The Annual MVR and the Driver Review Note

The 12-month MVR from each state that licensed the driver

49 CFR 391.25(a) requires the motor carrier, at least once every 12 months, to make an inquiry to obtain the motor vehicle record of each driver it employs, covering each state in which the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator's license or permit during the time the driver was employed. If the driver held a license in two states that year, you order two records. The state where the truck is parked is not a substitute for the state that issued the license.

Count 12 months from the last inquiry, not from a round anniversary you prefer and not from the audit date. A hire-date MVR in March does not cover the following May. Put the next order on a calendar in month 11 so the paper is in the file before the twelfth month closes. Late by two weeks is still late.

The record has to come from the licensing authority. A driver-printed summary from a third-party phone app is not the inquiry 391.25 describes unless that product is actually the state record. When in doubt, order it from the state and file that copy.

The carrier's review note, which is a separate sentence

391.25(c) requires the carrier to review the driving record and to note that review in the qualification file. The note says that a named person reviewed the record on a named date and states what the review found, including that the driver meets the minimum requirements for safe driving or that the carrier is taking the driver off the road. A blank sticky note that says OK is weaker than a sentence. A sentence that ignores a suspension printed on the same page is not a review. It is a contradiction.

The checklist page lists this document among the others in the qualification file. It does not teach the 12-month habit. This page does. If your folder has MVRs and no notes, you have half of 391.25. Write the notes for the records you actually reviewed. Do not backdate a note for a record you never read.

Sign it. Date it. File it next to the MVR it discusses. An unsigned review that could belong to any of three drivers is not a note about this driver.

What you do with a new suspension

If the record shows a suspension, a revocation, a disqualification, or a medical certification status that means the driver is not certified, the driver stops. 391.15 and the CDL disqualifications in part 383 are not suggestions the carrier may weigh against a delivery appointment. Knowing the fact and dispatching anyway is worse than not knowing, and on a new-entrant audit the use of a disqualified driver is a single-occurrence automatic failure. Do not soften that. One trip is enough for that item.

Tell the driver in writing that they are not to operate until the state record shows the privilege restored, and keep that instruction with the note. A verbal promise to take care of the ticket does not restore a license. The next MVR, or a clearance from the state, is what puts them back in the truck. Not a photo of a receipt from a courthouse.

A medical downgrade on the same MVR is the same kind of stop. The CDL may still look valid in the wallet while the record says not certified. The record controls. The downgrade page explains that process. Do not re-argue it here.

Where it goes in the DQ file

The annual MVR and the note go into the driver qualification file required by 391.51. They sit with the application, the road-test evidence, and the earlier records. 391.51(d) allows those annual documents to be removed three years after execution. Until then they stay. The rest of the file still follows the employment-plus-three-years rule in 391.51(c).

Do not keep the annual review only in an email inbox. Inboxes are not the qualification file when the auditor is standing at the desk. Print it or store it in the same system you will open during the audit, and prove you can open it.

If the carrier reviews more often than every 12 months, keep those notes too. More often is allowed. Less often is not. A monthly program that skips a driver is not a 12-month program for that driver.

Owner-operators: you still review yourself

There is no employee exemption. The owner who drives for the carrier they own is the driver and the carrier. Someone must order the MVR and someone must write the note. That someone is you, or a person you designate who actually reads the record. Designating nobody, because there is no safety manager, leaves the duty on the carrier. The duty is unmet.

The same person must not confuse this review with the annual Clearinghouse limited query. You can do both in the same week. You cannot do one and cite it for the other. State licensing clerks do not see Clearinghouse records when they print an MVR, and the Clearinghouse does not print your speeding convictions. The annual limited query and the full-versus-limited decision cover the drug and alcohol side.

A lease operator who drives for a motor carrier that employs them is reviewed by that motor carrier. The lease does not move 391.25 onto the broker. If you employ the driver, you order the record.

The audit question that uses this page

An investigator asks for the qualification file and turns to the most recent MVR. Then they ask for the note. Then they count the months since the one before it. A 14-month gap is the finding. A note that says reviewed and a record that shows a suspension the carrier did not act on is a worse finding. The way the rest of the audit is organized is how to pass a DOT audit. Bring this page's two documents without mixing them into a speech about how careful the company is.

Build a list of drivers with the date of the last MVR and the date of the last note. If those dates are more than 12 months apart from today, that row is late. Fix the late rows before you add trucks. A growing fleet with a stale review process copies the gap into every new file.

Do not pay for a record you will not read. The fee the state charges is not the compliance step. The reading and the note are the step. File the invoice wherever you file invoices. File the note in the qualification file.

When the record arrives, read the medical certification line on a CDL MVR in the same sitting as the conviction line. A clean driving history with a not-certified medical status is not a clean review. The note should mention both. Splitting them into a someday task is how the medical status stays unseen until a roadside officer reads it first.

If a driver was licensed in another state for part of the year and surrendered that license, the inquiry still covers the state that licensed them during the employment period 391.25 names. Ask annually whether any new license was issued. The application from the hire date will not update itself. A driver who moved and got a new CDL has handed you a second state to order, and the old note does not cover the new record.

Frequently Asked Questions