Driver Qualification File Checklist

Part of Driver Files & Medical

One folder per driver, 6 required contents, and two items that have to be redone every twelve months. Tick what you actually hold and print the sheet as the folder's cover — an investigator who sees it filled in reads the rest of the file differently.

Driver qualification file

0 / 13

Tick what you actually hold. Nothing is stored — this is a worksheet you print, not a record we keep.

Readiness

0%

Not ready

Required by §391.51(b)

Medical certification

Kept beside the file

Your own lines

Printed with the sheet, not counted in the score.

    Low-poly render of a blank open folder on a desk
    One folder per driver, opened first.

    What it checks

    Three groups: the 6 contents §391.51(b) names, the medical certification that has its own clock, and the five records that live beside the file and get asked for in the same breath. The readiness figure is simply the fraction ticked — it is a worksheet, not a compliance opinion.

    Worked example

    A two-truck carrier hires a driver in March. By the following March the file needs a new motor vehicle record and a new review note, and by then the medical certificate may also have moved if it was issued short. That is three separate dates on one driver.

    ItemDoneNext dueStatus
    MVR inquiryMar 2026Mar 2027Compliant
    Annual review note—Mar 2027Missing
    Medical certificateJan 2026Jan 2027Short card

    The middle row is the classic finding: the record was pulled, nobody wrote the note saying it had been reviewed, and the file is incomplete on a document that takes two minutes to produce.

    The rule it comes from

    49 CFR §391.51 — each motor carrier shall maintain a driver qualification file for each driver it employs, containing the 6 items listed in paragraph (b). The Clearinghouse items come from §382.701, which is a separate obligation with its own retention rules.

    Sources

    Keep reading