Best Arizona CDL Training

Paying out of pocket is your best option. Don't get suckered into company sponsored training. There's probably no advantage to getting your medical card and permit before enrolling. This will be done the first couple of weeks of class. But you can start studying the book. This will put you ahead of most students. As far as schools in Phoenix I'm aware of a few but can't make any recommendations. In Tucson there is a school called American Career Builders. Good people, I worked with them as an instructor at another school which I would rather not mention. Here is the link.

http://www.american-careertraining.com/

 

Your goal should be to acquire a CDL as cheap as possible, because without a CDL you can't acquire a job with a training company. To the training companies, a CDL is a CDL. It's the bare minimum necessary and it doesn't matter where you get it as long as you have it.

Once you acquire a CDL, you will be able to drive a big truck, but not without a lot of very serious supervision, as at that point you are nowhere near being a professional driver. You will then undergo a period of intense training on a trainer truck for a defined period of time, and then test out. Upon successfully testing out, you will be assigned your own truck. Then depending on the training company, you will go solo and in about a year's time of driving solo on your own, maybe more maybe less, you should be by then a qualified professional driver barring any service failures or preventive accidents. Indeed, with at least one year of solo driving accident free, you should be able to acquire a significantly better job at that point, but, of course, like everything else, there are no guarantees.

Unless you can qualify for some sort of government grant and most people can't, I highly recommend attending one of the various training company CDL academies because they are not only much faster but also a lot cheaper relative to a CDL school as well. Moreover, if you fulfill their contract, the total cost of your CDL training will be forgiven as well. The length of the contracts involved varies greatly and it is up to you to determine what's the best fit for you. Good luck.

 

Be mindful that there are companies out there that will not give you the time of day, if the school you graduated from was not at lease 160 hours. Some even require 200 hours. Something to think about that can open more doors for you.

 

A CDL is a CDL is a CDL. It doesn't matter where you get it as long as you have it, as all it is, is the bare minimum necessary to get a job. Of course, a lot of people cluelessly advise getting a CDL from a school as opposed to a training company CDL academy, which is quite a bit more expensive and also takes significantly longer. Not to mention that you will have to pay the school for the cost of the training regardless if you get a job or not, and if you are lucky enough to get a job subsequently, it will be with one of those vaunted training companies. Hence, if you are going to go to work for one of those vaunted training companies regardless; why not also acquire CDL training from one of them too, because again it is significantly cheaper and quite a bit faster as well.

Not to mention in addition, that if you fulfill their contract, which in most cases is about a year, they will also forgive the total cost of the school as well. Thus, the school would have been totally free.

In any event, if you subsequently change your mind and decide you don't want to fulfill your contract, then you will have to pay them the cost of the schooling too, but the total cost for the schooling will still be significantly less relative to the cost of a CDL school that you have to pay back regardless. Just my two cents!

 

i went through AIT back in 06 and came out of there trained very well not sure how they are now or all who accept them at the time i went i ddi a 4 month class they may have shorter ones now the one i went to was PTDI or PDTI how ever it goes lol. cant say there the best as i havent went to the other ones lol but there down in phoenix

 

On the physical, ask the school before enrolling. Make sure your blood pressure is good, medication is OK to use. Make sure your sugar levels are good, medication such as Metformin is OK.

I recommend you start your new career with tanker or flatbed work. New drivers with the huge refrigerated carriers don't usually do to well financially the first year or so, so just skip that part and start out with good pay from the beginning.

For example, System Transport has a terminal in Phoenix and hires new CDL grads. Call and ask if they accept the school you're interested in. Check the website also. Also check trans-system website and see if TWT Refrigerated Services would interest you. It's refrigerated, but not one of the mainstream mega-carriers.

Schneider tanker division hires new CDL grads and those drivers make real good money.

Melton Truck Lines is another excellent carrier with good pay & benefits. Check their website to see if you're in their hiring area. They sometimes hire new CDL grads even though the website says 3 mos. experience required.

You can bypass the training companies and start out with good pay and benefits from the beginning.

 

Check out Glendale Comm. College. They had a trainer there back in the 90's, that is where I got mine from.

 

What to expect with your trainer/ bulk division.

 

I'm in a similar position and not far from you, I'm down in Yuma. Anyway, for reasons having to do with retirement stuff at my present company, it's not wise for me to make a move till around next April. That's giving me plenty of time to learn and become familiar with the trucking industry and practicalities of driving. Anyway, I am tending toward a 'feeder' company for my training as opposed to a CDL school. However, I plan on paying for the schooling up front instead of 'financing' it through a work commitment. I figure once I get through their training program, I won't have an obligation to have to remain. This way, I can start looking for a smaller trucking company. Seems, in general, the smaller companies treat their drivers better and are not quite as regimented with corporate stupidity. That's my ideas on this at the moment. Don't know how it'll turn out in reality and by next April I may decide a different route to becoming a driver will be better. One of the reasons I hang out here and read lots of posts from folks.

Good Luck to you.