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Guide

What goes in a driver qualification file?

A driver qualification file must hold the eight items listed in 49 CFR 391.51(b): the employment application, the pre-employment motor vehicle record, the road test certificate or an accepted equivalent, the annual MVR, a note on the annual review of the driving record, the medical examiner's certificate, any FMCSA medical variance, and a National Registry verification note for non-CDL drivers. Keep the file for as long as the driver is employed and for three years after.

The eight items 49 CFR 391.51(b) requires

Every motor carrier must maintain a DQ file for each driver it employs, and may combine it with the driver's personnel file. The list in 391.51(b) is the whole list.

The driver's employment application, completed under 391.21 — 391.51(b)(1).
A copy of the motor vehicle record received from each driver's licensing authority under 391.23(a)(1) — 391.51(b)(2).
The certificate of driver's road test issued under 391.31(e), a copy of the license or certificate accepted as equivalent under 391.33, or — for a driver physically qualified under the alternative vision standard whom the carrier determined need not road test — the original written statement under 391.44(d)(3)(ii)(A) together with the original or a copy of the driver's certification under 391.44(d)(3)(i) — 391.51(b)(3).
The motor vehicle record from the annual driver record inquiry required by 391.25(a) — 391.51(b)(4).
A note on the annual review of the driving record required by 391.25(c)(2) — 391.51(b)(5).
The medical examiner's certificate, or a legible copy — 391.51(b)(6)(i). For CDL holders, where the CDLIS motor vehicle record carries medical certification status information, the carrier meets this requirement by obtaining the CDLIS MVR from the current licensing State and placing it in the file — 391.51(b)(6)(ii).
A Skill Performance Evaluation certificate issued by FMCSA under 391.49, or a Medical Exemption document issued under part 381 — 391.51(b)(7). A copy of any FMCSA medical variance the certification rests on belongs in the file as well — 391.51(b)(6)(iii).
For drivers not required to have a CDL, a note verifying the examiner's listing on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners — 391.51(b)(8)(i). The parallel note for CDL drivers, 391.51(b)(8)(ii), applied only through June 22, 2025.

What goes in at hiring, and by when

A person may not drive a CMV until he or she has completed and furnished the carrier an application meeting 391.21(b): three years of addresses, a three-year accident list, a three-year list of every motor vehicle law or ordinance violation other than parking-only ones that the applicant was convicted of or forfeited bond or collateral on, and three years of employers. Applicants for a part 383 CMV must also list the employers in the seven-year period preceding those three for which they operated a commercial motor vehicle, with the dates and the reasons for leaving.

The pre-employment MVR has a clock on it. Make the inquiry within 30 days of the date employment begins, to each licensing authority where the driver held a license in the preceding three years. The copy must be in the file within 30 days of that same date. If an authority never answers, document the good faith effort.

A road test is not always required. A valid CDL counts as the equivalent where the State issued it after a road test in a vehicle of the type you intend to assign, but not for double/triple trailer or tank vehicle endorsements. A copy of a road test certificate issued within the preceding three years also counts. Neither substitute is available to a driver being physically qualified under the alternative vision standard for the first time — 391.44(d)(2) requires an actual road test.

Medical comes before dispatch. The carrier must obtain the certificate and any medical variance, verify the examiner's National Registry listing, and place the records in the DQ file before allowing the driver to operate a CMV.

What gets added every 12 months

Two documents, not one. At least once every 12 months you must obtain the MVR of each driver you employ, covering at least the preceding 12 months, from each licensing authority where the driver held a CMV license or permit during that period. Then, at least once every 12 months, somebody reviews that record to decide whether the driver still meets minimum requirements for safe driving or is disqualified under 391.15.

The MVR goes in the file. So does a separate note, and the note has required contents: the name of the person who performed the review and the date of it. A file holding the MVR with no review note is missing a required item. The review must give great weight to violations such as speeding, reckless driving, and operating under the influence.

Medical runs on its own cycle. Any driver not medically examined and certified during the preceding 24 months must be examined again, and several conditions shorten that to 12 months.

The driver's annual list of violations is gone

49 CFR 391.27 is now reserved. FMCSA removed the requirement that drivers prepare and submit an annual certified list of their traffic convictions in a final rule titled Record of Violations, 87 FR 13192, published March 9, 2022. The Agency called it largely duplicative of the annual MVR inquiry, and in the same rule extended that inquiry to each driver's licensing authority where a driver holds or has held a CMV license or permit.

Plenty of DQ file checklists still ask for the driver's signed list. It is not an item in 391.51(b).

