FMCSA Part 391 Driver Qualification Checklist

At hire (before first dispatch)

Collect a complete employment application with the history Part 391 requires. Run previous-employer inquiries for safety performance history within the required windows. Pull an MVR from every state that issued a licence in the lookback period your policy and the rules require.

Document the road test certificate, or the allowed CDL-based alternative when it applies. Place a valid medical examiner’s certificate (or the CDL medical certification status your program uses) in the file before the driver operates.

For CDL drivers, complete FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse requirements: full query before hire with proper consent, then limited queries on the annual cycle. Pre-employment drug testing under Part 382 also belongs in the program file with a clear negative result path before safety-sensitive work.

Every year (and when status changes)

Perform the annual review of the driving record and keep the dated review note. Since the driver-furnished list of violations was rescinded in May 2022, that note is the whole of the carrier’s side of the annual - do not let a checklist drop it. Refresh the MVR on your policy cadence (many fleets pull at least annually; some pull more often for high-risk drivers).

Watch medical certificate expiry - a lapsed medical takes a CDL driver out of qualified status. Track licence class, endorsements, and restrictions the same way. Re-run Clearinghouse limited queries on schedule and document each result.

Common audit misses

Missing previous-employer attempts with no documented good-faith follow-up. MVRs older than the carrier’s written policy allows. Medical cards on file without the date the certificate was received. Annual reviews completed late or only for some drivers.

Clearinghouse consent on paper but no query evidence in the file. Drug test results in email but never linked to the driver. Road test certificates that name the wrong vehicle class.

Retention snapshot (verify current rule)

Two clocks run at once, and conflating them is how carriers both over-keep and under-keep at the same time.

The file itself is retained for as long as the driver is employed and for three years after they leave. Separately, specific records inside a live file may be removed three years after the date they were executed, even while the driver is still working: the MVR from the annual inquiry, the note recording the annual review, the medical certification evidence, and any medical variance FMCSA issued. That is why a ten-year driver does not accumulate a ten-year stack of annual MVRs.

Drug and alcohol records under Parts 40 and 382 sit outside the DQ file on their own clocks - some one year, some five. Do not purge based on memory. Map each document type to its retention rule and keep a written schedule.

Two items that moved: check your checklist against these

Part 391 is not static, and the two most recent changes both removed something people are still collecting. A checklist inherited from a predecessor, a vendor template, or a binder that predates 2022 will quietly keep asking for both.

Neither change reduces what the file has to prove. They change which document proves it - which is exactly the kind of change a static checklist survives without noticing.

How Part 391 is organised, if you are reading the rule itself

Searching “49 CFR Part 391” lands most people on the table of contents, which is not obviously useful until you know what each subpart is for. The short map:

• Subpart A - general applicability and definitions: who this part covers, and the exceptions.
• Subpart B - qualification and disqualification: the standards a driver has to meet, including 391.21 (application), 391.23 (safety performance history and the MVR inquiry), 391.25 (annual review) and 391.27 (rescinded 2022).
• Subpart C - background and character: the investigation and inquiry mechanics.
• Subpart D - road tests: 391.31 and the equivalents accepted under 391.33.
• Subpart E - physical qualifications and examinations, including 391.41 standards and 391.43 the examination itself.
• Subpart F - files and records: 391.51, the rule that tells you what the file holds and how long you keep it.
• Subpart G - limited exemptions.

If you only read one section, read 391.51. It is the filing rule, and almost every audit finding is a 391.51 finding wearing another subpart’s clothes.

FAQ

More in US driver qualification files · short answers on the FAQ · terms on the glossary.

Putting this into practice? Explore the Driver Files workflow and see the standalone plan inclusions.

Regulatory notes verified 2026-08-28 against FMCSA final rule "Record of Violations", 87 FR 13192, Docket FMCSA-2018-0224 (2022-03-09). Rules move — confirm before you act.

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