Question 1

What screening packages do you offer?

Accepted Answer

Five packages spanning the full DOT pre-hire stack. (1) MVR Basic — $40, single Motor Vehicle Record, best for non-CDL drivers and §391.25 annual reviews. (2) MVR + CDLIS — $60, adds the AAMVA cross-state CDL check required at every CDL hire under §391.23. (3) DOT Hire-Ready — $80, adds FMCSA PSP (5-yr crash + 3-yr inspection history) for candidate vetting before formal hire. (4) DOT Pre-Employment — $100, the full pre-hire stack: MVR + CDLIS + PSP + FMCSA Clearinghouse pre-employment query (mandatory under §382.701(a) before a CDL driver's first dispatch). (5) Annual Refresh — $60, MVR + Clearinghouse limited annual query for §382.701(b) recurring compliance.

Question 2

How much does a single MVR cost?

Accepted Answer

A single MVR is $40 flat (MVR Basic package). No per-state surcharges, no sign-up fees, no monthly minimums. Same-day digital delivery from the issuing-state DMV.

Question 3

Which package do I need before hiring a CDL driver?

Accepted Answer

DOT Pre-Employment ($100). FMCSA requires four reports before a CDL driver's first dispatch — MVR (§391.23), CDLIS (§391.23(a)(1)), PSP, and a Clearinghouse pre-employment query (§382.701(a)) — and DOT Pre-Employment bundles all four. Buying anything cheaper means you still need the missing pieces before the driver can legally operate.

Question 4

What is the difference between DOT Hire-Ready and DOT Pre-Employment?

Accepted Answer

DOT Hire-Ready ($80) gives you MVR + CDLIS + PSP — three reports you can pull without driver Clearinghouse consent. It's the candidate-vetting step. DOT Pre-Employment ($100) adds the FMCSA Clearinghouse pre-employment query, which requires the driver to e-sign a consent through the FMCSA Clearinghouse portal. The Clearinghouse query is the report you legally need before a CDL driver's first dispatch.

Question 5

How does Annual Refresh work?

Accepted Answer

Annual Refresh ($60) bundles a yearly MVR (for §391.25 driver record review) with a Clearinghouse limited annual query (for §382.701(b) recurring compliance). Run it on every CDL driver every 12 months and your annual driver-side compliance is done in one click. It's a one-time charge, not a subscription — buy it again next year when the driver's anniversary rolls around.

Question 6

How quickly will I get the report?

Accepted Answer

MVR, CDLIS, and PSP come back in minutes. The FMCSA Clearinghouse query lands within 1 business day after the driver e-signs consent in the Clearinghouse portal — that's the FMCSA system's response time, not ours. We email each report the moment it's delivered.

Question 7

What information is on an MVR?

Accepted Answer

A Motor Vehicle Record lists the driver's license status, class and endorsements, expiration, restrictions, accidents, citations, suspensions, withdrawals, and any actions taken against the license over the FMCSA-required look-back period. It is the document you keep in the DQ File for §391.25 annual reviews.

Question 8

What does the FMCSA Clearinghouse query show?

Accepted Answer

The pre-employment Clearinghouse query (limited consent) returns whether the driver has any unresolved drug or alcohol program violations on file in the FMCSA Clearinghouse — the federal database every CDL employer must check before hiring. The driver e-signs consent in their FMCSA Clearinghouse account and the query lands within 1 business day. Annual Refresh uses the same limited-consent query for the §382.701(b) recurring check.

Question 9

What is PSP and why include it?

Accepted Answer

PSP — the FMCSA Pre-Employment Screening Program — is a federally-maintained database of every commercial driver's 5-year crash history and 3-year roadside-inspection history. It catches patterns (repeated HOS violations, brake-system failures, OOS orders) that a clean MVR would never surface. Both DOT Hire-Ready and DOT Pre-Employment include it.

Question 10

Do I need the driver's consent before pulling these reports?

Accepted Answer

Yes — different consents for different reports. MVR + CDLIS need a written DPPA + FCRA driver authorization (our checkout collects this). PSP needs a written FMCSA-form consent (also collected at checkout). The FMCSA Clearinghouse query uses a digital handshake — the driver creates a Clearinghouse account at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov and approves your query in their portal. Packages that include any Clearinghouse component require this digital consent before we run the report.

Question 11

What if the driver's license is from a state your service does not cover?

Accepted Answer

We cover all 50 states + D.C. Some states (e.g., Pennsylvania, Washington) require an extra step the system handles automatically. You see one package price — no per-state surcharges — regardless of issuing state.

Question 12

What is the Driver Qualification (DQ) File?

Accepted Answer

A DQ File is the federally-required folder of documents every motor carrier must keep on each commercial driver they employ. It includes the application, MVRs, road test, medical card, drug-test records, and supervisor reviews. 49 CFR §391.51 spells out the contents.

Question 13

What does the $25 DQ File template add-on include?

Accepted Answer

The same DQ File our compliance team uses internally to onboard drivers, packaged as a fillable PDF + editable Word doc. Includes the application for employment, road-test certificate, MVR review form, drug & alcohol consent, prior-employer verification, annual review checklist, and the driver certification of violations. Fill in the gaps for each driver and you have an audit-ready §391.51 file in minutes — without rebuilding the form from scratch every time.

Question 14

Is the DQ File template a one-time purchase or per-driver?

Accepted Answer

One-time. You buy it once, save it, and reuse the template for every driver you onboard. We email a fillable PDF and an editable Word doc the moment your order completes.

Question 15

Who needs to pull MVRs and run CDLIS checks?

Accepted Answer

Every motor carrier that employs commercial drivers - both CDL and most non-CDL commercial drivers. FMCSA requires an MVR before hiring (49 CFR §391.23) and an annual review (49 CFR §391.25). CDLIS is required for CDL holders under §391.23(a)(1).

Question 16

Are the reports admissible for FMCSA audits?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We pull from the same state DMV, AAMVA CDLIS, FMCSA PSP, and FMCSA Clearinghouse sources used by enterprise screening services. The PDFs we deliver carry the issuing-source header and timestamp FMCSA auditors expect to see in the DQ File.

Question 17

Can I run an MVR on a driver who is not yet hired?

Accepted Answer

Yes - that is the most common use case. A pre-hire MVR is required by §391.23 before the first day of operation. As long as you have the driver's signed consent, you can run the report.

Question 18

What is the §382.701(a) Clearinghouse pre-employment query rule?

Accepted Answer

Since January 6, 2020, FMCSA requires every motor carrier to run a Clearinghouse pre-employment query on each CDL driver before that driver's first dispatch (49 CFR §382.701(a)). The query checks the federal Clearinghouse database for any unresolved drug or alcohol program violations on the driver's record. Operating a CDL driver without the query on file is a documented violation — the DOT Pre-Employment package handles it.

Question 19

What is the §382.701(b) annual Clearinghouse query?

Accepted Answer

In addition to the pre-employment query, FMCSA requires every motor carrier to run a limited-consent Clearinghouse query on each CDL driver every 12 months (49 CFR §382.701(b)). The Annual Refresh package bundles this with the §391.25 annual MVR review so a year's worth of recurring driver compliance happens in one click.

Driver screening glossary