The short answer: 49 CFR 391.25 is titled Annual inquiry and review of driving record, and the word doing the damage is and. Paragraph (a) makes you obtain the motor vehicle record. Paragraph (b) makes you review it. Paragraph (c) makes you keep two separate things in the driver qualification file: a copy of the MVR under 391.25(c)(1), and, under 391.25(c)(2), a note including the name of the person who performed the review and the date of that review.
That note is the document most small carriers do not have. The MVR is in the file, freshly pulled, dated, sometimes even highlighted. There is no record that any human being looked at it and reached a conclusion. Paragraph (a) is satisfied, paragraph (b) is invisible, and at an audit an invisible obligation is an unperformed one. The second trap is scope: the annual inquiry goes to each driver licensing authority where the driver held a commercial license during the period, not just the state on the license in his wallet today.
This is a walkthrough of one section of the regulations and how carriers implement it. It is not legal advice and not an employment decision for any specific driver. If a specific record puts a driver's qualification in doubt, that call belongs to you as the employer, with counsel where the stakes justify it. For where this document sits inside the whole file, see our driver qualification file audit checklist.
An MVR is a product. You order it from a state, or from a vendor who orders it from the state, and it arrives. A review is an act of judgment by a named person on a named date, and the regulation cares about the judgment, not the paper.
Read the two paragraphs next to each other and the split is obvious:
The review has an output: a determination on two questions. Does this driver still meet the minimum requirements for safe driving? Is this driver disqualified? A stack of MVRs answers neither question. Only a person does, and 391.25(c)(2) is how that person leaves a trace.
| Paragraph | What it obliges you to do | Document it produces | Where it is filed | Removable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 391.25(a) | Make an inquiry at least once every 12 months, covering at least the preceding 12 months, to each licensing authority where a commercial license or permit was held in the period | The MVR | DQ file, listed at 391.51(b)(4) | 3 years after the date of execution, 391.51(d)(1) |
| 391.25(b) | Review that record at least once every 12 months against the safe-driving minimum and the 391.15 disqualification test | Nothing on its own. The review is an act, not a paper | Not filed. Only its note is | Not applicable |
| 391.25(c)(1) | Keep a copy of the record obtained under paragraph (a) | Copy of the MVR | Driver's qualification file | See 391.51(d)(1) |
| 391.25(c)(2) | Keep a note including the name of the person who performed the review and the date of such review | The review note | DQ file, listed at 391.51(b)(5) | 3 years after the date of execution, 391.51(d)(2) |
The finding that writes itself. An investigator opens ten driver qualification files. Ten current MVRs, zero review notes. The question at the exit interview is not hostile, it is procedural: who reviewed these, and when? If the answer is "we look at them when they come in," there is no record of it, and the carrier is arguing about an obligation it can only lose on, because the rule tells you exactly what the record must contain.
Here is the exact language of 391.25(a): the inquiry goes to each driver's licensing authority where the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator's license or permit during the time period. Not the current state. Every state where a commercial license or permit was held during the 12 months you are covering.
Practically, that matters in three situations that Russian-speaking carriers in the New York, New Jersey and Florida triangle run into constantly:
The phrase in both paragraphs is at least once every 12 months. That is a ceiling on the interval, not a calendar rule. There is no federal requirement that the review land on the hire anniversary, on January 1, or on any other fixed date. What the rule forbids is a gap longer than 12 months between one inquiry and the next, and between one review and the next.
Two consequences carriers miss:
The regulation is unusually specific about the inputs, and it does not limit them to the MVR itself:
Read that second one again. The rule names the three categories that must weigh heaviest, and they are the same three that drive disqualification math under 49 CFR 383.51. A review that treats a 20-over speeding conviction the same as a broken taillight is not the review the regulation describes.
The legal minimum is short. Under 391.25(c)(2), the note must include the name of the person who performed the review and the date of such review, and it must be maintained in the driver's qualification file. That is the entire mandatory content.
The regulation does not require a signature, does not name a job title, and does not prescribe wording. What it implies is heavier than what it states: there must be a specific person who did it. "Safety Department" is not a name. A vendor's automated timestamp is not a person. If a third party performs the review under contract, the individual reviewer is still the name that belongs on the note, and the carrier remains the party responsible for the outcome.
A note that survives contact with an investigator does four things beyond the minimum, at zero extra cost:
No. FMCSA prescribes no form for the annual review. Search results and vendor catalogs are full of documents titled "Annual Review of Driving Record," often carrying certification wording about the driver meeting the minimum requirements for safe driving. Those forms are perfectly usable and many are well designed. They are not federally mandated, and using one does not by itself prove a review happened.
