FMCSA Clearinghouse Query: How to Run One

If you hire CDL drivers, the FMCSA Clearinghouse query is one record you can’t skip — it’s federal law, not a nice-to-have. But carriers get tripped up on the same things: which query type to run, when the driver has to consent electronically, how it folds into your safety-history check, and what to do when a query comes back “prohibited.” Here’s exactly how to run one, what it costs, and where it leaves you blind.

Key takeaways

• The FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse is a federal database of drug and alcohol program violations for CDL drivers. Running a check on a driver is called a query, and there are two kinds: a full (pre-employment) query and a limited (annual) query.
• Every pre-employment query must be a full query with the driver’s electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse. The annual query for current drivers can be a limited query and needs only general written consent.
• Since January 6, 2023, the pre-employment query is how you satisfy the drug-and-alcohol part of your required §391.23 safety-history investigation — a phone call to the old carrier no longer covers it.
• Queries cost $1.25 each through a prepaid query plan. A “prohibited” result means the driver can’t operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) until they finish the return-to-duty process.

What is an FMCSA Clearinghouse query?

A query is a search of the FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse — the federal database that tracks drug and alcohol program violations for drivers who hold a commercial driver’s license (CDL). When you “run a Clearinghouse query,” you’re asking the database one question: does this driver have any drug or alcohol violations on record, and if so, are they resolved?

Two things make the Clearinghouse different from records like the DAC report or PSP:

1. It’s a government database, not employer gossip. The data is reported by FMCSA-regulated employers, medical review officers, substance abuse professionals (SAPs), and testing consortiums — and it’s mandatory reporting, not voluntary.
2. A query is required, not optional. Under 49 CFR Part 382 Subpart G, employers must query the Clearinghouse before hiring a CDL driver and at least once a year for every CDL driver they employ.

The Clearinghouse launched in January 2020. If you run a fleet of any size, you already have — or need — a registered employer account.

Full query vs. limited query: what’s the difference?

There are two query types, and using the wrong one is one of the most common compliance mistakes carriers make. A full query releases the detailed violation information in a driver’s record and requires the driver’s electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse. A limited query only tells you whether the record contains information — it doesn’t show the details — and it runs on general consent you collect outside the Clearinghouse.

The rule of thumb: pre-employment = full query, annual = limited query. Every pre-employment query must be a full query. The annual check on a driver you already employ can be a cheaper, faster limited query. If a limited query comes back showing the record does have information, you then have 24 hours to run a full query (with electronic consent) before you can let that driver keep performing safety-sensitive functions.

Source: FMCSA Clearinghouse — queries and consent.

The driver’s electronic consent requirement

Before you can run a full pre-employment query, the driver has to log into the Clearinghouse and grant consent electronically — you can’t do this step for them, and a signed paper form won’t substitute. You send a consent request through your employer dashboard; the driver gets an email, logs in, and approves the specific query. Only then does the detailed record release to you.

This catches a lot of carriers off guard during hiring. If the driver isn’t already registered in the Clearinghouse, they have to create an account first, and the system can mail a verification letter that takes a couple weeks to arrive — a real delay when you’ve got a seat to fill. The fix recruiters use: tell the driver to register and respond to the consent request before their start date, so it’s not holding up orientation.

For the annual limited query on a current driver, the consent is simpler — a general written authorization you keep on file, which can stay valid for more than one year. You don’t need a fresh electronic consent every time for the annual check.

How the query became part of your §391.23 safety-history check

Here’s the change a lot of carriers still haven’t fully absorbed. Under 49 CFR §391.23, you have to investigate a driver-applicant’s safety-performance history with every DOT-regulated employer from the previous three years. The drug-and-alcohol piece of that investigation used to mean calling the old carrier and asking about test results.

That changed on January 6, 2023. As of that date, a pre-employment Clearinghouse query is how you satisfy the drug-and-alcohol portion of the §391.23 investigation for FMCSA-regulated employers — the phone call no longer does it (National Law Review). Two things to keep straight:

• Accident history still requires direct contact. You still have to reach out to the applicant’s previous FMCSA-regulated employers for the crash history required by §391.23(d). The Clearinghouse doesn’t cover that.
• Non-FMCSA employers still get a phone call. If the applicant drove for an employer regulated by a different DOT agency (say, an aviation or pipeline employer), the Clearinghouse won’t have their drug-and-alcohol data, and you still contact those employers directly.

So the query checks one box inside a bigger required process — it doesn’t replace the whole safety-history investigation.

How to register and run a query, step by step

You run queries through a registered employer account, and the data comes straight from FMCSA. The basic flow looks like this:

1. Register at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov using a Login.gov account. You’ll provide your company info and USDOT number. (Owner-operators have to designate a consortium/third-party administrator — a C/TPA — to handle queries and reporting, and that authorization has to be made inside the Clearinghouse, not just in a contract.)
2. Buy a query plan. You prepay for queries before you can run any (more on cost below). A C/TPA you’ve designated can run queries on your behalf once you’ve purchased a plan.
3. Send the consent request (full queries only). From your dashboard, go to Queries, choose Conduct a Query, and send the driver an electronic consent request. The driver logs in and approves it.
4. Run the query. Once consent is granted, you pull the result. A limited query returns instantly with general consent already on file.
5. Document it. Keep the query result in the driver’s qualification file (DQ file). You have to be able to show you ran it.

