What screening packages do you offer?

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.

How much does a single MVR cost?

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.

Which package do I need before hiring a CDL driver?

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.

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

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.

How does Annual Refresh work?

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.

How quickly will I get the report?

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.

What information is on an MVR?

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.

What does the FMCSA Clearinghouse query show?

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.

What is PSP and why include it?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

What is the Driver Qualification (DQ) File?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Who needs to pull MVRs and run CDLIS checks?

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).

Are the reports admissible for FMCSA audits?

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

MVR vs PSP: Which driver history report do you need?

MVR is the state DMV conviction record (license-action history). PSP is FMCSA's federal report covering 5 years of roadside inspections and 3 years of crashes from MCMIS. They cover different surfaces and are not interchangeable. DOT pre-employment under 49 CFR §391.23 normally needs both, plus a CDLIS pull for multi-state CDL drivers and a Clearinghouse query.

Side-by-side: MVR vs PSP

Dimension	MVR (state DMV)	PSP (FMCSA)
Source database	Individual state DMV record	FMCSA MCMIS via NIC Federal
What it shows	License actions, court convictions, suspensions, withdrawals	Roadside inspections (with violations), reportable crashes
Lookback window	3 years standard, up to 7-10 years in some states	5 years inspections, 3 years crashes — fixed
Geography	One state per pull (multi-state requires CDLIS to find states)	Nationwide on every CMV — one query covers all states
Who's covered	Any licensed driver	Drivers of CMVs (CDL or non-CDL) inspected on the road
Consent regime	DPPA (18 USC §2721) + state DMV rules + FCRA when bundled	FMCSA PSP MOU + FCRA written authorization
Typical cost	$4-$30 per state per pull	$10 per report (FMCSA fee)
CFR anchor	§391.23(a)	§391.23(d)

When to choose MVR

MVR is the right call when the question is "does this driver still have a valid license, and what does the state-court record say about their license-eligible convictions?" That covers DUIs that resulted in conviction, suspensions for failure to appear or unpaid fines, license-status events the carrier needs for pre-trip eligibility, and the §391.25 annual review requirement.

For a non-CDL driver who has only ever been licensed in one state, an MVR alone covers the §391.23(a) license-history requirement. Add CDLIS only if the driver has held (or might have held) a CDL in any other state during the prior 3 years.

For the §391.25 annual review, the carrier only needs the prior 12 months of MVR — PSP is not required for the annual review (it's a §391.23 pre-employment requirement, not an annual one). Many carriers still pull a 3-year MVR every annual cycle so the history file stays continuous.

When to choose PSP

PSP is the right call when the question is "what does this driver actually do on the road across employers?" Roadside inspectors document HOS violations, equipment defects, pre-trip issues, and load-securement problems that often never become a court case. None of those land on an MVR — they land on PSP.

For pre-employment under 49 CFR §391.23(d), the regulation expects the carrier to investigate "the safety performance history with all DOT-regulated employers" over the prior 3 years. PSP is the cheapest, fastest evidence of that history — one $10 query returns every roadside inspection on the driver across every employer in the lookback window.

PSP is also the right tool when checking owner-operators or contract drivers. Their MVR may be clean (they've never been convicted of a moving violation), but a long PSP showing repeat HOS or pre-trip violations is a real §391.23(d) data point.

Why most carriers pull both

For pre-employment of any CMV driver, the safe answer is "both, plus CDLIS if the driver might have held a CDL in another state, plus the Clearinghouse pre-employment query for any §382-covered driver." The four reports answer different questions and the §391.23 file is incomplete without the union of all four. Bundled DOT Pre-Employment screening lands at $100 because the four-report package is the operating standard for new-hire CDL screening.

For non-CDL CMV drivers, the bundle drops to MVR + PSP (no CDLIS, no Clearinghouse). The PSP query still applies because PSP covers any CMV inspection, not just CDL-eligible ones.

Frequently asked questions

Is PSP a substitute for an MVR?

No. PSP and MVR are complementary, not interchangeable. PSP only contains roadside-inspection and crash data from MCMIS — it does not list license-action events, suspensions, or court convictions. MVR only contains the state DMV conviction record — it does not list inspections or crashes. The 49 CFR §391.23(d) pre-employment investigation expects the carrier to know both surfaces, which means pulling both reports.

Can a driver have a clean MVR but a long PSP?

Yes, and it happens often. Roadside inspectors document violations (HOS, pre-trip, equipment) that never escalate to a court conviction; those land on PSP but not MVR. The reverse is also possible — a DUI conviction in a non-CMV personal vehicle hits MVR but never appears on PSP because no CMV inspection was involved.

How much does each report cost?

PSP is $10 per report from FMCSA via the NIC Federal portal, with no volume discount. MVR pricing varies by state DMV from about $4 to $30 per pull. Bundled FastDriverScreening DOT Pre-Employment ($100) includes MVR + CDLIS + PSP + the Clearinghouse pre-employment query — usually cheaper than buying each piece à la carte.

Run MVR + PSP in one order

The DOT Pre-Employment package on the home page bundles MVR + CDLIS + PSP + the §382.701(a) Clearinghouse pre-employment query for $100, with one consent form covering all four sources.

Run a report — from $40

This page is informational and is not legal advice. Verify regulatory requirements against the current text of 49 CFR Part 391 before relying on this comparison for hiring or audit purposes.