Status on the driver record — the Clearinghouse result from the application is copied to the driver at hire, and is updated on the driver profile after each new query.
The Clearinghouse is a federal database, not a compliance system. It will tell you what it knows when you ask, but it will not tell you that you forgot to ask. That gap — between the obligation and the reminder — is where carriers get written up, so the record and the schedule both need a home.
Status on the driver record — the Clearinghouse result from the application is copied to the driver at hire, and is updated on the driver profile after each new query.
Pre-employment result captured in hiring — the query result is recorded on the driver application, so it is part of onboarding rather than a portal visit that may or may not be written down.
Status lives in the driver qualification file — available Clearinghouse evidence can sit with the rest of the Part 391 record for a qualified reviewer to validate before producing a review packet.
Dispatch warning — when a cross-border driver’s Clearinghouse status is anything other than not prohibited, dispatch shows a warning before the load goes out.
Part of the wider driver file — Clearinghouse status sits beside the medical certificate, MVR, CDL, and drug and alcohol test results, with expiry tracking on the documents that expire.
Two distinct obligations apply to employers. Before hiring a CDL driver, you must run a full query, which requires the driver specific consent registered in the Clearinghouse itself. Then, for every CDL driver you employ, you must run a limited query at least once every twelve months, which relies on a general consent you obtain and retain.
A limited query tells you only whether information exists in the driver record. If it does, you must follow up with a full query within twenty-four hours and the driver must be removed from safety-sensitive functions until it is resolved. That twenty-four-hour window is why the status needs to reach someone rather than sitting in a portal.
The records themselves also carry a retention obligation — you must retain query records for three years, in line with the wider Part 391 retention requirement.
Pre-employment queries are rarely missed, because hiring is an event with a checklist attached. The annual limited query has no such trigger. It comes due twelve months after the last one, on a per-driver schedule, quietly, while the operation is busy doing something else.
For a fleet with thirty CDL drivers, that is thirty independent annual deadlines scattered across the calendar. Tracking them on a spreadsheet works until someone is on vacation during a busy week. Each one needs a dated reminder that still fires when someone is on vacation. TruckerPro does not generate that reminder, so keep it in your drug and alcohol program or C/TPA calendar and record each result on the driver once the query is run.
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View plansA full query before hiring any CDL driver, and a limited query at least once every twelve months for each CDL driver you employ. The annual limited query is per driver, so a thirty-driver fleet has thirty separate annual deadlines spread across the year.
A limited query tells you only whether information exists in the driver Clearinghouse record. A full query returns the details. If a limited query indicates information exists, you must conduct a full query within twenty-four hours, and the driver must not perform safety-sensitive functions until the matter is resolved.
No. It keeps the status and the evidence on the driver record: the result from the application, the update after each new query, and the query document in the driver file. It does not calculate when the next query is due. The queries themselves are performed through the FMCSA Clearinghouse, which requires your registered employer account and the appropriate driver consent.
Three years, consistent with the broader Part 391 retention requirement. Because records must survive a driver departure, files are archived rather than deleted when someone leaves.
It is a violation that will be cited in a compliance review, and it is one of the more commonly found ones precisely because nothing prompts the annual query naturally. The practical remedy is a dated per-driver reminder in your drug and alcohol program, rather than a task someone is expected to remember; TruckerPro records the result once the query is run.
The query document filed in the driver file is included when you download the driver’s documents, alongside the medical certificate, MVRs, previous-employer records, and the rest of the Part 391 file. The status itself is shown on the driver record.