Every new interstate carrier is audited within its first 12 months. Here's exactly what FMCSA reviews, the rules that fail you on the spot, and the documents to have ready — so you pass the first time.
Check my DOT free →The safety audit is a records review of your safety-management systems. Have clean, complete files in each of these six areas and you're most of the way there.
A complete Driver Qualification File (DQF) for every driver: employment application, MVRs, medical examiner's certificate, road test or CDL copy, and prior-employer safety-performance history.
Compliant ELD records and supporting documents, with no false logs and drivers trained on the 11/14-hour and 60/70-hour limits.
A random testing program (consortium/C-TPA), pre-employment tests, and FMCSA Clearinghouse pre-employment and annual queries.
Annual inspections, driver vehicle inspection reports (DVIRs) and a maintenance record for each vehicle you operate.
A DOT accident register listing any recordable crashes, kept for at least three years — even if the list is empty.
Proof of BIPD insurance on file at the required level, active and matching your operation.
Certain violations fail the audit no matter how clean the rest of your file is. The most common ones for new carriers:
Fixing any one of these before the audit is far cheaper than a Corrective Action Plan afterward.
Store each driver's documents and generate a complete, FMCSA Part 391 DQF — with copies of every file attached — in one click.
Your New Entrant audit window, MCS-150, UCR, IFTA and 2290 dates in one place, with reminders before they're due.
Authority, insurance on file, inspections and out-of-service status watched daily, with alerts the moment something changes.
Need a filing, permit or a document set for the audit? Request it in the app and our team prepares it for you.
Within the first 12 months of operating under your new interstate authority. FMCSA or a state partner reviews your safety-management records, usually by document request rather than an on-site visit.
Six areas: driver qualification (Part 391), hours of service (Part 395), drug & alcohol testing (Parts 382/40), vehicle maintenance (Part 396), the accident register (390.15), and insurance/financial responsibility (Part 387).
Sixteen specific violations — such as using a driver with no valid CDL, having no random drug-testing program, using a driver who failed a test, or operating without required insurance — are automatic failures.
You submit a Corrective Action Plan showing the problems are fixed. If you don't, your new-entrant registration can be revoked and you must stop interstate operations.
Enter your USDOT number to see your live compliance snapshot, then build your driver files and deadline calendar in minutes.
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