Part 391 requires you to build and keep a driver qualification file for every driver you employ, containing the employment application, motor vehicle records, road test certificate, annual review note, and medical certification documentation. Under 49 CFR 391.51(c), that file must be retained for as long as the driver works for you and for three years after they leave. Certain records — the annual MVR, the annual review note, and the medical certificate — may be purged three years after the date of execution under 391.51(d).
Part 391 sets the minimum qualifications a person must meet to drive a commercial motor vehicle for you, and the records you must build and keep to prove it. In practice that means one thing above all: a driver qualification file for every driver, containing the eight categories of documents listed in 49 CFR 391.51(b), retained for as long as the driver works for you and three years afterward.
This is the part that DOT auditors open first, because it is the cheapest place to find violations. Nothing here requires a road inspection or a data download — it is either in the folder or it isn’t.
Who does Part 391 apply to, and who is exempt?
The rules “establish minimum qualifications for persons who drive commercial motor vehicles as, for, or on behalf of motor carriers,” per 49 CFR 391.1(a). If you are both the motor carrier and the driver — a one-truck owner-operator running under your own authority — 391.1(b) makes you responsible for both sets of duties. You cannot self-certify your way out of the file.
Part 391 is a federal, interstate rule. Most states have adopted the FMCSRs by reference for intrastate operations, but nearly all of them modify something — the minimum age is the usual one, and many states run an intrastate medical waiver program for drivers who cannot hold a federal card. If you run intrastate only, the state’s adopted version governs.
Subpart G carries the limited exemptions, and they are narrower than carriers assume:
- 391.61 — a driver who has been a single-employer driver of the same carrier continuously since before January 1, 1971 is exempt from 391.21, 391.23 and 391.31.
- 391.62 — drivers operating wholly within an exempt intracity zone, who were doing so continuously through November 18, 1988, and who do not haul placarded hazardous materials.
- 391.63 — multiple-employer drivers. You still comply with the rest of Part 391, but you need not take an application, run the 391.23 investigation, or perform the annual MVR inquiry and review. You must record the driver’s name, SSN, and license number, type and issuing jurisdiction, and keep that for three years after the driver stops working for you.
- 391.65 — drivers furnished by another motor carrier, on a written certification from an authorized officer of that carrier. The certificate cannot run longer than two years or past the medical certificate expiration, whichever is earlier, and you must retain a copy for three years.
- 391.67 — farm vehicle drivers 18 or older operating articulated CMVs are exempt from 391.11(b)(1) and (b)(7), Subpart C, Subpart D and Subpart F.
Every other driver gets the full file.
What has to be in a driver qualification file?
The table below maps each required document to its citation, when it is due, and how long it lives.
| Document | Citation | When it’s due | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment application (3 yrs addresses, accidents, violations; 10 yrs employment for CMV drivers) | 391.21; filed under 391.51(b)(1) | Before hire | Employment + 3 years |
| Motor vehicle record from each licensing authority, preceding 3 years | 391.23(a)(1), (b); 391.51(b)(2) | In the file within 30 days of employment start | Employment + 3 years |
| Road test certificate, or the equivalent (CDL / prior carrier’s certificate ≤3 yrs old) | 391.31(e), 391.33; 391.51(b)(3) | Before the driver operates a CMV | Employment + 3 years |
| Annual motor vehicle record inquiry | 391.25(a); 391.51(b)(4) | At least once every 12 months | May be purged 3 years after execution — 391.51(d)(1) |
| Note of the annual review of the driving record | 391.25(c)(2); 391.51(b)(5) | At least once every 12 months | May be purged 3 years after execution — 391.51(d)(2) |
| Medical examiner’s certificate (non-CDL) or CDLIS MVR showing certification status (CDL) | 391.43(g); 391.51(b)(6)(i)–(ii) | Before driving; renewed at least every 24 months per 391.45 | May be purged 3 years after execution — 391.51(d)(3) |
| Medical variance: SPE certificate or federal medical exemption | 391.49, Part 381; 391.51(b)(7) | While in effect | May be purged 3 years after execution — 391.51(d)(4) |
| National Registry verification note | 391.23(m); 391.51(b)(8) | At each medical certification | May be purged 3 years after execution — 391.51(d)(5) |
| Safety performance history from previous DOT-regulated employers | 391.53 | Investigation begun before or shortly after hire | Employment + 3 years, in a separate restricted file |
Two things trip people up here. First, 391.51(d) does not shorten the life of the file — 391.51(c) still requires the file to exist for employment plus three years. It only lets you thin out stale annual paperwork. Second, the 391.53 investigation history is deliberately not part of the DQF: access is restricted to people involved in the hiring decision, the people who control the data, your insurer (excluding the drug and alcohol information), and authorized federal, state or local enforcement personnel. It may only be used for the hiring decision.
