Georgia Driving Academy (conyers, ga)

Hi Pilgrim. I just graduated 3/3 from GDA. GDA is a well organized school and there are alot of good people/instructors who earnestly care that you learn fundamentals to obtain the GA CDL. The school is accredited, which you'll see by how well they are organized. Cost is $3995, but I feel it is well worth it because instructors, instruction materials and support are solid. From other threads here in the forum, I am now glad I paid the $3995 upfront and not beholden to any trucking company....ie many companies have tuition reimbursement.

GDA has a large yard to teach manuevers etc. Curriculum is 180 hours: 1 week in classroom to prep for GA State written test exam for the A/P CDL, 1 week in yard to learn manuevers required to pass the state CDL exam and 1 week on road to learn basic skills to pass the state CDL road exam. My class size was 9 people, max size is 12. 9 was a bit crowded, I could have used alot more time behind the wheel... but I know I have enuf to pass the CDL exam. I will be taking my GA state road test this week... should pass and have my CDL soon.

GDA will support you to gain pre-hire letters from companies, and they have 3 visits from recruiters each week. but be careful re recruiters, this forum is much more useful to me re my upcoming decision on who to go work for.

My recommendation is you take the three week course, GDA does a great job at "evolving" your learning from classroom to yard to road. If you go to GDA you'll meet good instructor folks such as ChickenBob, Vic, Ray, Jim, Lee, Mike (Nascar!) and Chuck. They've all had years of experience on the road and are really helpful to share their thoughts re trucking.

Good luck!

 

During last 3 weeks we had recruiters visit from Swift, Covenant, Roehl, HOW, Stevens Transport, Coastal Transport, McElroy Truck Lines and a couple others I now forgot about. GDA will give you applications for 14 companies and encourage you to fill them all out... including apps for Werner, TMC, US Express, Trans Am Trucking, Central Refrigerated Service Inc.

I didn't apply for all since some are dedicated flat bed haulers and this doesn't interest me today. I received prehires from Covenant, Stevens Transport and Roehl, and still waiting to hear back from US Express and HOW.

 

i would first look at gsfc

 

Thanks rr58. I'm starting the class on sept.1st at Ga driving academy and now I feel alot better about spending the 4000 on it. I only wish I could take the course where it's 18 days straight, instead I have to take the 9 weekend course because i can't afford to take 18 days off. Oh well.

 

have fun at GA academy. it may seem like alot to learn in a hurry, but I now know that CDL school is but baby steps' on road to being a truck driver. good luck

 

Pilgrim,
I just came out of a 3 week school in Winder Ga. My training was 2nd to none. The instructors were GREAT. They just opened in Sept.08 and all 40 of the students they trained so far have all got their CDL's. Most were hired before they were finished. The price was right also. Half of what I've heard folks paying at other schools. Good Luck with the 1 you chose.

 

Hey there Smokin' - Congrats on your CDL! What DDS tested the drivers from your school?

The DDS in Gainesville, GA is in the "twilight zone" and from what I've seen (experienced myself) they fail 9 out of 10 drivers as an average. After talking to our lead instructor (and referee), the test stats for last week were 2 of 6 passed on Tuesday, 0 of 6 passed Wednesday, 0 of 6 Thursday, and 1 of 5 passed Friday. Those are just Daly's students, I don't have stats on other drivers testing but I didn't see many of the people I talked to pass either.

The road test course they have is ridiculous due to the area - traffic doing what they want to do (speeding, illegal lane changes and turns), winding narrow streets, and enough screwy intersections to make your skin crawl. I've gotten the idea that they're filling their cash box with retest fees (at $85 a shot).

I know myself that I'm no vet driver in a tractor trailer, but I trained drivers in the Army on 6x6 oversize bridge trucks, and at my last job as a straight truck driver. My bad habits died hard but I broke them and haven't gotten dinged for them testing (floating gears, one hand on the wheel, and it's work not to chat while testing).

I'm planning on going down to Jackson, GA to get a real road test. I just have to provide my own equipment and driver (a mess to say the least). After failing the road test twice now, I'd have to wait 30 days to retest if I fail it one more time (if I had that kind of time, I'd have just waited and gone to a tech school course). I've heard the Jackson area is better for testing, and the testers actually have a CDL and have driven a truck before (unlike Gainesville, GA).

After passing the pre-trip and air brake test, then passing yard manuevers without losing a point, I failed the road test. I asked for more time in the test truck when the school called to reschedule me, (an hour practice before hand didn't cut it and I knew that) and never got a call back. Then I failed the road test again.....

I'm trying not to "sling mud", but a student a few weeks ago was failed because he was "only" going 55 in a 70 zone in blinding rain (day cab single-axle Mack pulling an empty 48 foot trailer) and the minimum speed on that stretch of I-985 is 45. Our instructor tried to reason with it with no luck, and then threw a fit at the tester to no result. I hope that driver got a fair retest at some point.

Best to all drivers and will-be's out there and stay safe!!