Building a driver qualification file: what 49 CFR Part 391 actually requires

Who has to keep one

Carriers whose drivers operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce. For Part 391, a CMV is a vehicle with a GVWR, GCWR, GVW or GCW of 10,001 lb or more; or designed or used to carry more than 8 passengers (including the driver) for compensation, or more than 15 not for compensation; or carrying placardable hazardous materials 390.5.

"Interstate" also covers trips inside one state when the shipment began or ends outside it. Purely intrastate operations fall under state rules instead, and many states have adopted Part 391 in some form, so check yours. The regulation’s own exceptions (certain farm operations, private nonbusiness passenger carriers, occasional drivers) are narrow; read the exact section before relying on one 391.2.

Owner-operators with their own authority are not exempt. You are both carrier and driver, so both sets of rules apply 391.1(b): you keep a DQF on yourself, and someone other than you must give your road test 391.31(b).

The employment application

The application must be on a form you furnish, completed and signed by the applicant 391.21(b). It must contain:

1. Your company’s name and address.
2. The applicant’s name, address, date of birth and Social Security number.
3. Every address where the applicant lived in the past 3 years.
4. The date the application is submitted.
5. For each unexpired CMV license or permit: issuing state, number and expiration date.
6. The nature and extent of driving experience, including equipment types (bus, straight truck, tractor, semitrailer, full trailer, pole trailer).
7. All accidents in the past 3 years, with the date, nature, and any injuries or fatalities.
8. All traffic convictions and bond forfeitures in the past 3 years, other than parking.
9. Details of any license denial, suspension or revocation, or a statement that none has occurred.
10. All employers in the past 3 years: name, address, dates, reason for leaving, whether the job was subject to the FMCSRs, and whether it was a DOT safety-sensitive position subject to drug and alcohol testing.
11. CDL drivers only: the employers the applicant drove a CMV for in the 7 years before that 3-year window, with dates and reasons for leaving (10 years of CMV history in total).
12. The certification, at the end of the form, signed and dated by the applicant.

"This certifies that this application was completed by me, and that all entries on it and information in it are true and complete to the best of my knowledge."

You may ask for more 391.21(c). Before the applicant submits, give two notices: that previous employers will be contacted about their safety performance history, and that they have the right to review what those employers send, have errors corrected and attach a rebuttal 391.23(i). Print both on the application, as ours does, so you have a record they were given.

• Item 10 covers all employers, including non-driving jobs: a year at a warehouse still goes on the list.
• Ask for a written explanation of gaps. The rule doesn’t require it, but auditors look at gaps, and "N/A" in an empty row explains nothing.
• You can pre-fill your company details; the answers and the signature must be the driver’s.

What shows up in audits

The first five are violations FMCSA’s safety rating rules classify as critical or acute Appendix B to Part 385; the rest follow directly from the rule text.

1. 1

   No DQF at all for a driver

   49 CFR 391.51(a), critical · Often an owner-operator, a family member, or someone driving a truck under 26,001 lb.

2. 2

   Missing MVR inquiries, pre-hire or annual

   49 CFR 391.51(b)(2), critical

3. 3

   No medical certificate in the file, or a driver not medically certified

   49 CFR 391.51(b)(6), 391.45, critical

4. 4

   Using a disqualified or physically unqualified driver

   49 CFR 391.15(a), 391.11(b)(4), acute

5. 5

   Using a CDL driver before a negative pre-employment drug test result

   49 CFR 382.301(a), critical

6. 6

   Only one state’s MVR for a driver who moved in the past 3 years

   49 CFR 391.23(a)(1)

7. 7

   An incomplete application: no 3-year address history, no 7-year CMV history for CDL, wrong certification wording, no signature

   49 CFR 391.21(b)

8. 8

   An annual review with no reviewer name or date

   49 CFR 391.25(c)(2)

9. 9

   A blanket drug and alcohol release ("I authorize all past employers…"); each consent must name the employer

   49 CFR 40.321(b)

Questions carriers ask