How long the file must be kept

Each driver's qualification file must be retained for as long as the driver is employed by that carrier, and for three years after that. Inside that window, 391.51(d) lets you purge five categories three years after the date of execution: the annual MVR, the annual review note, the medical examiner's certificate or CDLIS MVR, any FMCSA medical variance or SPE certificate, and the National Registry verification note.

Everything else stays for the full term. The application, the pre-employment MVR and the road test certificate are not removable at three years.

Records may sit at the principal place of business, a regional office or a driver work-reporting location. Records kept at a regional office or a driver work-reporting location must be made available at the principal place of business, or another location the agent specifies, within 48 hours of a request. Saturdays, Sundays and Federal holidays do not count toward the 48 hours.

Drug and alcohol records live somewhere else

The storage condition on drug and alcohol testing records is a rule, not a best practice. Part 40 requires employers to keep testing records in a location with controlled access, and Part 382 requires a secure location with controlled access for the alcohol misuse and controlled substances use prevention program. In practice that is why those records sit outside the DQ file. Part 40 requires employers to keep testing records in a location with controlled access, and Part 382 requires a secure location with controlled access for the alcohol misuse and controlled substances use prevention program. Part 40 also bars releasing individual test results to third parties without the employee's specific written consent.

Those records keep their own retention schedule: five years for verified positive drug results, alcohol results of 0.02 or greater, refusals, SAP reports, and all follow-up tests and follow-up test schedules; one year for negative and cancelled results; three years for Clearinghouse query records, a requirement that 382.701(e) treats as satisfied by maintaining a valid Clearinghouse registration.

There is a third file. The driver investigation history file under 391.53 holds the driver's written authorization and the previous employers' responses on safety performance history. It also belongs in a secure location with controlled access, may be used only for the hiring decision, and is kept for employment plus three years. A PSP report is useful, but it is not one of the items 391.51(b) requires.

What auditors actually write up

FMCSA publishes the list it audits against. Three DQ file failures appear on the list of acute and critical regulations in appendix B to part 385, all three classed as critical: failing to maintain a DQ file on each driver employed, 391.51(a); failing to maintain inquiries into the driver's driving record, 391.51(b)(2); and failing to maintain the medical examiner's certificate, 391.51(b)(6).

In a compliance review, one point is assessed for each instance of noncompliance with an acute regulation, or each pattern of noncompliance with a critical regulation. A pattern is more than one violation, and where a number of documents are reviewed, a pattern is at least 10 percent of those examined. Part 391 sits in the Driver factor with Parts 382 and 383, and that factor is satisfactory at zero points, conditional at one, and unsatisfactory at two or more. On a 40-driver roster with all 40 files examined, four files missing the pre-employment MVR is one pattern under 391.51(b)(2) and four missing the medical examiner's certificate is a second under 391.51(b)(6). Two points is an unsatisfactory Driver factor, and neither gap involved an unsafe driver.

That is a tracking problem before it is a paperwork problem. The files that sink a Driver factor are usually built correctly and then left to age: the 12-month MVR and the 24-month physical come due driver by driver, on dates nobody is watching. Fleetmule moves driver qualification forward and logs what ran, why it ran, who approved it and which document it produced, exportable for your auditor. It connects the systems you already run and does not replace a TMS or an ELD.

Common questions

What is required in a driver qualification file?

49 CFR 391.51(b) requires eight items: the employment application completed under 391.21, the pre-employment motor vehicle record, the road test certificate or an accepted equivalent, the annual MVR, a note on the annual review of the driving record, the medical examiner's certificate (or the CDLIS MVR for CDL holders), any FMCSA medical variance or Skill Performance Evaluation certificate, and, for drivers not required to have a CDL, a note verifying the examiner's National Registry listing.

How long must a driver qualification file be kept?

Under 49 CFR 391.51(c), the file must be retained for as long as the driver is employed by that motor carrier and for three years after. Five categories, including the annual MVR and the medical examiner's certificate, may be removed three years after the date of execution under 391.51(d).

Do drug and alcohol test results go in the driver qualification file?

No. They are not among the items listed in 49 CFR 391.51(b), and 49 CFR 40.333(c) and 49 CFR 382.401(a) require drug and alcohol program records to be kept in a location with controlled access. Part 40 also prohibits releasing individual test results to third parties without the employee's specific written consent.

Is the driver's annual certified list of violations still required?

No. 49 CFR 391.27 is reserved. FMCSA removed the annual list of traffic convictions in a final rule titled Record of Violations, 87 FR 13192, published March 9, 2022, calling it largely duplicative of the annual MVR inquiry under 391.25(a).

What has to be added to the DQ file each year?

Two items. 49 CFR 391.25(a) requires an MVR inquiry at least once every 12 months, and 391.25(c)(2) requires a note in the file giving the name of the person who performed the annual review of the driving record and the date of that review.