How to Hire a Truck Driver Your Insurance Carrier Will Approve

A driver can be fully qualified under federal rules and still be turned down by your insurance carrier. The DOT decides who can legally drive a commercial truck. Your carrier decides who it will insure, and that bar is usually higher, especially on driving record, experience and age.

Every driver you hire ends up in front of your underwriter eventually. Below is what the federal rules require, what underwriters actually look at, and the order to do things in so a new hire does not turn into a coverage problem or a surprise at renewal.

What are the federal requirements to hire a truck driver?

For interstate driving, 49 CFR 391.11 sets the minimum. A driver has to:

• Be at least 21 years old
• Read and speak English well enough to talk with the public, understand highway signs and respond to officials
• Hold a valid commercial driver's license from one state only
• Be able to safely operate the type of vehicle through experience, training or both
• Be physically qualified, with a current medical examiner's certificate from an examiner on the National Registry
• Pass a road test, or present a CDL or road test certificate the carrier accepts in its place

Drivers who got their commercial learner's permit on or after February 7, 2022 also had to complete Entry-Level Driver Training with a provider listed on FMCSA's Training Provider Registry before testing for a first Class A or Class B CDL. If you are hiring someone with a newer CDL, that training record is part of what an underwriter will want to see.

Texas intrastate drivers are different

Texas lets a driver who stays inside the state drive a commercial vehicle at 18, as long as they have held a driver license for at least three years. The state also allows some alternative vision and physical standards for intrastate-only drivers. Those rules are in 37 Tex. Admin. Code 16.5. The moment that driver crosses a state line, or hauls a load that is part of an interstate move, the federal minimum of 21 applies.

Legal and insurable are two different questions, though. More on that below.

What do insurance underwriters look for in a new truck driver?

Every carrier has its own driver eligibility guidelines, and they vary from company to company. But the same handful of things come up on almost every new driver submission:

• MVR history. Recent violations, DUIs and serious moving violations, usually over the past three to five years. Most carriers set a limit on how many moving violations and at-fault accidents a driver can have in three years.
• CDL class and endorsements. The license has to match the trucks you run and the cargo you haul.
• Medical certification. A current DOT physical on file, with no lapses.
• Hire date and training records. How recently the driver was hired, and what onboarding and training was completed and documented.
• Age and experience. Drivers under 23, and drivers with limited commercial experience, are rated differently by most carriers. Some will not accept them at all.

As one example of what a published guideline looks like, Berkley Technology Underwriters' fleet safety guidance asks for drivers who are at least 21, have at least one year of experience in the class of vehicle they will drive, and have no combination of three or more at-fault accidents or moving violations in the past three years (Berkley Technology Underwriters, Fleet Safety: Driver Qualification). Many trucking carriers ask for more than that. Ask your agent for your carrier's actual guideline before you post the job.

Which violations matter most?

Major violations usually end the conversation. These typically include driving under the influence, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended or revoked license, and any homicide or assault involving a vehicle.

Underwriters also pay close attention to certain smaller violations, because the research says they predict crashes. The American Transportation Research Institute's 2022 update to its crash predictor study looked at more than 580,000 driver records. A failure to yield violation was tied to a 141% increase in the likelihood of a future crash. An improper or failure to signal conviction, 116%. A prior crash, 113%. Reckless driving, 104%. Failure to obey a traffic sign, 85% (ATRI, Predicting Truck Crash Involvement: 2022 Update).

So a driver with a couple of "minor" tickets is not always a minor risk in the eyes of your carrier.

How do you screen a truck driver before hiring?

Here is the order to do it in. Most of these steps are required by the FMCSA. The last one is not required, but it is the one that protects your coverage.

1. Get a complete application. Under 49 CFR 391.21, it has to include three years of addresses, every license held, accidents and violations from the last three years, and employment history. For anyone who drove a commercial vehicle, that history covers the three years before the application plus the seven years before that.
2. Pull the MVR. Request the driving record from every state the driver held a license in over the last three years. This has to be done within 30 days of the driver's start date (49 CFR 391.23).
3. Request safety performance history. Contact every DOT-regulated employer the driver worked for in the last three years. Prior employers have 30 days to respond, and the results go in the driver qualification file (49 CFR 391.23).
4. Order a PSP report. FMCSA's Pre-Employment Screening Program shows five years of crash history and three years of roadside inspection history. It costs about $10 per report and needs the driver's written authorization. FMCSA reports that carriers using PSP lowered crash rates by 8% and driver out-of-service rates by 17% on average (FMCSA PSP).
5. Run a Clearinghouse full query. Before a driver performs any safety-sensitive work, you have to run a pre-employment full query in the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse with the driver's specific consent (49 CFR 382.701).
6. Complete the pre-employment drug test. You need a verified negative result before the driver goes to work.
7. Confirm the medical certificate. Make sure it is current and the examiner is on the National Registry.
8. Do the road test, or document the accepted equivalent.
9. Send the driver to your agent for approval before the first load. This is the step most small fleets skip. Your agent submits the driver to the carrier and gets a yes or no before the driver is behind the wheel under your DOT number.

