MVR & State Driver Records

MVRs are the foundation of every Driver Qualification file. The Motor Vehicle Record is the state DMV transcript that determines whether a CDL driver is qualified under 49 CFR §391.15, and it is the first document FMCSA auditors examine when they open a DQ file.

A pre-employment MVR is required from every state where the driver held a license or permit during the prior three years. An annual MVR is required from every state where the driver currently holds (or held during the prior twelve months) a license. Both are signed and dated by the carrier's reviewer; the separate driver List of Violations (former §391.27) was removed from the rules in 2022, so the MVR is now the record the annual review rests on.

The MVR cluster below covers the full lifecycle: how to read each section line-by-line, how MVRs differ from CDLIS history files, how to apply the §391.15 disqualification analysis to convictions and administrative actions, and how to cross-walk MVR data into the PSP / clearinghouse pre-employment query workflow.

For most carriers the MVR is also the renewable annual signal: the §391.25 Annual Driver Review uses the prior 12 months of MVR to confirm continued qualification (the driver's written certification of violations under former §391.27 was removed in 2022 and is now optional). A clean MVR plus the carrier's signed review note closes out the file for another year.

Pricing-wise, a single-state MVR runs $50 in the MVR Basic package; the MVR + CDLIS bundle fills the multi-state gap by hitting every state where the driver has held a CDL since 1996 in one query.