How far back does an MVR go for a CDL driver?

The regulation requires three years, from every state that issued the driver a license in that period, and most states will return three years or more on a commercial request. Underwriters look at the same three years and weigh the recent ones more heavily; a violation in year one and a clean two years after it reads very differently from the reverse.

Is the Clearinghouse query part of the driver qualification file?

It is required under Part 382 rather than §391.51, so strictly it is a separate record — but it is checked in the same audit, it has the same pre-employment and annual rhythm, and the sensible place to keep the query results is with the file. Miss the pre-employment query and the driver was not lawfully operating from day one.

Do I still need the driver’s annual list of violations?

No. The annual list of violations under §391.27 was rescinded in 2022 and dropped from the §391.51 list, which was renumbered. Checklists that still ask for it were written before the change. The annual MVR and the documented review of it are what remain.

Where is the driver qualification file kept?

At the principal place of business or a regional office, and it must be produced there for an audit — which is one reason the address on the MCS-150 has to be a real place where somebody keeps records, not a mail drop. Electronic files are fine; a file that has to be requested from a vendor is only fine if the vendor answers in time.

What happens to my insurance if a driver’s file is incomplete?

Nothing, until something happens. Then the file is the first thing a claims adjuster and a plaintiff’s lawyer ask for, and a missing MVR on the driver who hit somebody turns a covered accident into a negligent-hiring case against the company. At renewal the underwriter prices what they cannot see as risk, and a fleet that cannot produce its files is one they will not fight to keep.

What has to be in a driver qualification file?

Eight things, listed in 49 CFR §391.51: the employment application, the three-year motor vehicle record from every state that licensed the driver, the road test certificate or its CDL equivalent, the annual MVR, the note recording the annual review, the medical certification, any skill performance or medical variance, and the note verifying the medical examiner was on the National Registry. Add the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse queries, which live under Part 382 but are checked in the same audit, and keep the file for the whole employment plus three years.

Call/Text(626) 344-2158

/ Start here

Tell us the situation.

One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.

We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.

The detail

A driver qualification file must contain the driver’s application for employment, the motor vehicle record obtained at hire, the road test certificate or the license accepted in its place, each annual motor vehicle record, the note recording each annual review, the medical examiner’s certificate or the CDLIS record showing medical status, any skill performance evaluation certificate or medical exemption, and the note verifying the medical examiner was listed on the National Registry.
49 CFR §391.51(b)(1)–(8)
The file is retained for as long as the driver is employed and for three years after; the annual MVRs, review notes, medical certificates and registry notes may be removed three years after they were executed.
49 CFR §391.51(c) and (d)
Within 30 days of the date a driver’s employment begins the carrier must obtain a motor vehicle record covering the preceding three years from every state that licensed the driver in that period, and must investigate the driver’s safety performance history with DOT-regulated employers over the same three years.
49 CFR §391.23(a)(1) and (a)(2)
A new motor vehicle record must be obtained at least once every 12 months, the driver’s record reviewed at least once every 12 months, and a note of the review — with the name of the reviewer and the date — placed in the file.
49 CFR §391.25(a), (b) and (c)
Before a driver performs a safety-sensitive function for the first time, the employer must run a full pre-employment query of the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse; every driver must be queried at least once a year after that; and where a limited annual query returns a hit, a full query must be run within 24 hours.
49 CFR §382.701(a), (b) and (b)(3)
For a CDL or permit holder the carrier verifies medical certification from the CDLIS motor vehicle record rather than a paper certificate; a paper certificate could be used for up to 15 days after issue only through 22 June 2025.
49 CFR §391.23(m)(2) and §391.51(b)(6)
The carrier must verify that the medical examiner who issued a certificate was listed on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners on the date of issue, and keep a note of that verification in the file.
49 CFR §391.23(m)(1) and §391.51(b)(8)
A recordkeeping violation carries a civil penalty of up to $1,584 per day to a maximum of $15,846, and a falsified record up to $15,846; a Clearinghouse violation carries up to $7,155.
49 CFR Part 386, Appendix B, paragraphs (a)(1), (a)(2) and (b), as adjusted for 2025 (90 FR 22863)

What this means for you

Before the first dispatch: the signed application (§391.21), the three-year MVR from every state that licensed them (§391.23(a)(1)), the previous-employer safety history request sent (§391.23(a)(2), 30 days to complete), the full Clearinghouse pre-employment query (§382.701(a)), the road test certificate or the CDL you accepted instead (§391.31, §391.33), and the medical certification — the certificate for a non-CDL driver, the CDLIS MVR for a CDL driver (§391.43, §391.23(m)). The 30-day clocks on the MVR and the safety history run from the hire date, but a driver you have not queried in the Clearinghouse cannot legally turn a wheel.
Every year: a fresh MVR (§391.25(a)), a documented review of it with the reviewer’s name and the date (§391.25(c)), and the annual Clearinghouse query (§382.701(b)) — a limited query is fine, but a hit converts it into a full query within 24 hours. Set all three to the hire anniversary and you will never be asked why the last MVR is fourteen months old.
Every time a medical card changes: the new certification and the National Registry check on the examiner who signed it (§391.23(m)(1)). Since June 2025 a CDL driver’s status comes off the CDLIS record rather than the paper card, which means the state has to have it — a driver whose examiner never transmitted the exam is not certified, however current the card in the wallet looks.
Retention: the whole file for the length of employment plus three years (§391.51(c)); the annual MVRs, review notes, medical certificates and registry notes can be purged three years after they were made (§391.51(d)). A file you cannot produce is a file you do not have, whichever cabinet it is in.
What the underwriter reads is the same file. The MVRs decide the driver rate; a driver on the schedule with no MVR in the file is priced as unknown, and a driver who appears in your operation without appearing on the schedule at all is the mistake that ends policies. Run the record before the hire, not after the inspection.
What this page does not tell you is how many points is too many. That number belongs to each insurer, it moves with the market, and printing one teaches a driver what to leave off the application. Pull the record; then ask a licensed agent what it will do to the price before you make the offer.

Go deeper on any of these

Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.