# PSP vs MVR vs CDLIS: A Three-Way Comparison of What Each Report Actually Shows

Canonical: https://www.fastdriverscreening.com/guides/psp-vs-mvr-vs-cdlis
Category: Compliance
Published: 2026-05-02
Updated: 2026-05-02
Read time: 9 min

## TL;DR

> PSP, MVR, and CDLIS each surface different driver history. MVR is the issuing-state license transcript; CDLIS is the federal index of every state where the driver has held a CDL; PSP is the FMCSA crash-and-inspection record. A complete CDL pre-employment package needs all three plus a Clearinghouse query.

## Key takeaways

- MVR — issuing-state DMV transcript: license status, class, endorsements, convictions, accidents, administrative actions in one state.
- CDLIS — federal AAMVA index: every state where the driver has held a CDL or CDL learner's permit, plus current license status in each.
- PSP — FMCSA database from MCMIS: 5 years of crash data, 3 years of roadside inspection data at prior carriers (driver-applicable and vehicle-applicable violations).
- Clearinghouse — FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse: drug-and-alcohol program violations recorded under §382.601/§382.605.
- A full §391.23 + §382.701(a) CDL pre-employment file needs MVR + CDLIS + PSP + Clearinghouse query — the $100 DOT Pre-Employment package covers all four.

## Cited entities

- FMCSA Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) (https://www.psp.fmcsa.dot.gov)
- Commercial Driver's License Information System (CDLIS)
- Motor Vehicle Record (MVR)
- FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse (https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov)
- 49 CFR §391.23 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-391.23)
- 49 CFR §391.25 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-391.25)
- 49 CFR §382.701 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-382.701)
- 49 CFR §383.51 (https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/section-383.51)
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov)
- American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (https://www.aamva.org)

## Excerpt

Three different federal-or-federally-supervised data sources sit at the heart of CDL pre-employment screening: the [Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP)](/glossary/psp), the [Motor Vehicle Record (MVR)](/glossary/mvr), and the [Commercial Driver License Information System (CDLIS)](/glossary/cdlis). They are often discussed in the same breath, are sometimes ordered as a single bundle, and are routinely confused with one another by carriers running their first hire. They are not interchangeable. Each surfaces a different slice of the driver's history, each is governed by different federal authority, and skipping any one of them on a CDL hire leaves a documented gap in the §391.23 pre-employment file.

This guide breaks down each report side by side: who runs it, what it shows, what it does not show, and where each one fits into the CDL pre-employment workflow.

## The 30-second comparison

- MVR — state DMV transcript of one driver's license history in one state. The most detailed and granular of the three for ordinary traffic violations.
- CDLIS — federal pointer database that lists every state where a driver has ever held a CDL or CDL learner's permit. Tells you which MVRs to pull.
- PSP — FMCSA-administered database of crash and roadside-inspection records pulled from MCMIS. Tells you about on-the-road history at prior carriers, not license-status history.

Each one fills a different gap. None of them is a substitute for any of the others.

## Side-by-side comparison

| Attribute | MVR | CDLIS | PSP |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Source | State DMV | AAMVA federal index | FMCSA / MCMIS |
| Scope | One state at a time | All states where driver held a CDL | All carriers in prior 5 years |
| License status | Yes (in that state) | Yes (every CDL state) | No |
| Convictions | Yes (citation-level) | No (status only) | No |
| Crash history | State-recorded only | No | Yes (5 years) |
| Roadside inspections | No | No | Yes (3 years) |
| Drug-and-alcohol violations | No |

[...truncated — read full article at canonical link above.]

Full article: https://www.fastdriverscreening.com/guides/psp-vs-mvr-vs-cdlis