Two related pieces of folklore worth retiring:
The annual list of violations is gone. For decades the annual review came paired with the driver's own certification of violations under 49 CFR 391.27. That section is now Reserved. FMCSA removed it in the final rule Record of Violations, 87 FR 13192, published March 9, 2022 and effective May 9, 2022. The publication date is the one that circulates in checklists; the date that matters is May 9. If your compliance binder, your consultant's checklist, or a downloaded template still demands an annual list of violations signed by the driver, it is running on pre-2022 rules. Collecting one anyway harms nothing, but a carrier that collects the list and skips the 391.25(c)(2) note has done the optional thing and missed the required one.
The driver's separate notification duties did not go away and are frequently confused with the deleted section. Under 383.31, a CDL holder convicted of violating a state or local law relating to motor vehicle traffic control, in any type of motor vehicle, other than a parking violation, must notify the current employer in writing within 30 days of the conviction, and the notice must contain seven specific items including the driver's license number, the date of conviction, whether it happened in a commercial vehicle, the location, and the driver's signature. Under 383.33, a suspension, revocation, cancellation, lost privilege or disqualification must be reported to the employer before the end of the business day following the day the employee received notice of it.
This is the working sheet. The column that catches people is the last one, because two of these items may leave the file on a different schedule from the file itself.
| Document | Who produces it | Frequency | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-employment MVR, 3-year history, from every licensing authority where any license was held in the preceding 3 years | State driver licensing authority, requested by the carrier | Once, at hire. In the file within 30 days of the date employment begins, per 391.23(b) | Kept in the DQ file. The file is retained while employed plus 3 years after, per 391.51(c) |
| Annual MVR, at least the preceding 12 months, from every authority where a commercial license or permit was held in the period | State driver licensing authority, requested by the carrier | At least once every 12 months, per 391.25(a) | In the DQ file per 391.51(b)(4). May be removed 3 years after the date of execution, per 391.51(d)(1) |
| Annual review note: name of the person who performed the review plus the date of the review | The motor carrier. A named individual, not a department and not the state | At least once every 12 months, per 391.25(b) | In the DQ file per 391.51(b)(5). May be removed 3 years after the date of execution, per 391.51(d)(2) |
| Driver's conviction notification, written, seven required elements, signed | The driver | Within 30 days of each conviction, per 383.31 | Not itemized in 391.51(b). Keep it with the driver's file as evidence that the system works |
| Driver's suspension notification | The driver | Before the end of the business day following notice, per 383.33 | Same as above. This one is time-stamped evidence you acted quickly |
| Multiple-employer driver record: name, social security number, license number, type and issuing authority | The motor carrier | Before permitting the driver to drive, per 391.63(b) | 3 years after employment of that multiple-employer driver ceases |
One nuance on retention. 391.51(d) says these records may be removed three years after the date of execution. It does not say they must be. Keeping the full history costs a folder and removes an entire category of argument about what was in the file and when. Removing them early, on the other hand, is how a carrier ends up unable to prove a review that actually happened.
This is where 391.25 hands off to 383.51, and where the review stops being paperwork. Table 2 to 383.51 lists the serious traffic violations and the math is cumulative:
What counts as serious is broader than most owners assume. The table includes speeding 15 mph or more above the limit, reckless driving, improper or erratic lane changes, following too closely, a traffic-control violation arising in connection with a fatal accident, driving a CMV without obtaining a CLP or CDL, without one in possession, or without the proper class or endorsements, texting while driving a CMV, and using a hand-held mobile telephone while driving a CMV.
