How do I run Clearinghouse queries for my drivers?

Chapter 01

Which Clearinghouse queries must my company run?

Your company must run two kinds of query. The first is the pre-employment query: a full query on each new driver before he does any work for you. The second is the annual query: a query on every driver you employ, at least once a year. For that one, a limited query is enough (the federal query rule). Before either kind, your company must be registered in the Clearinghouse, and you must have bought queries.

Here is how that looks in real life. Say you run five trucks with five drivers. You do your yearly Clearinghouse checks every October. It is early October 2026, and it is time again. You have also hired a sixth driver, Sam. He starts on Monday, October 12.

The Clearinghouse is FMCSA’s online database of drug and alcohol violations by CDL drivers. A failed drug test goes in. So do an alcohol test of 0.04 or higher and a refused test. So does a report by an employer who knows a driver broke the drug or alcohol rules (the federal query rule). Each look at one driver’s record is called a Clearinghouse query.

The two kinds work differently. A limited query only tells you whether there is information about the driver. It does not show you what it is. A full query shows you the records themselves (the federal query rule).

Before you can run either one, your company must be registered in the Clearinghouse. The registration names the people who may use it for you, and you check those names every year. If a testing company runs your queries, you name it in your account too. If you switch companies, you update that within 10 days (the registration rule). A registration lasts 5 years. FMCSA cancels it if you run no query and report nothing for 2 years (the rule on registration terms).

That testing company is usually the one that runs your random drug tests and keeps the testing paperwork. FMCSA calls it a “consortium/third-party administrator”, or C/TPA. Once you name it in your account, it can run queries and file reports for you. You still answer for the work (the reporting rule).

Then buy queries. The rules let FMCSA charge a fee for queries (the fee rule). FMCSA’s Clearinghouse brochure says you must buy a query plan before anyone can run a query. It also says a C/TPA may not buy one for you (FMCSA’s Clearinghouse brochure). So plan for every check in the year. For you, that means five annual queries, one pre-employment query for Sam, and one or two spare. You will see below why a spare matters. FMCSA lists the prices on the Clearinghouse’s Query Plan page. We could not open that page to check today’s prices, so we give no figure. Look before you buy.

Now say you drive one of the trucks yourself. The rules then treat you as both the employer and a driver (who the testing rules cover). Owner-operators often ask whether they need to register for the Clearinghouse. Yes, they do. If you run under your own USDOT number, you register as an employer. If you are leased to another carrier and run under its number, you register as a driver. As an employer who drives, you must name a C/TPA, and it reports your own violations instead of you (the reporting rule). You also query yourself each year, like any other driver (FMCSA’s brochure). An owner who drives alone also needs a random testing pool with other drivers. Our guide to random drug testing explains that.

Chapter 02

How do I get consent and run the queries?

Every query needs the driver’s consent first. For a limited query, his written or electronic consent is enough. It can be a signed paper outside the Clearinghouse, and one paper can cover more than one year. You keep it for 3 years after your last query of that driver. For a full query, the driver must log in to the Clearinghouse and approve it there. A driver who refuses either kind of consent may not drive for you (the consent rule).

Start with the annual query. FMCSA calls the paper for limited queries a general consent (FMCSA’s notice of August 2026). Owners search for it as consent for limited queries. Say each of your five drivers signed one on the day you hired him. Each paper says he agrees to limited queries for as long as he works for you. That is allowed, because this consent may last more than one year (the federal query rule). Before you start, check that all five papers are in the drivers’ files.

On Monday, October 5, you log in and run five limited queries, one for each driver. Four come back with no information. The fifth is for Ray, who has driven for you for three years. It says there is information about him. That starts a clock, and we come back to Ray below.

Note one more thing about timing. For 30 days after each query, FMCSA will tell you if new information about that driver is added (the federal query rule). After that, the Clearinghouse tells you nothing until your next query. That is why the annual query matters so much.

Sam is different. He needs a pre-employment query, and a limited one will not do. It must be a full query. Owners often look for a full query consent form. There is no paper form for it. The driver gives his consent on screen, inside the Clearinghouse (the consent rule). So Sam first sets up his own driver account there. Then you request the query, and he logs in and approves it. FMCSA sets no deadline for him to approve (FMCSA’s brochure). But until he does, you cannot run the query, and he may not drive for you (the federal query rule).

Sam approves on Wednesday, October 7. His full query shows nothing on file, so he is not prohibited. This query is only one of the checks before his first load. He also needs a negative drug test before he starts, which our guide to DOT drug testing explains. The order of all the hiring checks is in our guide to hiring checks.

One old step is gone. Until January 6, 2023, you also had to ask each past employer about a new driver’s drug and alcohol tests. Since then, the Clearinghouse query does that job for past employers that FMCSA regulates (the rule on past employers). Two cases still need a direct request. If the driver has not finished his follow-up tests, you ask his past employer for his follow-up testing plan. And say he worked under another DOT agency’s testing rules, at an airline or a railroad. Then you ask that employer directly (the hiring inquiry rule).

