truck driver

driver manager

diesel mechanic

fleet mechanic

analyst

Knight Transportation

My terminal manager is awesome. My dispatcher is determined as well as mindful. Shop is good. Everyone else however, I will take a hard pass on. You gotta be semi lucky with this company. My 1st trainer was the worst (hardly taught me a thing, plus alot of swearing at me), my 2nd was awesome (offered technique and patience). I'm 5 months in the trucking industry but I'm not an fool and I don't let people walk on me. For a hot minute dispatch felt hostile and inconsiderate towards me. They didnt understand that experience takes time to aquire so have patience when I make a mistake or dont understand the process. Lots of lies and scheming between office staff...such  as withholding information to take advantage of you as the driver. Until they realized I catch on quick and play no games. Track everything you say and they say, everything you do and especially your miles, compensation, and money. Payroll will be your best friend. Keep receipts and track all your load info. incase you are questioned. You are guilty until proven innocent here. Do not let them P off your home time. Be assertive/ serious and do your job as a driver. Be safe, work your clock down to reasonable points, make the effort to want to receive good loads/miles. I use to be happy go lucky, friendly and honest. This job has made me very unapologetic and I can barely take the slightest ounce of bs. Make it known that you dead serious, question everything and voice it. When they realize all you want is a solid paycheck and a lot less confrontation (leave me alone and let me work) things chill out. If your truck, trailer, or ELD logs are out of regulation or unsafe...dont not let their schemes, word games and jedi mind tricks pressure into doing anything illegal or unsafe. Switch terminals as many times as necessary but be reasonable as to how dire your situation actually is. Thank God I have not reached that point (thanks to my terminal manager). In this company if you're brainless and could care less about losing money...simply do whatever your told and you'll be fine. If you are adamant about balancing the check book, paying bills down, reaching goals and milestones and having a little money left over as well as getting home on time....be prepared to fight for it. It's not as dramatic as it sounds but it's like pulling teeth. As long as you show your dispatch you are the quality driver there looking for...things are 80% likely to get better and smoother. And the extra bs will eventually subside. Perfect place for new drivers...it will break you in quick. Training school is A1! Paycheck below average to average. 70% chance your likely to end up with a new / semi new truck with the amenities your looking for sooner rather than later. Plenty of terminals... Knight and Swift locations. It's taken 5months for this company to satisfy all my needs as a driver. I have no qualms. I got lucky. Plus I'm single and I live with my grandmother in HER house. Take everything I've said with a grain of salt whether you are looking to join this company or already work here and just want to know what your peers are thinking. Be real, nobody decides your fate accept you.

Lots of good things about working here. For instance the driver managers are generally pretty easy-going and most people are pretty cool in the office. Using Zonar you can go a week without talking to anybody if you don't have any questions or problems. You choose your own routes and all tolls are paid for automatically so no waiting on reimbursement. Fuel stops are often an issue because they run you on empty a lot so they can get the cheapest price on fuel. Lots of terminals in almost every state with showers some are better than others some are very small and junkie and some are beautiful and new. The problem with this company is that they run each terminal as a competing separate business. So if you're not one of their over-the-road drivers they will make sure you get the junk. They will hold you hostage by making you run a five-mile run for $12 an hour before they'll give you any miles this happens regularly at almost every out-of-town terminal because they can get the delivery basically for free since your home terminal has to pay you and it doesn't come off of their bottom line. On a more positive note they have daily pay and there is rarely a mistake and it is almost always on time. Getting detention pay is a situation where you will have to beg for what you earned.  I do not believe that they have competitive pay. They like to use a sliding scale which many times will put you at $0.38 to $0.40 per mile. But there is the autonomy Factor that I like. I am never questioned if I go a little bit out of route to take an easier way. Also getting home time scheduled is not a problem. Getting there on time is almost always a problem. I am tired of having to run a short load to "earn" a good load.

