I researched three schools before I decided on the one I'm almost finished with. My current school costs $4,900 and change, and is a six week course. It includes one week of in-class theory, one week of in-yard, and four weeks of behind the wheel, which includes driving (obviously), (un)coupling, pre-trips, and basics. The outside features they offer as part of the $4900 is:

- Forklift certification (government recognized and valid for three years)
- First Aid/CPR (valid for three years) with the CRC
- Air brake endorsement (so you don't have to do it at the ministry)
- Skid school, where you drive slicked tired trucks on watery surfaces to counteract bad conditions
- Border crossing, where you drive up to a border and talk with customs agents about the process, what could happen, what to avoid, etc., and depending on time and student situations, cross borders and learn from the other side



One of the other schools I researched charged $2,000, plus an hourly in-truck rate that he estimated I would need 90 hours of, for something like $8,000, and that included just the air brake as a bonus.

Finally, the last school I looked at wanted $7,400 for pretty much the same thing as the first, but instead of skid school, they had a simulator. Ooooh. Simulation never beats actually taking a real truck out and purposely trying to spin it 360 degrees to see how it reacts and how to counter it.

 

In order to satisy insurance companies schools have x amount of hours of training. Mine was 180. The absolute minimum is 120. If I had it to do all over again I would go to one of the turck schools and pay for the course myself thereby not be obligated to them. The $5000 is about right as the school I went to was in that range. Most of them are really just a CDL school and do not really give you near what you need. One truck school would not take you unless you aleady had a CDL permit. That gave them more time to teach you what you needed. Looking back a lot of time was wasted in the first days trying to get the CDL permit. I did mine before school started and it did take some of the stress off.

John
Atlanta

 

If done right, the classroom time is never a waste. In many of those sections there is information you can memorize but until it is explained it might as well have been said in Martian.

 

At my school we earned a few certificates from the in-class theory alone. In addition to normal stuff, everyone in the class (meaning four people) received a certificate showing completion of a Commercial Vehicle Safety Driving course, which will lower insurance for companies, as well as personal vehicle insurance.

We also received a dangerous goods certificate. Now, even though that's just valid for the school, and the school probably isn't going to carry anything hazardous, it shows you are trustworthy and will encourage future companies to train you in dangerous goods if that's what they need.