If you want a working checklist rather than a citation map, the DQF checklist generator produces one per driver, and the deeper walkthrough lives in our driver qualification files guide.
How long do I have to keep a driver qualification file?
As long as the driver is employed, plus three years after separation. That is the whole rule, stated at 391.51(c). It applies to the file as a unit — a terminated driver’s folder is not archive material for three more years, and an auditor reviewing a compliance period that includes that driver will ask for it.
The three-year clock in 391.51(d) is a different clock. It runs from the date each individual record was executed, and it lets you remove the annual MVR, the annual review note, the medical certificate or CDLIS MVR, the medical variance, and the National Registry verification note. Nothing else on the 391.51(b) list is removable.
What changed for medical certificates in June 2025?
This is the live change most small carriers are still catching up on.
Certified medical examiners have been required to transmit examination results electronically to FMCSA’s National Registry using Form MCSA-5850 by midnight local time on the next calendar day, and to retain their own exam records for at least three years (49 CFR 391.43(g)). Under the National Registry II rule, states had to be able to receive that certification information from FMCSA and post it to the CDLIS driver record by June 23, 2025.
The practical consequence for a carrier:
- CDL and CLP holders — the medical certification status now flows examiner → FMCSA → state licensing agency → CDLIS MVR. Section 391.41(a) no longer obliges a CDL holder who has been certified through this pipeline to carry the paper card. What goes in your file is the CDLIS MVR obtained under 391.51(b)(6)(ii). Note the dates in the regulation itself: the 15-day grace period allowing a copy of the driver’s current medical examiner’s certificate as proof ran “after January 30, 2015, and through June 22, 2025,” and the National Registry verification note for CDL drivers under 391.51(b)(8)(ii) and 391.23(m)(2) likewise ran “through June 22, 2025.”
- Non-CDL drivers — nothing changed. You still file the medical examiner’s certificate or a legible copy under 391.51(b)(6)(i), and you still record the National Registry verification note required by 391.23(m)(1).
The examination interval is unchanged: 49 CFR 391.45 requires certification at least once every 24 months, with 12-month cycles in defined circumstances and a shorter certificate whenever the examiner judges the driver’s condition warrants it. Also note that state implementation was uneven around the compliance date — if a CDL driver’s certification has not posted to the MVR, get FMCSA’s current guidance rather than assuming the driver is not-certified.
What does the pre-employment investigation actually require?
Section 391.23 splits into two obligations that run on different tracks.
The MVR inquiry, 391.23(a)(1). An inquiry to each driver’s licensing authority where the driver held a license or permit during the preceding three years. The record must be in the DQF within 30 days of the date employment begins. Multi-state drivers mean multiple inquiries.
The safety performance history investigation, 391.23(a)(2). An investigation of the driver’s safety performance history with DOT-regulated employers for the preceding three years. You must ask about general identification and employment verification, DOT-recordable accidents as defined in 390.15(b)(1), and — for the alcohol and controlled substances history — violations of the Part 382 prohibitions, failure to complete a return-to-duty process, and any post-SAP testing violation. Since January 6, 2023, the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is the mechanism for that drug and alcohol piece, which is covered in our Part 382 reference.
Previous employers are on the hook too: under 391.23(g) they must respond within 30 days of receiving a request and keep a record of the request for one year. The driver has rights you must notify them of — to review the information received, to request corrections, and to submit a rebuttal (391.23(i)). A previous employer then has 15 days to correct the data or state its disagreement, and rebuttals must be forwarded within five business days (391.23(j)).
If a previous employer never responds, document the good-faith effort. That documentation is what satisfies the auditor, not the missing response.
What does the annual review require now that 391.27 is gone?
FMCSA removed 49 CFR 391.27 — the annual “record of violations” a driver had to prepare and furnish — effective May 9, 2022, on the reasoning that the annual MVR already contains the same convictions. If your DQF checklist still has a certificate-of-violations line, it is out of date.
What remains under 391.25 is unchanged and mandatory:
- At least once every 12 months, obtain the MVR for each driver you employ (391.25(a)).
- At least once every 12 months, review that record to determine whether the driver meets the minimum requirements for safe driving and is disqualified under 391.15 (391.25(b)).
- File the MVR and a note identifying who performed the review and when (391.25(c), 391.51(b)(4)–(5)).