FMCSA publishes step-by-step job aids — see How to Conduct a Full Query: Employers — that walk through every screen.

What a query plan costs

The price is set by FMCSA and it’s cheap: $1.25 per query, whether full or limited (Query Plan Factsheet). You buy queries in bundles up front and draw them down as you go. The math is just $1.25 times however many you buy:

High-volume fleets can also buy an Unlimited Query Plan for $24,500, good for 12 months — which only pencils out once you’re running tens of thousands of queries a year. For most carriers, the per-query bundle is all you need. Note this fee covers the query itself; a C/TPA that runs queries for you may charge a service fee on top.

What a “hit” means: prohibited status

If a query comes back showing the driver is “prohibited,” that’s the one result that stops a hire cold. A prohibited status means the driver has an unresolved drug or alcohol violation and cannot lawfully operate a CMV or perform any safety-sensitive function until they complete the return-to-duty (RTD) process. Putting a prohibited driver behind the wheel knowingly is a federal violation for you, the carrier — not just the driver (APCA).

A prohibited driver isn’t necessarily un-hireable forever — but they can’t drive until they’ve gone through the full process: an evaluation by a substance abuse professional (SAP), any treatment or education the SAP prescribes, a negative return-to-duty test, and a follow-up testing plan. Once the negative RTD test is reported, their status flips from “prohibited” to “not prohibited” and they can resume driving. If you do hire a driver who’s mid-process, you take on responsibility for completing their follow-up testing plan. Read a “prohibited” result as a hard stop on driving today — not automatically a permanent no.

What the Clearinghouse won’t tell you

Here’s the limit recruiters run into. The Clearinghouse is exhaustive about one thing — drug and alcohol violations — and silent about everything else. A driver can have a spotless Clearinghouse record, a clean truck driver background check, and a clean DAC report, and still be the kind of hire that burns a seat in three weeks.

That’s because the Clearinghouse doesn’t track behavior: chronic no-shows, ghosting after orientation, an abandoned truck (a driver who walks off and leaves the rig somewhere), repeated 30-day stints, attitude with dispatch, reliability. None of that is a drug or alcohol violation, so none of it shows up — even though those are the patterns that actually predict a bad hire. The driver’s previous dispatchers and recruiters know it, but it never lands in any federal database.

That’s the gap a peer-sourced driver-review database like cdlscan.com is built to fill. Instead of finding out after orientation, you can search a driver by name and read what their previous carriers actually said — the reliability and rehire-worthiness signals the Clearinghouse and DAC leave out. It doesn’t replace your required Clearinghouse query, MVR, or PSP — it adds the reputation layer they miss. (CDLScan lists more than 1 million driver reviews and runs around 23,419 searches a week, and the search itself is free.)

Annual query requirements: don’t let them lapse

Pre-employment is only half the job. Under §382.701, you have to run a query on every CDL driver you employ at least once every 12 months — and that’s tracked on a rolling 365-day basis from the date of your last query on that driver. So if you ran a driver’s query on March 1, the clock for the next one starts ticking from that date, not from January 1.

The annual check can be a limited query, which keeps it cheap and fast. The compliance trap is simply forgetting: a query that lapses past 365 days is a violation, and with a full roster it’s easy for one driver to slip through. Most carriers run their whole roster on a set date each year, or stagger them and track the rolling dates in a spreadsheet or their TMS, so nobody ages out.

Frequently asked questions

What is an FMCSA Clearinghouse query? It’s a search of the federal Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse to check whether a CDL driver has any drug or alcohol program violations on record. Employers must run one before hiring and at least once a year per driver.

What’s the difference between a full query and a limited query? A full query releases the driver’s detailed violation information and requires their electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse — every pre-employment query must be a full query. A limited query only shows whether a record contains information and runs on general written consent; it’s used for the annual check on current drivers.

Do I need the driver’s consent to run a query? Yes. A full pre-employment query requires the driver to grant electronic consent inside the Clearinghouse for that specific query. A limited annual query needs only general written consent kept on file, which can stay valid for multiple years.

How much does a Clearinghouse query cost? $1.25 per query — full or limited — bought in prepaid bundles. For example, 10 queries cost $12.50. High-volume fleets can buy an unlimited annual plan for $24,500.

How does the query satisfy §391.23? Since January 6, 2023, a pre-employment Clearinghouse query satisfies the drug-and-alcohol portion of the required §391.23 safety-history investigation for FMCSA-regulated employers. You still have to contact prior FMCSA employers directly for accident history.

What does “prohibited” status mean? The driver has an unresolved drug or alcohol violation and can’t legally operate a CMV until they complete the return-to-duty process (SAP evaluation, any required treatment, a negative return-to-duty test, and a follow-up testing plan). Letting a prohibited driver drive is a federal violation for the carrier.

How often do I have to run an annual query? At least once every 12 months for each CDL driver you employ, tracked on a rolling 365-day basis from your last query on that driver.

Does a clean Clearinghouse query mean a driver is a safe hire? No. The Clearinghouse only covers drug and alcohol violations. It says nothing about no-shows, abandoned trucks, reliability, or how a driver behaved at past carriers — gaps a peer-sourced driver-review database is built to fill.