literally spend

days reading about all the illegal stuff these companies do to drivers and I suggest you spend the time

reading them or you will probably end up in a position where you are writing one.

Here is my question to you after you are done. If you were on amazon.com and you were getting ready

to buy a portable air conditioner and you read the reviews and they looked like what you read here

would you buy the air conditioner? Would you buy it for $7,000 dollars?

Exchange the company name with any company or school name you are investigating and paste it into a

Google search box like the examples below.

This is an example list only.

Schneider national ripoff report

werner ripoff report

prime ripoff report

tmc ripoff report

swift ripoff report

CR england ripoff report

CRST ripoff report

PAM transport ripoff report

Us xpress ripoff report

C1 ripoff report

Mtc ripoff report

Take your time and read as many complaints from these websites as possible. Then search a different

company or school and read more. You will start to see a pattern of similar problems with each one.

*note – not all trucking schools, company schools, or company sponsored CDL training schools are

corrupt. The statements made here are a generalization of the majority of the programs out there. You

are encouraged to conduct your own investigation and come to your own conclusions about any trucking

school or company.

Recommendations and Questions to Ask

If I had to go to a company sponsored CDL training program I would find a company that uses a

reputable community college for training.

I would avoid a trucking company schools if possible

Finance your own training if possible and go to a community college or a reputable private

school.

If you are talking to a recruiter make sure you ask them what happens if you were to fail or get

sent home.

Ask what the price for training is out of pocket and the price if they pay and you don’t make it.

Ask them what their interest rate is if you were to quit and had to pay for the training.

Make sure you hide nothing in your background when filling out an application.

Make sure you get copies of any guarantees in writing.

A promise about cost, pay, or anything important made on the phone is worthless. It must be in

writing!

Ask them how many people make it all the way through the program from the beginning to end.

They don’t know I’m sure!

Ask them if why they are expanding their fleet at such a record pace in a down economy. They

will not know what to say. They may ask why you think they are doing that. Tell them they if

they are not expanding they must have the highest turnover ever to be hiring like they are!

Turnover

Here is an independent report about turnover rates in the trucking industry. Turnover rates in the trucking industry are in excess of 100%! Why is this? 100%! How could these great jobs they talk about on the trucking company websites have 100% turnover? If these jobs were so good why would people leave? Could it be because these companies chew up and spit out truck drivers as mentioned earlier? Something is not adding up. The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute conducted a study called “The Costs of Truck

Driver Turnover” and the results are as follow:

Turnover rates are in excess of 100%.The average cost of turnover for the carriers involved in the study

was $7,923; with a range from $2,243 to $20,729 per driver.

http://www.ugpti.org/pubs/pdf/SP146.pdf

The Reality

Well there you have it. The downside and the reality of trucking company schools and some of the

company sponsored CDL training programs. When you look at these websites now understand the grey

area and the reality of what you are getting into. Go compare their website home pages and all their

sugar coated sales talk to the countless complaints you find from the drivers that went through their

programs on the ripoff report sites. Then go look on their company sites and if they have a review

section look to see if they have a single bad review.

It is possible to get into the trucking industry, make it through school, and get a job eventually making

some money. There is much risk involved and it certainly is not as pretty as the corporate websites make

it look.

I did it and I obtained a very high paying truck driver job. I did much suffering along the way and was

very frustrated with the system. Even with my good job I had to deal with bad dispatchers, the DOT,

Traffic, bad weather, and breakdowns. If you are still interested in giving trucking a shot fill the CDL

training form http://richtruckdriver.com/bestcdltraining.php and I will forward your information to a

truck driver training program near you that is more reputable than most. We make every effort to deal

with reputable programs only.

Understand though that you will need to start out working for a company that hires new drivers and

most of all of them have pretty bad reviews. If you can suffer through working for one just long enough

to get enough experience to get hired elsewhere it is possible to make great money with a job like mine

that is outlined at richtruckdriver.com. You can avoid all the family, truck stop, and health problems

associated with most over the road truck driver jobs.

If you can get through the school process and bite your lip keeping your record clean while driving for

one of the break in companies you have a chance if you implement a plan like the one I used. I was hired

by one of the best trucking companies with only 3 months experience and the trucking nightmare was

over for me. I have outlined the plan in the eBook “How to Make $65 -$95,000 Driving a Truck and be

Home Every Day”.

Whatever school you go to make sure you post a review at http://cdltrainingreviews.com after you

have completed your training with a fair and honest review.

Use free CDL practice tests http://cdlpracticetest.net at to prepare as well as some of the advanced

training tests before school and see how I got one of the best trucking jobs in the industry at

http://richtruckdriver.com

Look for truck driving jobs at our job board

Driving a Truck is bad for your Health. Real bad

Sitting all day doesn’t compliment your circulatory system very well especially if you use tobacco. If you

do you will be using twice as much as a truck driver. You will use twice the caffeine as well if you use it.