Step 2 is the one that gets missed. A downloaded MVR sitting in a folder is not a review; the note is the evidence that a human looked at it.
When is a driver disqualified?
Section 391.11(b) is the qualification floor: at least 21 years old, able to read and speak English sufficiently to converse with the public, understand highway traffic signs and signals in English, respond to official inquiries and make entries on reports and records, physically qualified under Subpart E, holding a currently valid CMV operator’s license issued by only one state or jurisdiction, not disqualified under 391.15, and holding a road test certificate or its equivalent.
The English language proficiency standard at 391.11(b)(2) is old text but newly consequential: non-compliance became a driver out-of-service violation under the North American Standard Out-of-Service Criteria effective June 25, 2025, following FMCSA enforcement guidance memo MC-SEE-2025-0001. It is now an operational risk, not a paperwork one.
Section 391.15(c) disqualifies a driver for offenses including operating a CMV under the influence of alcohol at 0.04 or greater or refusing a test, operating under the influence of a Schedule I substance, amphetamine or narcotic, transporting or unlawfully using controlled substances while on duty, leaving the scene of an accident in a CMV, and committing a felony involving a CMV. The period is one year for a first offense — six months where the conviction was solely for transportation or possession — and three years for a subsequent offense within three years. Texting violations carry their own escalating schedule under 391.15(e): 60 days for a second violation within three years, 120 days for a third or subsequent.
What auditors actually check
A DOT safety investigation samples driver files against the compliance period. Expect the reviewer to:
- Pull a sample of drivers, including terminated ones, and ask for the complete file for each.
- Date-check the MVR against the hire date, looking for the 30-day window in 391.23(b).
- Confirm the annual MVR and the reviewer’s note, not just one of the two.
- Verify the medical certification is current and — for CDL holders post-June 2025 — that the CDLIS MVR shows certified status.
- Confirm the road test certificate exists, or the CDL copy accepted under 391.33, and check that a double/triple or tank endorsement was not used as the equivalent.
- Look for evidence of the 391.23 safety performance history investigation, and for the documented good-faith effort where a prior employer did not reply.
- Check that the 391.53 investigation history is stored separately with restricted access.
- Cross-check against Part 382: a driver with no pre-employment Clearinghouse query is a finding under both parts.
The single most useful preparation is to run a file for a driver you terminated eighteen months ago. That is where the gaps live. Our DOT audit preparation walkthrough covers the sequence, and the audit readiness quiz is a faster self-check.
Most common Part 391 violations
Ranked by how often they turn up in real reviews rather than by severity:
- Using a driver before obtaining the inquiry into the driving record — the 391.23(a)(1) MVR missing or past the 30-day window.
- No annual review of driving record — the MVR is there, the note is not (391.25(b)–(c)).
- Medical certificate expired — the driver kept driving past the certificate date; under 391.11(b)(4) the driver was not qualified for every mile of it.
- No road test certificate or acceptable equivalent (391.31/391.33), often because the carrier accepted a CDL for a tank or doubles assignment.
- Employment application incomplete — the 10-year employment history for CMV drivers under 391.21(b)(10)–(11) truncated to three years.
- No safety performance history investigation (391.23(a)(2)), or no documentation of good-faith effort.
- File not retained for three years after separation (391.51(c)) — usually a terminated driver’s folder that was cleaned out.
Most of these are recordkeeping failures with a driving-time consequence attached: if the file cannot show the driver was qualified, the regulation treats the driver as unqualified for the period concerned.
Where Part 391 connects to the rest of the FMCSRs
Part 391 rarely gets cited alone. The pre-employment and annual Clearinghouse queries live in Part 382. Licensing standards and endorsements sit in Part 383. Entry-level driver training under Part 380 must be complete before a driver takes a CDL skills test — a prerequisite to the license Part 391 requires. And a driver who is qualified on paper still has to run legal hours under Part 395.
If you are building a compliance program rather than fixing one file, the DOT compliance guide sequences these in the order they actually bind, and the full 49 CFR library covers the remaining parts. Fleetive’s driver management module builds the DQF from the documents as they arrive and tracks the 30-day, 12-month and 24-month clocks above, which is the part carriers most often lose to a spreadsheet.
This is a plain-English summary of 49 CFR Part 391, not legal advice. Regulations change; verify against the current text at Cornell’s Legal Information Institute or eCFR before relying on any requirement here.
Note: This is a plain-English summary of 49 CFR Part 391, current as of the date above, and is general information rather than legal advice. The regulation itself is controlling — read it on the eCFR and confirm current requirements with the FMCSA.