As you know, federal regulations require that motor carriers are maintain a Driver Qualification (DQ) file for each of their commercial motor vehicle drivers. The purposes of DQ files is to contain, in one place, all support showing that the driver is fully qualified to operate the commercial vehicle, and therefore carriers should ensure that all DQ files contain all of the following important documents:

• Driver’s employment application (including accident history)
• Employment verifications for all Department of Transportation regulated/Safety Sensitive positions held for the three years prior to the date of application
• Three years of motor vehicle record(s) from the all licensing state(s), which must be ordered once every 12 months, and within 15 days after a new medical examiner’s certificate is issued
• Three years moving violations, or a statement indicating no violations were received
• Copy of commercial driver’s license, or copy of both non-commercial driver’s license and copy of the initial road test form and certificate
• Medical examiner’s certificate, including a verification that the examiner was on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners at the time of the exam
• If applicable:
  • Documentation of any medical variance, exemption, or waiver
  • Longer-combination-vehicle driver training certificate
  • Entry-level driver training certificate

We hope that this Alert helps to remind you of the importance of maintaining complete and compliant DQ files in order to pass any safety audits, and we recommend that all DQ files be treated as confidential and kept in a secure location with controlled access. If you have any questions on DQ files, or First Advantage’s Fleet services, please contact your Customer Success Manager or your legal counsel.