Every item 49 CFR 391.51 requires in a DQ file today — organized by when it happens, with the retention rules and the two outdated-checklist traps that fail audits.
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Verified against the current eCFR text of 391.51, 391.25, and 382.701 — not a recycled template.
49 CFR 391.21, 391.23, 391.31
49 CFR 391.43, 391.51(b)
49 CFR 391.25, 382.701
49 CFR 391.51(c)
The regulation changed in 2022 and again in 2025. Most downloadable checklists did not.
Older checklists — including some sold by compliance vendors — still list a "driver’s annual certification of violations." FMCSA removed that requirement from 391.51 in 2022 because the annual MVR made it redundant. Collecting it is harmless; believing your file is complete because an outdated template says so is not. Check your template against the current regulation.
Since the National Registry II changes took full effect in June 2025, a CDL driver’s medical status lives in the state CDLIS record. The file item is the CDLIS MVR showing "certified" status — not the wallet card. If your file process still says "photocopy the med card," it is documenting the wrong artifact.
Pulling the annual MVR is only half the requirement. 391.25 also requires the review itself, signed and dated by the reviewer, kept in the file. This single missing signature is one of the most common DQF findings in audits.
You must request the 3-year safety performance history and file the responses — or your documented attempts — within 30 days of hire. Files that begin at your company look, to an auditor, like files that were assembled the week before the audit.
CertTracker tracks every DQ item per driver — medical status, MVR dates, annual reviews, Clearinghouse queries — and reminds you at 90, 60, 30, 7, and 1 day before anything lapses or comes due.
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The DQ file questions safety managers ask us most.
Under the current 49 CFR 391.51(b): the employment application, the MVR obtained at hire, the road test certificate (or accepted equivalent), annual MVRs, the signed annual review notes, medical documentation (the paper certificate for non-CDL drivers, or the CDLIS MVR showing medical status for CDL drivers) plus any variance documents, and the note verifying the medical examiner was on the National Registry. Clearinghouse query records under Part 382 belong with the file as well.
For the entire period the driver is employed, plus 3 years after they leave (391.51(c)). Certain items have their own minimums — annual MVRs and review notes at least 3 years from creation.
No. FMCSA removed that requirement in 2022 — the annual MVR covers it. If a checklist or vendor template still demands it, the template is outdated. The annual review note signed by the carrier’s reviewer is what the regulation actually requires now.
Missing items are recorded as violations. A pattern of incomplete files points auditors at your safety management controls generally — which is how a paperwork gap becomes a conditional rating conversation. DQ-file recordkeeping violations also carry per-day civil penalties under 49 CFR Part 386 Appendix B (up to $1,584 per day, capped at $15,846 per violation, as adjusted in December 2024).
Every driver who operates a commercial motor vehicle covered by Part 391 — in practice, drivers of vehicles over 10,001 lbs in interstate commerce and all CDL drivers. The file belongs to the employing carrier, and it must be producible at the carrier’s principal place of business.
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