Comcar - CT Transportation Info From New Driver

In the first two weeks we travelled to the following cities:
Bradenton, FL
Palatka, FL
Conway, SC
Belville, NC
Savannah, GA
Eastaboga, AL
Barnwell, SC
Savannah, GA
Madison, AL
Jackson, TN
Shelbyville, IN
Shoals, IN
And of course, Atlanta where my trainer lives

Here are the daily mileages:
Sunday - 264
Monday - 529
Tuesday - 462
Wednesday - 313

Monday - 423
Tuesday - 465
Wednesday - 360
Thursday - 430
Friday - 540

So far we've hauled 3 loads of drywall, 2 loads of lumber, 1 load of Medium Density Fiberboard, 1 load of shingles, and 1 load of steel. Most loads are more than 45,000 lbs, bringing our total weight to 76,000 - 79,000 lbs. In fact, at one location we had to return to the loader to have them remove a bundle of lumber to keep us from being overweight.

Drywall is usually pre-tarped, so all we have to do is drop-n-hook, tighten straps and connect bungees. The steel, MDF, and lumber all required us to tarp the loads.

For Thanksgiving, we arrived home at 8:30 on Wednesday night with 10 minutes left on our 14-hour clock, and departed on Monday morning. The second week we arrived home on Saturday morning at 8:30, but we don't have to leave until Monday morning. As I mentioned above, we use up nearly all our 14 hours. One night this week picked up our load late and tried to make it to a hotel, but our time ran out on the shipper's property. The trainer slept in the truck at the shipper's location and I called my sister to drive a short distance to pick me up. A taxi would have taken over an hour to get me to a hotel, so I was very fortunate to have a family member so close. The worst thing about stopping after dark is trying to park at crowded truckstops.


I've taken two pictures of the truck, but I haven't had time to upload them. When I get my own truck I'll try to take several and put them here. Since the company doesn't pay for truck washes, and because we had to go mudbogging at the lumber mills last week, the truck was nasty on the outside. That explains why most every CT truck I see is dirty. The trainer trucks are all condos, extra tall and extra long. The regular trucks are "high-rise" meaning you can stand up in them, but they aren't tall enough for bunk beds. The regular truck only has an air-ride seat on the driver's side. There's room behind the seats for maybe a small refrigerator or cooler. There's plenty of cabinet space for personal items, as well as a short clothes hanger bar. The trucks come with a swivel TV bracket mounted to the back wall, and an antenna and power connector are near the bracket. Storage under the bed is fairly small since the sidebox and A/C are installed there as well. The compartment for the CB comes with an antenna coax, external speaker connection, power connector, and tie-down strap. Most CB's should install in less than 5 minutes. The radio comes with Sirius receiver, Aux jack, and USB charger installed. I'll have to get creative in finding a place for the GPS, as the Qualcomm electronic log takes up the prime real estate.

As mentioned previously, all CT trucks have automatic transmissions. There are a couple drawbacks to the automatics, but I have really enjoyed driving them. I hope I never have to go back to manual transmissions. I really think this is the way of the future.

I'll write more after I've passed the road test and get my own truck. Be safe out there. There's a lot of craziness.

 

At a minimum, someone with 2 years OTR experience and no flatbed would probably be required to take the 3 days of orientation and a more extensive road test with a trainer. You would need to check with CT to be sure. If weekend home time is important to you, I would highly recommend CT.

 

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Well, I finished my driving time with the driver trainer and now have my own truck. By the end of the 2nd week with the driver trainer I had already accumulated the required 3900 miles, so he recommended that I be tested in the middle of the 3rd week. The road test with another driver trainer consisted of driving to a customer, untarping and unstrapping the load, performing a mock pre-trip inspection, and uncoupling and coupling the trailer. We were then routed to my home terminal at Bridgeport, AL where my driver trainer picked up his truck from the shop and I took over the loaner truck we had been using for the last week. This truck is about a year old and has 144,000 miles on it. I picked up my first solo load of drywall near the terminal and was on my way at dusk for Roswell, GA. From there I went to Macon, Birmingham, Bridgeport again, Little Rock, Texarkana, Birmingham, Evergreen, AL, Atlanta, Concord, NC, Atlanta, and finally Birmingham. There was a mixup on the pickup appointment in Evergreen and fouled up the schedule for the rest of the week. As a result, I had to work 8 hours yesterday (Saturday). Fortunately I don't have to deliver until Monday at 8:00.

I spent a lot of time last weekend cleaning the inside of the truck and finding places for all my stuff. The TV is installed, the cooler is cooling, the CB is all hooked up, and I found a mounting location for the GPS. The cabinets are full of food and clothing, and tools and water bottles are all stowed away. It was a good week. I've spent an hour this morning reconciling expense reimbursements and training pay, and it looks like CT is more than fair. My driver manager is very personable, responsive, and wants to accommodate me as much as possible.

So far I think CT is a great company if weekend home time is very important to you. Although they just raised their pay from $0.28 CPM to $0.31 CPM for 1-3 month's experience, the pay rate is still fairly low compared to other companies that take new CDL holders. However, I've been getting 1800-2500 miles per week, so total pay isn't too bad.

Again, I don't represent CT or Comcar, so please verify all the information I've provided with them.

 

I can confirm the increase to $0.40/mile, with no pay for tarping and untarping. Or, you can choose to get paid $18 for tarping, $12 for untarping, and $0.31/mile. All the other supplemental pays are the same between the two pay scales.

I just finished my 3rd week as a solo driver and still like driving for them. Freight was slow Christmas and New Year's weeks and I ended up sitting at the house from Tuesday through Sunday. Otherwise, I've never had to wait more than 15 minutes for a dispatch and I use all but 30 minutes of my clock every day. I expect to get 2000-2500 miles every week from here on.

I'll try to post photos of the truck again after I figure out how to do it. I've found the shorter sleeper to be adequate for me, although I would like to have the longer version. Most of all I love the automatic transmission, especially when sitting in stop-n-go traffic in Atlanta.