MVR & CDLIS at student enrollment, from $50 a pull

The §391.15 disqualifiers a school cannot fix

49 CFR §391.15(c) lists the disqualifying offenses: alcohol or drug DUI (including test refusal), controlled-substance possession or use, leaving the scene of an accident, and a felony involving a CMV. A first offense disqualifies for 1 year (6 months for possession only) and a second within 3 years for 3 years. Lifetime CDL disqualifications come from §383.51(b). A DUI in the prior three years, a §392.5 alcohol-on-duty conviction, a felony involving the vehicle, a hit-and-run, or a refusal to submit to testing all surface on the state DMV record. Pull an MVR before the student writes the tuition check and a $50 report saves the school the cost of behind-the-wheel hours that can never produce a CDL graduate.

CDLIS layers on the multi-state question. A student with a clean home-state record may have a withdrawn CLP from another state ten years ago. §383.21 limits a driver to one CDL or CLP across all jurisdictions, and the issuing state cannot legally upgrade the CLP to a CDL while the foreign CLP is still outstanding. Catching that on day one is $25 more than the MVR alone (the MVR + CDLIS package).

The §380 entry-level driver training context

FMCSA’s 49 CFR Part 380 entry-level driver training rule (effective February 7, 2022) requires every Class A and Class B CDL applicant to complete training from a registered Training Provider Registry school before taking the CDL skills test. Schools log completion to the FMCSA TPR, and the issuing state DMV pulls the TPR record before issuing the CDL.

The MVR pull is upstream of the §380 process - the school screens the candidate before the training cohort starts so the TPR completion record gets issued to a student who can actually convert it into a CDL. Reading the §391.23 pre-employment checklist gives the same disqualification framing a downstream motor carrier will run on graduates, so a school that pre-screens at enrollment delivers students pre-cleared for hire.

What a per-student screening run costs

A typical 4-week CDL program enrolls 8 to 12 students per cohort. Running MVR + CDLIS at enrollment is $75 per student - about $600 to $900 per cohort. A school running a cohort every two weeks (24 cohorts a year) lands at roughly $14,400 to $21,600 a year in pre-enrollment screening - line-item cost, not a SaaS contract.

See the CDLIS vs MVR comparison for what each report covers, or the DQ File vs MVR comparison for how downstream carriers consume the same documents.

What our service covers

• Single state MVR pulled from the DMV of record (3-year history)
• Optional AAMVA CDLIS cross-state CDL/CLP lookup (MVR + CDLIS package, $25 more than the MVR alone)
• FCRA + DPPA consent collected with the order
• PDF delivered by email; timing depends on the issuing state
• PDF the school can print and store in the student file
• Optional DQ File template ($25) for graduates entering motor-carrier work

How long screening takes

Timing depends on the state. CDLIS lists prior CDL states, and each of those states still delivers its own record on its own schedule. We email the PDF when the record is delivered.