| Where in 383.51 | Trigger | Convicted while driving a CMV | Convicted while driving a non-CMV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Table 2, serious traffic violations | 2nd conviction, separate incidents, within 3 years | 60 days | 60 days, but only if the conviction results in revocation, cancellation or suspension of the license or the non-CMV driving privileges |
| Table 2 | 3rd or later conviction, separate incidents, within 3 years | 120 days | 120 days, same precondition |
| Table 2, rows (6) to (10) | No CLP or CDL, none in possession, wrong class or endorsement, texting, hand-held phone | 60 then 120 days | Not applicable, these rows are CMV-only |
| Table 1, major offenses | 1st conviction or test refusal | 1 year, or 3 years if transporting placarded hazardous materials | 1 year for the alcohol, controlled substance, refusal, leaving the scene and vehicle-felony rows |
| Table 1 | 2nd conviction, any combination, separate incidents | Life. Under 383.51(a)(6) a State may reinstate after 10 years with an approved rehabilitation program | Life, same 10-year option |
| Table 1, rows (9) and (10) | Felony involving manufacturing, distributing or dispensing a controlled substance; felony involving severe forms of trafficking in persons | Life, not eligible for 10-year reinstatement | Row (9) the same; row (10) not applicable |
| Table 4, out-of-service order violations | 1st conviction, nonhazardous cargo | 180 days to 1 year | Not applicable |
Two mechanics that decide real cases:
The major offenses in Table 1 operate on a different scale: 1 year for a first conviction of driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, refusing a required test, leaving the scene of an accident, using the vehicle to commit a felony, or causing a fatality through negligent operation of a CMV. 3 years if it happened while transporting placarded hazardous materials. Life for a second conviction of any combination in that table, with a state option to reinstate after 10 years following an approved rehabilitation program for most, but not for the drug-trafficking and human-trafficking felonies, which carry a lifetime bar with no 10-year path.
Take the driver off dispatch first and sort out the paperwork second. The prohibition is doubled on purpose:
The word knowingly is the reason the annual review has teeth. Once the MVR is in your hands and the note says a person reviewed it, you know. That is the trade the regulation makes with you: it hands you the information and, from that moment, the responsibility.
Typical scenario, a composite and not a specific carrier. A three-truck NJ fleet runs its annual inquiries every October. On one MVR there are two convictions fourteen months apart: following too closely, and speeding 17 over. Both in the driver's own pickup, both on weekends, neither ever reported to the office. Under Table 2 those are two serious traffic violations in separate incidents inside three years, and because both were in a non-CMV the 60-day column applies only if the convictions resulted in revocation, cancellation or suspension of his license or his non-CMV driving privileges. That precondition is the whole difference between a scary MVR and a disqualified driver, and it is read off the license status block on the same record. The carrier does not compute the sanction, the State does. What the carrier owes is the note, the license status check and a hold on dispatch until the status is unambiguous. The instructive part is what the file looked like: the MVR had been sitting in the folder for six weeks and nobody had been assigned to read it.
No, and mixing these two records up leads carriers to the wrong conclusion about their own drivers.
The practical takeaway: an MVR that comes back clean does not mean a driver with a clean inspection history, and an inspection violation that never became a conviction will never appear on the MVR. Carriers that only look at MVRs are looking at one of two records.
For CDL holders the annual inquiry and the medical file collapse into one document, and this is the fastest-moving corner of driver qualification. Since the compliance date of the Medical Examiner's Certification Integration rule on June 23, 2025, the State posts medical certification status on the CDLIS motor vehicle record, and 391.51(b)(6)(ii) makes the carrier's duty exactly that: obtain the CDLIS MVR from the current licensing State and keep it in the driver qualification file.
Two points settle most arguments. The tiebreaker in 391.23(m)(4) is permanent: where the medical certification information provided electronically by FMCSA conflicts with a paper copy of the certificate, the electronic information controls. And the nationwide transition relief has a calendar end: the six-month exemption in docket FMCSA-2026-0265 (91 FR 19255) runs to October 11, 2026. After that date the relief lapses unless FMCSA grants a new one. Check the live status on FMCSA's NRII Learning Center before relying on a paper card for anything.
The operational consequence for the annual cycle: when you order the annual MVR for a CDL holder, order the CDLIS record from the current licensing State and read the medical certification block, not only the conviction block. The two neighbouring walkthroughs carry the detail, so this page does not repeat it: CDL downgrade when the medical card expires and medical certificate self-certification.
Both paragraphs of 391.25 open with "Except as provided in subpart G of this part." The exemption that matters to most fleets is 391.63, multiple-employer drivers. For a driver who meets that definition, the carrier need not take the application under 391.21, need not make the 391.23 investigations and inquiries, need not perform the annual driving record inquiry under 391.25(a), and need not perform the annual review under 391.25(b).
What it does require, and what carriers skip, is 391.63(b): before permitting such a driver to drive, the carrier must obtain the driver's name, social security number, and the identification number, type and issuing licensing authority of the commercial license, and maintain that information for three years after that employment ceases.
