Missing Road Test Certificate: What 49 CFR 391.31 Requires and How to Fix It

What a Road Test Certificate Is

A road test certificate is the document that proves a driver demonstrated the skill to safely operate a specific type of commercial motor vehicle before a motor carrier let them drive it. It comes from an actual test: a qualified examiner rides with the driver, evaluates handling, backing, coupling, and other maneuvers in a representative vehicle, and signs off on the result.

It's one of the nine required items in a Driver Qualification File under 49 CFR Part 391, alongside the employment application, medical certificate, and motor vehicle record. Unlike the medical certificate, it doesn't expire during employment. It's a one-time record that stays in the file for as long as the driver works for the carrier, plus three years.

Who Must Have One

Any driver a motor carrier permits to operate a commercial motor vehicle in interstate commerce needs a road test certificate on file, regardless of whether they're a new hire, an owner-operator, or a driver who transferred from another division of the same company. There's no exemption for small fleets or single-truck operations. The requirement applies the same way to a carrier hiring its first driver as it does to a fleet with two hundred trucks.

The one exception is a driver who already qualifies for an equivalency exemption under 391.33, covered below. Outside of that exemption, the certificate has to exist before the driver's first day operating the vehicle, not after.

49 CFR §391.31 Explained

49 CFR 391.31 sets three requirements that matter most for a compliance review:

• The test has to be administered. Not offered, not scheduled, actually conducted, with the driver behind the wheel of a vehicle representative of the type they'll operate for the carrier.
• The examiner has to be qualified and disinterested. The carrier designates the examiner as competent to evaluate driving skill, and the examiner cannot have a direct or indirect financial interest in whether the driver passes.
• The result has to be documented on a certificate. Signed, dated, and specific to that driver and that test. A verbal confirmation or a note in an onboarding checklist doesn't satisfy the regulation.

FMCSA's own guidance on driver qualification files addresses 391.31 directly and confirms that the certificate has to reflect a test performed for the carrier making the determination, not a certificate carried over from a prior employer without independent review.

Can You Use a Road Test Waiver Instead?

49 CFR 391.33 allows certain licenses and certificates to substitute for a new road test. The most common substitute is a valid CDL issued through a state testing program that FMCSA recognizes as equivalent in scope to the road test required under 391.31. When this applies, the carrier documents the equivalency, files that documentation in the DQF, and doesn't need to administer a separate test.

This is where most carriers get tripped up. Having a CDL on file is not the same as having the 391.33 equivalency documentation on file. The regulation requires the carrier to make and keep a record showing why the license qualifies as a substitute, not just a copy of the license itself. Without that record, the file still reads as missing the certificate.

If the driver's CDL doesn't qualify for the equivalency, or the carrier can't produce the supporting documentation, a new road test is the only remaining option.

How to Replace a Missing Road Test Certificate

1. 1

   Pull the driver's full licensing history

   Get the state, license class, and issuing testing program. This determines whether an equivalency exemption is even available.

2. 2

   Check the license against the 391.33 equivalency standard

   If the CDL was issued through a program FMCSA recognizes as equivalent to the road test, document that fact and file the supporting record in place of a new certificate.

3. 3

   If no exemption applies, schedule a new road test

   Use a vehicle representative of what the driver will actually operate. A generic or unrelated vehicle type doesn't satisfy the requirement.

4. 4

   Assign an examiner with no financial stake in the result

   A safety manager, in-house trainer, or third-party CDL examiner. Document their qualification to evaluate driving ability.

5. 5

   Complete the certificate the same day as the test

   Date, vehicle type, route or maneuvers covered, examiner name and signature, and pass/fail result.

6. 6

   File the signed certificate in the Driver Qualification File

   Keep it for the length of employment plus three years, the same retention period as the rest of the DQF under 391.51.

Once the certificate is filed, run the rest of the driver's file through the DQF Builder above to confirm nothing else in the file is missing or expired before it becomes a second finding in the same audit.

Common DOT Audit Findings

These are the road test certificate problems that show up most often during FMCSA compliance reviews, in rough order of frequency.

Compliance Checklist

Real-World Audit Scenario

A six-truck carrier went through a new entrant safety audit eighteen months after getting its authority. Four of the six drivers had CDLs on file and the carrier assumed that covered the road test requirement. None of the four files had the 391.33 equivalency documentation, and none had a 391.31 certificate. The auditor rated all four drivers not qualified for the review period. Because the finding touched more than half the fleet, the audit expanded into a full file review instead of a spot check, and the carrier had thirty days to correct the files or face a conditional safety rating.

The fix was straightforward once identified: two drivers had licenses that did qualify under 391.33 once the carrier pulled the equivalency documentation from the state licensing agency, and the other two needed new road tests, which took one afternoon each to schedule and complete. The underlying problem wasn't the drivers' skill. It was that nobody had checked the files against the regulation before the audit did.

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