Hello I am new and looking on driving. I am currently having a problem. I just got my license 2 months ago (I knew that would bite me my #####)and looking to drive a cargo van with out a CDL for the experience and when the year requirement pass I was either get a CDL and stay in expediting or go into the trucking. The problem I am having is I live in Indiana and I am told I need to have a chauffeurs license which has the same requirements as a CDL. A year wait. I have read that you have to have a chauffeurs license to drive something at least 16,000-26,000 lbs. I am guessing the local delivery drivers. I had 2 offers from fleet owners to drive but both companys are saying I need a chauffeurs license. If I had to wait a year I mightest well get the CDL. I am looking on getting out of deadend jobs and looking into a career which is looking like I got to wait a year. Thanks for any help you guys can give me. I have basically read every post from this site and learn a lot.
Needing Experience.
- Thread starter Shaun28
- Start date
arkjarhead
Veteran Expediter
check out some other states and see what their requirements are. Maybe you could go out of state and get your cdl then transfer back to IN. People do it all the time.
>check out some other states and see what their requirements
>are. Maybe you could go out of state and get your cdl then
>transfer back to IN. People do it all the time.
Wouldn't that be illegal and you will have to know someone for proof of residency. I thought of that.
I am thinking on just going to the DMV, apply for the chauffeurs license and the worst thing that can happen is tell me I have to wait a year or I can find out if there is some kind of waiver that will let me get it.
>are. Maybe you could go out of state and get your cdl then
>transfer back to IN. People do it all the time.
Wouldn't that be illegal and you will have to know someone for proof of residency. I thought of that.
I am thinking on just going to the DMV, apply for the chauffeurs license and the worst thing that can happen is tell me I have to wait a year or I can find out if there is some kind of waiver that will let me get it.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
>The reason I got my license at 28 is a long story. Couldn't
>afford a car so I never got my license. Now when I think
>about it was a stupid move and should of got my license
>earlier but I can't change it now.
No I don't think it is stupid, had a girlfreind who wss 30 when she got her license. Never needed one when she lived in NYC or even when she lived in Alabama but when she moved here it was a problem.
>afford a car so I never got my license. Now when I think
>about it was a stupid move and should of got my license
>earlier but I can't change it now.
No I don't think it is stupid, had a girlfreind who wss 30 when she got her license. Never needed one when she lived in NYC or even when she lived in Alabama but when she moved here it was a problem.
Shaun: I know you don't want to hear this, but the one year wait before assuming the additional responsibility of a chauffeurs' or commercial license is really a good idea, in my opinion. If you have just 2 month's experience, are you really ready to navigate in, say, Chicago or New York or Atlanta, during rush hour? Even in a cargo van, with an experienced driver, it can be scary at times!
And also, could you even get insurance to drive commercially, with just 2 months of total driving experience?
And also, could you even get insurance to drive commercially, with just 2 months of total driving experience?
ExpeditersWife
Seasoned Expediter
We Live in Indiana too....I agree it might be a very good idea to wait out the year with you just getting your license. Get the feel for the road and how to handle big city driving. Indianapolis is WAY easier to drive than Downtown New York City..even Chicago! Thankfully I haven't driven them myself but my husband has..and I'm the one here at home with the mapping software on the computer and a huge map guiding him around..sometimes while he cusses the four wheelers.
If you just have a regular drivers license you wait the year as suggested or required and if you want to move up to a CDL class C you could drive straight trucks...I think up to 16,000 lbs total weight loaded.. I may be wrong I'd have to pull the book out again... then Class B's you'd be able to drive straight trucks with a larger load capacity or even a dump truck...with Class A's being for full on semi's and flatbeds. My husband learned that with moving from Florida to Indiana that the license classifications are much different. What is considered a Class D license in FL (straight truck & cargo van) is considered a CDL class C in Indiana..(but in Florida a Class D's you'd be able to drive a dump truck as well.. My husband had a Class D when we moved to IN... and Indiana looked at him like "HUH? What's a class D?" They refused to acknowledge his Class D's and gave him a regular license. He didn't feel like fighting it and waited till last year to finally get his "chauffeurs" license back..(I've heard that the classification of chauffeurs license is no longer in existance and hasn't been updated in the drivers manuals of IN yet). Earlier this year he got his 6 month CDL class B learners permit while still carrying the class C's... and is currently driving a straight truck in the expediting business... Hopefully..if things work out.. hubby may get a local company to help him get his CDL Class B's full on without having to pay the $150 or $250 for the driving test Indiana Requires to get your Class B's..which you have to take at a 3rd party location.
Just something else for you to think about.
Hope I didn't confuse you to death or step on anyone's toes.
Where'd ya go.. I miss you so.. seems like it's been forever since you've been gone.. please come back home.
If you just have a regular drivers license you wait the year as suggested or required and if you want to move up to a CDL class C you could drive straight trucks...I think up to 16,000 lbs total weight loaded.. I may be wrong I'd have to pull the book out again... then Class B's you'd be able to drive straight trucks with a larger load capacity or even a dump truck...with Class A's being for full on semi's and flatbeds. My husband learned that with moving from Florida to Indiana that the license classifications are much different. What is considered a Class D license in FL (straight truck & cargo van) is considered a CDL class C in Indiana..(but in Florida a Class D's you'd be able to drive a dump truck as well.. My husband had a Class D when we moved to IN... and Indiana looked at him like "HUH? What's a class D?" They refused to acknowledge his Class D's and gave him a regular license. He didn't feel like fighting it and waited till last year to finally get his "chauffeurs" license back..(I've heard that the classification of chauffeurs license is no longer in existance and hasn't been updated in the drivers manuals of IN yet). Earlier this year he got his 6 month CDL class B learners permit while still carrying the class C's... and is currently driving a straight truck in the expediting business... Hopefully..if things work out.. hubby may get a local company to help him get his CDL Class B's full on without having to pay the $150 or $250 for the driving test Indiana Requires to get your Class B's..which you have to take at a 3rd party location.
Just something else for you to think about.
Hope I didn't confuse you to death or step on anyone's toes.Where'd ya go.. I miss you so.. seems like it's been forever since you've been gone.. please come back home.
I know truck driving schools do it every day, I did it too - and, had I known that Missouri requires parallel parking the tractor/trailer in BOTH directions to pass the test, I might have picked a different state, lol. But the presumption is that the driver has more than a couple months total driving experience, because most adults do. I really feel that a brand new driver isn't ready to begin expediting right out of the gate, is all. Even with all the years I have been driving, I still don't like the number of times I'm forced to split my attention between looking for an address, and watching the situation around me on the street - how well will an inexperienced driver deal with that? How will he know how much time to allow for winter driving, the first year?