Related route: 391.65, drivers furnished by another motor carrier, lets you rely on a signed certificate from the carrier for which the driver is a single-employer driver. That certificate has mandatory contents, including the expiration date of the driver's medical examiner's certificate, expires no later than two years out or when the medical certificate expires, must be verified by contacting the issuing carrier, and a copy is retained three years. Both exemptions are narrow, both are frequently claimed by carriers who do not qualify, and neither applies to a regular company driver who happens to work part time.
Two different scoring systems use the same list of regulations, and carriers routinely quote the wrong one at each other. Both draw on FMCSA's list of acute and critical regulations, and that list lives in Appendix B to Part 385, section VII, not in Appendix A. Appendix A is the Safety Audit criteria for new entrants. Appendix B is the Safety Rating Process applied in a compliance review of an established carrier. The arithmetic is not the same.
| New entrant safety audit, Appendix A | Compliance review, Appendix B | |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets it | A new entrant, within 12 months of receiving the USDOT number for property carriers and 120 days for passenger carriers | An established carrier, on FMCSA's schedule |
| Acute regulation | 1.5 points for each instance of noncompliance | 1 point for each instance of noncompliance |
| Critical regulation | 1 point for each instance | 1 point for each pattern. A pattern is more than one violation, and where documents are sampled it takes at least 10 percent of those examined |
| Part 395, hours of service | Scored like any other critical regulation | 2 points for each pattern |
| Factor threshold | 3 or more points in one factor means no basic safety management controls for that factor | 0 points is Satisfactory, 1 point is Conditional, 2 or more is Unsatisfactory |
| Where Parts 382, 383 and 391 sit | Factor 2, Driver, in both systems | |
| Outcome | Inadequate controls in 3 or more of the 6 factors means corrective action or a revoked new entrant registration | Overall rating: 2 or more Unsatisfactory factors, or 1 Unsatisfactory plus more than 2 Conditional, produces Unsatisfactory |
The difference is not academic for a small fleet. In a compliance review a single missing pre-employment MVR out of ten files is not scored at all, because one violation is not a pattern. Six out of ten is a pattern of 391.51(b)(2), and it costs a point in Factor 2. A missing annual review note is written up under 391.25(c)(2), but it has no row of its own on the list. In a new entrant safety audit each instance is counted on its own.
Now the rows from Appendix B, VII that actually touch driver files:
| Regulation | What it covers | Designation | Compliance review, Appendix B | New entrant audit, Appendix A |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 391.15(a) | Using a disqualified driver | Acute | 1 point per instance | 1.5 points per instance |
| 391.11(b)(4) | Using a physically unqualified driver | Acute | 1 point per instance | 1.5 points per instance |
| 391.51(a) | Failing to maintain a driver qualification file on each driver employed | Critical | 1 point per pattern | 1 point per instance |
| 391.51(b)(2) | Failing to maintain inquiries into the driver's driving record in the file. Note the paragraph: (b)(2) is the pre-employment MVR obtained under 391.23(a)(1) | Critical | 1 point per pattern | 1 point per instance |
| 391.51(b)(6) | Failing to maintain the medical examiner's certificate in the file | Critical | 1 point per pattern | 1 point per instance |
| 391.45(a), 391.45(b) | Using a driver not medically examined and certified, or not examined in the preceding 24 months | Critical | 1 point per pattern, each | 1 point per instance, each |
Read the fourth row again. 391.51(b)(2) is the pre-employment MVR, the one obtained under 391.23(a)(1) within 30 days of hire. The annual MVR is 391.51(b)(4), the review note is 391.51(b)(5), and neither of them appears anywhere on FMCSA's acute and critical list. A missing annual review note is a violation of 391.25(c)(2) and it gets written up, but it is not by itself one of the scored rows above, and anyone who tells you a missing note is automatically a critical is quoting from memory.
What gives the note its weight is the row at the top of the table instead. Using a disqualified driver is acute, the tier reserved for noncompliance so severe that it demands immediate corrective action regardless of everything else a carrier does well. The annual review is the only routine control that finds a disqualification on your own schedule rather than an inspector's. That is the trade, and it is why an unscored piece of paper protects you from a scored one.
The cross-check an investigator runs is simple and nearly automatic: pull the annual MVRs, compare their dates against the review notes, then compare both against the drivers who were actually dispatched. Gaps line up quickly. A driver with a conviction on his MVR, no review note, and dispatch records covering the following month is not a filing problem. For what the rest of that visit looks like, see the types of DOT audit and what each one opens.
Two neighbors in this series close the loop on the rest of the file: previous employer safety performance history, which is the investigation you owe at hire, and the road test and its accepted equivalents.
