FAQ
Straight answers
What exactly is a DQ file?
A file federal rules (49 CFR 391.51) require you to keep on every driver: application, driving records, prior-employer checks, road test or CDL equivalency, medical certificate, and related records, kept current for the driver's employment plus three years.
What do I have to do per driver?
About six minutes. Photos of the license and the medical card, the Social Security number typed in, two yes-or-no facts, the date of your Clearinghouse query, and one certification. After that, the driver and I do the rest.
What does my driver have to do?
One link, 10 to 15 minutes on his phone. The law makes four things his: the application, the consumer report authorization, the Clearinghouse consent if he holds a CDL, and a state release where his state wants one. He signs them on the link, and copies go to his inbox.
How fast do I get my files?
Within 7 business days of receiving each driver's complete paperwork. Prior-employer responses can take up to 30 days by regulation; those are documented as sent and updated when they land.
Am I locked into a contract?
No. Month to month, cancel with 30 days' written notice. Your files are delivered to you in an organized electronic format within 10 business days.
Are driving record costs extra?
The state's own fee for the record is passed through at cost, no markup. Everything else about ordering and reading it is in the $39.
Do you handle drug testing, ELDs, or IFTA?
Not in this service. I keep DQ files as my single focus. Your Clearinghouse queries that belong in the driver file are documented and tracked as part of the file.
Will this guarantee I pass an audit?
No one can promise an audit outcome, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. What I deliver: files built to the federal requirements, every date tracked, and a written record of every alert I send you.
Do leased owner-operators and 1099 drivers need DQ files?
Yes. If they drive under your authority, the qualification-file requirement applies to them the same as any employee driver. This catches a lot of small fleets off guard.
What about consent forms for records and employment checks?
Your driver signs the required disclosure and authorization on his link before any record is ordered. I provide the forms; nothing is ordered without his signature.
Do you cover my state?
Yes. All 50 states, interstate and intrastate carriers, including private fleets.
Where does my drivers' information live?
In encrypted storage, kept separate for each carrier. Social Security numbers, dates of birth and license numbers are encrypted on their own and never shown in full on a screen. Driving records and employer responses are stored as the documents they are; I do not score them or feed them to anything. Access to a driver's investigation history is limited to the people who work the file. When you cancel, your files are delivered to you, and 30 days after you confirm you have them, my copy is destroyed except for the consents and the agreement the law makes me keep.
Whose files are they?
Yours. Always. You can build and download the whole file from your account any time.
About eight minutes. Card at the end. No sales call.
A two-minute form. I reply within one business day.