Mix all that with a poor diet and the inactivity bouncing around in a truck all day and night and it is just a

matter of time before you have some serious health problems. Show me a truck driver who has been

driving for a while and I will show you a driver with bad teeth, a bad back, bad knees, and a new weight

problem.

Family Problems

If you’re looking to find a good story about infidelity ask a truck driver about how he caught his wife

fooling around on him. Just turn on the CB radio and there will be some driver talking about how his

wife left him for his old best friend and how his kids have no respect for him and don’t listen to anything

he has to say to them.

This is kind of obvious. You can’t really satisfy your partner’s needs when you are gone for two to 3

weeks at a time and only home for two days and then gone again. Kids don’t understand you are trying

to make money. They just know that you are gone and they will resent it so why should they care or

listen to you. After all, what are you going to do about it?

Breaking Down

The Company websites rave about all of their new equipment and blah blah. Who do you think gets this

new equipment? Do you think the new guy gets it or the guy who has been waiting for two years to get

it? The guy who has already spent a day on the side of the road not making any money 25 times in the

last two years is going to get it. Why do you think these companies pay you by the mile??? You don’t

make money sitting on the side of the road hungry and really needing to use the bathroom for 12 hours.

This will happen. I guarantee it.

Bad Weather

Blizzards, severe thunder storms, high winds, tornados, freezing rain, hurricanes, dense fog, and

blinding rain. You will drive in very dangerous weather and it will drain you with no reward. It is even

more fun when you have truck problems and break down in this weather. This is part of the job.

Truck Stop Life

Have you ever been to a truck stop? I’m not talking about the car side where families who are on

vacation go. If there is one near you maybe you should go to one and just live there for a couple days.

We will call it a trial run! You can use the restrooms and the showers that you pay to use. Eat the food

and enjoy all of the intelligent conversations.

Stay for a few days and take in all the smells. This will be your new home every weekend as a truck

driver. See if it is what you are looking for. Take walks out by the big trucks and the fuel island. Look at

all the milk jugs and water bottles full of truck driver urine on top of the overflowing trash cans. On a hot

day it gives the fuel island a great aroma.

Traffic/Accidents

There is no way to avoid this. You are going to get jammed up in traffic. There is always some dummy

who decides to wreck just to ruin your weekend. You were so close to getting home on time for the first

time in three months and then the accident happens. You can drive with your CB radio on all the time

listening to the guys talking about their wives fooling around on them in hopes of getting any

information about traffic so you can avoid it. Yet, sometimes it happens right in front of you and there is

no way around or off the high way.

If there is a fatality which is common or a hazmat spill they will be there a while. They will shut down the

highway and there you sit. 12 hours for a fatality is common. I hope you didn’t need to go # 2 or that you

were going to grab something to eat at the next exit. I guarantee this will happen.

Public Opinion

The public opinion of truck drivers is horrible. I wouldn’t expect to get a positive response when you

announce what you do to anyone. The Department of transportation, DOT, and the police don’t care for

you at all. If there is an accident and a truck is involved they are going to try to blame the truck driver for

several reasons.

The biggest reason is it all boils down to money. Local attorneys love to go after the big trucking

companies because they have money and it is easy to get a settlement. The driver is an easy target. The

driver is usually from out of state so let’s screw him is their attitude. They can always find a log book

mistake. Download his phone record and blame him for being preoccupied on the phone, dig through

his truck and find something to paint a bad picture. Inspect the truck and find a violation of some kind.

It’s all about the money and the fact that the driver is an outsider or in their opinion a dumb truck

driver.

Bad directions

The directions new companies give you are horrible and you will be lost constantly. Today’s drivers do

much better using their own GPS system yet it is just a matter of time as a new driver you will make a

wrong turn. This can result in you getting jammed up in a neighbor hood, low power lines, a low

clearance bridge and resulting in damage or a ticket. Maybe you just drive 50 miles out of your way

trying to find a place to turn that big truck around. This will happen it’s a guarantee!

Go to Jail

Truck driving is one of the few jobs where you can go to work with no intent on committing any kind of

felony crime yet could very easily with the wrong set of circumstances end up going to jail for a very long

time. If you run over your hours of service trying to please some dispatcher and avoid being punished

and there is an accident what happens? You will be at fault! They treat a driver running over his hours

like a drunk driver, if there is a fatality, you are going to jail.

*note – not all trucking schools, company schools, or company sponsored CDL training schools are

corrupt. The statements made here are a generalization of the majority of the programs out there. You

are encouraged to conduct your own investigation and come to your own conclusions about any trucking

school or company.

Disclaimer of Warranty/Limits of liability The author and publisher of this book have used their best efforts in

preparing this information. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the

accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this material. They disclaim any warranties

(expressed or implied), merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The author and publisher shall in no

event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential,

or other damages. Always seek the advice of a competent professional before engaging in any endeavor.