At least once every 12 months. 391.25(a) sets a maximum interval, not an anniversary, so pulling early simply restarts the clock. The record must cover at least the preceding 12 months and must come from each licensing authority where the driver held a commercial license or permit during that period. The separate review under 391.25(b) is also at least once every 12 months. Batching a whole fleet into one month is compliant as long as no individual driver's gap passes 12 months.
Yes. What was removed is the driver's own annual list of violations, former 391.27, taken out by the Record of Violations rule at 87 FR 13192, published March 9, 2022 and effective May 9, 2022. The carrier's annual inquiry under 391.25(a) and annual review under 391.25(b) are untouched, and 391.25(c)(2) still requires the note with the reviewer's name and the review date in the driver qualification file.
No, from every state that licensed him commercially during the period. 391.25(a) says each driver's licensing authority where the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator's license or permit during the time period. Living in a state without holding a commercial license there does not trigger an inquiry. The pre-employment inquiry in 391.23(a)(1) is the broader one: every authority, any operator's license or permit, three years back.
Two elements are mandatory: the name of the person who performed the review and the date of the review, per 391.25(c)(2). FMCSA prescribes no form and requires no signature or job title. Four additions cost nothing and settle arguments: which MVR it refers to with issuing state and pull date, the two determinations the rule asks for, what was on the record, and any action taken.
Yes. Nothing in 391.25 separates the two duties between people. What the rule will not accept is a department name or an automated timestamp in place of a person: 391.25(c)(2) asks for the name of the person who performed the review. Where a third-party vendor performs the review under contract, the individual reviewer's name belongs on the note, and the carrier keeps responsibility for the outcome.
No. It is a records violation cited in an audit or investigation, not a roadside out-of-service condition. Roadside out-of-service decisions turn on the driver's licensing and medical status, hours of service and vehicle condition, not on the contents of a file kept in the office. The audit consequence is separate: the review note is the only proof that 391.25(b) was performed at all.
Yes, if they run under their own authority. 390.5 defines employee to include an independent contractor while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle, and 391.25 applies to each driver a carrier employs. A one-truck carrier is therefore both the carrier that owes the inquiry and the driver it covers, and the note names the person who performed the review, which in practice is the owner.
At least the preceding 12 months, per 391.25(a). That is a floor, not a ceiling, and most state records return more. Do not confuse it with the pre-employment inquiry, which covers a 3-year driving history and must be in the driver qualification file within 30 days of the date employment begins under 391.23(a)(1) and 391.23(b).
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Two duties. Obtain the MVR at least once every 12 months, covering at least the preceding 12 months, from each licensing authority where the driver held a commercial license or permit in that period, per 391.25(a). Review it at least once every 12 months against the safe-driving minimum and the 391.15 disqualification test, per 391.25(b). Then keep two items in the DQ file: the MVR copy under 391.25(c)(1) and a note under 391.25(c)(2).
The MVR is a state record you order. The review is a judgment a named person makes and documents. The classic finding is a file with a current MVR and no review note, which satisfies paragraph (a) and leaves paragraph (b) unproven.
Every licensing authority where the driver held a commercial motor vehicle operator's license or permit during the period. The pre-employment inquiry under 391.23(a)(1) is broader: every authority where any operator's license or permit was held during the preceding 3 years, with a 3-year history, filed within 30 days of the hire date.
No. FMCSA prescribes no form. The rule specifies content: the name of the person who performed the review and the date of the review. Vendor forms are usable but are not federally mandated.
At least once every 12 months for the inquiry and for the review. That is a maximum interval, not a fixed anniversary. Separately, the driver must report convictions within 30 days under 383.31 and license suspensions by the end of the next business day under 383.33.
The DQ file is kept while the driver is employed plus 3 years, per 391.51(c). The annual MVR and the review note may be removed 3 years after the date of execution under 391.51(d). May, not must.
Not federally. Section 391.27 is Reserved. It was removed by the Record of Violations final rule, 87 FR 13192, published March 9, 2022 and effective May 9, 2022. Collecting one anyway is harmless, but it does not substitute for the 391.25(c)(2) review note, which is the record that is actually required.
Stop dispatching the driver until the status is resolved. Under 391.15(a) a carrier must not require or permit a disqualified driver to drive, and 383.51(a)(2) bars an employer from knowingly allowing it. Using a disqualified driver is designated acute in an audit, the most serious tier, while a missing DQ file is critical.