I trained for my CDL at the Phoenix location and absolutely loved it. I loved the people there, I wish all terminals were like the Phoenix location. I have nothing bad to say about that experience. 
I believe knight overall has good morals that are set. I just think some people that work for knight don’t have the same energy or view as the higher ups at Phoenix and it shows. 
Some things that made it hard to stay with knight was their up keep of trailers. The drivers didn’t take responsibility for trailers maintaining and this left a lot of floating trailers at drop and hook locations that weren’t ready to be taken as they needed maintenance. 
The other thing is dispatch. Some of these people have no idea what it looks like to be a driver and don’t understand communication. Ultimately I left knight because they sent me out without telling me I’d be gone for awhile. I thought I’d be back the next day as I was doing a route that would have me back the next day for awhile. Then they tried to make me feel bad by saying I should have been prepared to just keep going. On top of that they wanted me to just sit for a day and wait till the next day for a load. 
If these dispatchers would communicate their intentions before I left on that route, like hey on this route you will be out for a week or so, so make sure you are prepared. Or hey we have two options with you going out on this route, it won’t be the same as you have been doing. On this route you’ll be either heading out for a longer week or wait a day and come back. 
I mean how hard is it to communicate what you’re planning for your drivers before they leave??? 

I would not recommend going to Knight after working for them for 9 months. They do not trust or respect there drivers. I had to take a medical leave and was discharged for it and I never was even told anything by the company but found out from Walmart that my benefits had been dropped and later found out after calling HR that I had been terminated. Another reason to rethink going to knight is that they don't allow inverters in there trucks unless it plugs into cig lighter.So that means no microwave or fridge etc.Also most companies will make you get your A-B service at 15,000 & 30,000 mi but knight will make you do it at 7000mi which means spending 2-3 days in shop status every 2-3 weeks cause there shops are usually backed up and slow. 

They also have a sitting duck rule where they don't allow you to park your truck on a side road or they will terminate you. I was harassed by the safety guy at the Tulare shop because I parked on a dead end road to make a phone call and he threatened me with the sitting duck rule because its a safety issue but meanwhile he lets his young daughter who is probably 9-10 yrs old drive the company golf cart around the knight yard with all the other trucks by her self. That seems like more of a safety issue if you ask me.

Get everything in writing and make notes of every conversation you have because they will flip flop on you when they need to.

I’ve been here little over 30 days and I will say that it is very hard to find your fit in this industry. I would say this is a good starter company for ones starting out and it’s really not that bad. No forced dispatch either so that is a good thing as well.I have been driving close to four years and I am one of those people who also has been finding a decent driving company that I can deal with while I continue to further my career or career choices shall I say. New trucks, automatics, I mean I can’t speak for everyone, but I actually like my dispatch manager. Everything is pretty structured here and I’m talking about the company as a whole. You can access everything from their app. They won’t force you to do anything that you are not comfortable with. I feel like all companies have advantages and disadvantages it’s just the world we live in. Of course money is ok not great, but you know you gotta run like a chicken with your head cut off for any company if you wanna make money. They have a military program and they help with twic card and endorsements so that’s a plus if that’s what you desire. Benefits are decent too. They have nice terminals and quite a bit of them also that you can park, shower and do laundry and they are all secure so you can sleep and not worry at night. I would say if you are a company driver this is one of the companies you should drive for if you are going to go that route. 

Growth-oriented company rooted within the notion of being a nationally recognized carrier, but with a small town family feel.  I currently hold the position of the Northeast Regional Planner for the refrigerated division of Knight Transportation.  I regulate the outbound traffic of our company assets based on inbound company assets and customer needs throughout a 13 state region...relying heavily upon constant market awareness and management.  I have learned many things while working with Knight, too many to list here, but what I am most proud of is honing my logistical management skills while keeping the ethics of the business and fellow employees at the forefront.  Being away from home for 10-12 hours per day is without a doubt rough, but as with anything worth anything, one must put in the time to be successful...to an extent.  A positive that comes from spending that much time at work, is the ever evolving and changing "family-dynamic" of my particular office...an experience that I will carry with me as my professional career continues to grow and flourish.  I also appreciate the autonomous work environment provided by my level of management, as well as upper management.  Everyone makes each decision with the well-being of the company in mind...which can make even the most difficult situations and/or decisions become quite transparent and easy to derive.