What happens if an unapproved driver is in the truck?

Many trucking policies list or schedule drivers, and some exclude specific drivers by name. If a driver your carrier never approved, or one it excluded, is in an accident, you are looking at a coverage dispute at the worst possible time.

The MCS-90 endorsement that interstate carriers are required to have does not fix this for you. It protects the public. Up to the federal minimum financial responsibility limits, the insurer may have to pay a judgment the policy would otherwise exclude, and the endorsement gives the insurer the right to come back to you for reimbursement. We covered the MCS-90 in more detail in our guide to starting a trucking company in Texas.

The simple rule: no driver dispatches until the carrier confirms.

How do you keep a driver file clean after the hire?

The work does not stop at onboarding. Underwriters look at your driver qualification files at renewal, and an auditor will look at them during a compliance review.

• Annual MVR and review. Pull every driver's record at least once every 12 months and document your review of it (49 CFR 391.25).
• Annual Clearinghouse query. Query every driver at least once a year. A limited query is allowed with the driver's consent, but if it shows information, you have 24 hours to run a full query or pull the driver from safety-sensitive work.
• Keep the file. A driver qualification file has to be kept for as long as the driver works for you, plus three years (49 CFR 391.51).
• Watch the record between renewals. Continuous MVR monitoring tells you about a new violation when it happens, not a year later.

The rules changed a lot this year too, especially around English proficiency, non-domiciled CDLs and ELDs. We walked through all four in FMCSA Rewrote Four Rules This Year.

What does a strong driver submission look like?

Hiring is also a pricing decision. Commercial auto is still one of the lines going up in Texas (we covered why in Why Is My Commercial Truck Insurance Going Up in Texas?), and every driver you add is part of how your fleet gets priced at renewal.

Frequently asked questions

What are the minimum requirements to hire a truck driver?

For interstate driving, the driver has to be at least 21, hold a valid CDL from one state, read and speak English well enough to talk with the public, be medically certified, and pass a road test or present an accepted equivalent (49 CFR 391.11).

Can I hire a truck driver under 21 in Texas?

For intrastate-only driving, yes. Texas allows intrastate commercial drivers at 18 if they have held a driver license for at least three years (37 Tex. Admin. Code 16.5). Your insurance carrier may still set a higher minimum age, so ask before you hire.

How many years of experience does a truck driver need for insurance?

There is no single legal number. Each carrier sets its own requirement, and it is usually stricter than the federal rules. Ask your agent for your carrier's guideline before you advertise the position.

What disqualifies a truck driver from insurance?

Most carriers decline drivers with a recent major violation, like a DUI, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, or driving while suspended. Many also limit the number of moving violations and at-fault accidents in the last three years.

How do I check a truck driver's safety record before hiring?

Pull the MVR from every state the driver was licensed in over the last three years, request safety performance history from prior DOT-regulated employers, order a PSP report, and run a Clearinghouse pre-employment full query.

What is a PSP report?

The FMCSA Pre-Employment Screening Program report shows a driver's five-year crash history and three-year roadside inspection history. It requires the driver's written authorization and costs about $10 per report.

Do I have to run a Clearinghouse query before hiring a CDL driver?

Yes. A pre-employment full query with the driver's consent is required before the driver performs safety-sensitive work, and every driver you employ has to be queried at least once a year (49 CFR 382.701).

How long do I keep a driver qualification file?

For as long as the driver works for you, plus three years. Some items, like annual MVRs and medical certificates, can be removed three years after they were created (49 CFR 391.51).

Should I tell my insurance agent before I hire a driver?

Yes, before the first dispatch. Submitting the driver first lets the carrier approve or decline before the driver is on the road under your DOT number.

Talk to us before you make the offer

If you are hiring a driver, or thinking about bringing on a younger one, our transportation team can look over the driver's record and tell you how your carrier is likely to see it before you make the offer. Call 830-303-8300 or visit our trucking and transportation insurance page.