Chapter 03

What do I do when a limited query finds information?

Run a full query within 24 hours. That needs the driver’s electronic consent in the Clearinghouse, so call him at once. The rule does not make him stop driving during those 24 hours. But if they run out without a full query, he may not drive until you run one and it shows no prohibition (the federal query rule). If the full query shows he is prohibited, take him off the truck at once. If it shows an old matter that is closed, he keeps driving.

Back to Monday. Ray’s result came in at 10:15 in the morning, so your deadline is 10:15 on Tuesday. Ray is in Ohio with a load. You call him and tell him he must log in and approve a full query. He says he has no Clearinghouse account. He sets one up that evening and approves your request at 8:40 on Tuesday morning. You run the full query right away, inside the 24 hours.

The full query shows a failed drug test. On September 24, Ray took a drug test for another carrier, where he had applied for weekend work. The medical review officer, the doctor who checks drug test results, verified it as positive. The doctor must report that to the Clearinghouse within 2 business days (the reporting rule). The rules also made Ray tell you in writing, by the end of the next business day (the rule on telling employers). He did not. The annual query caught what he kept quiet.

Now Ray is prohibited. No employer may let a driver work when a query shows a failed test. The only exception is a query that also shows he finished the return to duty steps (the federal query rule). In plain words, Ray stops now, not after this load. You tell him to park at the next safe place, and you send another driver for the truck and the load. If your company is still new, this matters twice over. Using a driver you know failed a drug test is an automatic failure of the safety audit for new carriers. One case is enough (the audit failure list). Our guide to automatic audit failures explains the list.

Ray can drive again only after the return to duty process. It starts with an evaluation by a substance abuse professional, called a SAP. He must also pass a return to duty test before he drives. Our guide to the return to duty process walks through it. One more thing changed on November 18, 2024. FMCSA now tells Ray’s home State that he is prohibited. The State must then remove the commercial privilege from his license within 60 days (the Clearinghouse rule of 2021). Until the State puts it back, he may not drive a truck at all (the rule on getting back to driving).

Share what you learned only with the people who decide whether Ray may drive. You may use Clearinghouse information only for that decision. Sharing it with anyone else can bring civil and criminal penalties (the rule on misuse). Your other drivers only need to hear that Ray is off the schedule.

Not every full query ends like this. A violation remains visible until four things have happened. The SAP has reported, and the return to duty test was negative. The follow-up tests are done. And 5 years have passed since the violation (the rule on how long records stay). So a limited query can find an old matter, long closed. Say Ray’s full query had shown a failed test from 2022, with every step done. Then he is not prohibited, and he keeps driving. Say it showed every step done except some follow-up tests. Then you may use him only if you take over managing those tests (the federal query rule).

Chapter 04

What must I report and keep, and what has changed?

You report some things yourself, by the close of the third business day after you learn of them. They include an alcohol test of 0.04 or higher and a refusal you decide on. They also include a violation you know of for a fact, such as a driver you saw drinking on duty. You also report a negative return to duty test and the end of follow-up testing. The doctor reports failed drug tests, not you (the reporting rule). You keep each driver’s paper consent for 3 years after your last query (the consent rule).

In Ray’s case, you report nothing now. The medical review officer already reported his failed test. Your part comes later, if Ray goes through return to duty and you keep him. Then you report his negative return to duty test. Later you report that his follow-up tests are done. Each report is due by the close of the third business day (the reporting rule).

Say instead that Ray had been picked for a random test and never showed up. Not showing up for a test counts as a refusal (the refusal rule). No doctor reports that one. You do, with proof of when and where you told him to go (the reporting rule). Our guide to DOT drug testing tells what else counts as a refusal.

Your C/TPA can file these reports for you, but you still answer for them. The one exception is the owner who drives alone: his C/TPA reports his own violations and carries that duty. Every report must be true and accurate (the reporting rule).

Now the records. You must keep a record of each query and its answer for 3 years. Since January 6, 2023, a valid Clearinghouse registration meets that duty, because the Clearinghouse keeps the history (the federal query rule). The paper consents are different. The Clearinghouse does not hold them, so they stay in your files. Keep them where you can find them fast. If FMCSA asks for your testing records, you have two business days to show them at your main office (the testing records rule).

Two dates changed this work, and much advice online is older than both. Since January 6, 2023, the Clearinghouse query replaces most calls to past employers about drug tests. A valid registration also keeps your query records for you (the rule on past employers). Since November 18, 2024, a prohibited driver also loses the commercial privilege on his license (the Clearinghouse rule of 2021). So a page that tells you to phone every past employer, or to print every query, is out of date. So is a page that says a prohibited driver still holds a good CDL. That change did not remove your duty to run queries. The State acts on the license, and you still query every driver.

We could not check one thing: the price of a query. Look at the Query Plan page before you buy. We can track the consent papers, the yearly query dates and the records for your whole fleet: here is what it costs.