If you are brand-new to the industry, the training will help but newbies really should get a more behind-the-wheel practice.  The trucks were awesome and rolling down the road was a blast.  The solitude was relaxing, prayerful, and therapeutic.  Got lots of NPR and audio-book time as well.  Now for the disadvantages:

(1) If you want to make money, you can forget it.  Even rolling for 30 days straight, I only averaged 400 smackers a week.  (2) Much of this was due to sitting around waiting for loads.  (3) The government-mandated training seemed pointless, as I already had/have an active CDL with all the endorsements.  That puts drivers something like $1500 in the hole upfront.  (4) Dispatchers were cool but they seldom communicated with each other, so I had to constantly repeat things over and over and over, which certainly helped turn my hair grey (I don't know who's worse, my composition students or Knight).  (5) FINALLY, the awful Zonar/GPS computer kept crashing or sending me down goat trails and dead-end roads.  One time I got stuck in the mud somewhere in Nowhere, Colorado.  Yes, I had no choice but to make U-turns, a flagrant violation of company policy.  The tattle-tale computer-camera relayed this information and this ultimately led to my termination.  I have no excuse.  It was a good ride but I am much happier teaching college kids.  THIS is where I belong.

When I applied, I was welcomed on board by my local terminal manager, my recruiter, and my recruiter's supervisor.  Before going into orientation, I was treated very well by phone and email.  I felt Knight was a good idea.  Then during orientation, after a successful drug test and physical, I automatically failed the road test for "hitting two curbs" (a really weird claim for a driver of three years).  I recall hugging *one* curb, but not going over that curb, in what I thought was a well done turn and overall a perfectly fine road test.  The way I was so quickly dismissed after a thirty-second conversation and then shut out by my previously friendly recruiter and his supervisor with zero opportunity for any retest or such was surreal and hurtful.  I've never failed a road test for any other company, not even my first road test for my first license as a teen.  The way Knight handled the road test results was cold and rude.  I always thought that you road test an experienced driver with the big picture in mind.  If I do the rest of it well, why dismiss me over one imperfect turn.  Anyhoo, moving on to another carrier.  Knight didn't sit well with me at first because of their payroll lawsuit and discontinuing the use of Qualcomm for an unheard-of other system called Zonar, but the orientation reconfirmed my original bad vibe with this company.

As a knight driver and being here 2 1/2 years i have seen many driver's. come and leave right away.
Due to being shorted on mileage pay.
I figure knight is screwing their driver's out of 20% of their wages.
when i arrived they had a $300.00 Ref. Bonus now it has gone up to
$1,000.00 because they cannot get drivers or keep them.
All miles is short if you drive 1ooo miles you get paid for 800 and getting paid for out of pocket expenses tolls/scale fee's they seem to forget to pay you back and you need to always call payroll about it.
and not getting paid for dentention time or work.
myself the only reason i stayed here was waitting to get the call to get back oversea's to iraq or elsewhere.
i'd rather be supporting the troop's.
I have not rec. the call so it's time i move on now.
Management is unprofessional they all act like rookies in this business or just don't care about their customers.
most loads are late on p/u or delivery. equipment has no apu systems-but they want the idle time down-or they cut your power back. e-log system is a joke it always goes down or is not correct.
I would advise others to by pass knight and look elsewhere. unless your a new hand getting out of trucking schooling and need to start out somewhere-which most of the drivers here fit that situation.
I've been at this for nearly 40 years and have not seen anything like this company.( GOOD LUCK ) you have been warned.

This company had many grey-areas, that are never explained or resolved. Favoritism surfaced when it came down between employees of seniority and new. Within the first month, I was able to reduce an $800 lane expenditure, down to $500 through a new carrier (which has never been done) and I was never acknowledge for my efforts and my team didn't believe in my thoughts on a new logistical approach. They stated my ideas wouldn't work and left me to do it on my own. After I proved them wrong, I requested to apply for a higher position within the company. Not many people seemed happy about that seeing as I was there for only 3-months (which is fair), however, I felt I could've impacted this company and my experience and knowledge was under utilized. I informed my leadership I did not want to leave the company, yet, they forced me out of my job. Knight is partnered through Swift Transportation and HR, Leads, and Management did nothing to help me, they left me in the dust. After I took the initiative to drive to the partnered company, I had a phone interview and was told I was "Overqualified" for multiple positions. This only taught me that there was no support system, no promise for growth, and no future with a company that lacks honesty, integrity and value. This job is suitable for those who don't care to advance and move up in this business and in life.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Truck driver 520 salaries reported	$1,615 per week
Driver manager 70 salaries reported	$56,183 per year
Diesel mechanic 90 salaries reported	$29.41 per hour
Fleet mechanic 1 salary reported	$25.50 per hour
Analyst 4 salaries reported	$55,875 per year

Working at Knight Transportation: Company Overview and Reviews

Knight Transportation

Knight Transportation Ratings

Popular jobs at Knight Transportation

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected