Employee Driving Records in Florida

As an employer, it's always helpful to have some background information on the people you're thinking about hiring. In some cases, its even required that you request the driving records of your current and prospective employees.

To order driving record reports in Florida, you can either:

  • Go directly through state services.
    OR
  • Hire a private company.

Ordering Records Through FL DHSMV

To order records through the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FL DHSMV), complete a Driver License Records Request (Form HSMV 90511).

Be prepared to include:

  • Your personal information.
    • Name, mailing address, e-mail, phone, and fax number.
  • Your signature, confirming that you are legally obligated to receive your applicant's driving record.
  • Your applicant's information.
    • Name, date of birth, address, driver's license number, and Social Security number.

Send the above along with payment for the appropriate fees to:

Bureau of Records
2900 Apalachee Parkway, MS 52
Tallahassee, FL 32399

It should take about 10 business days for your results to be processed and mailed back.

Florida Business Driving Record Fees

Depending on how extensive you want the driving record to be, the fees will differ:

  • 3 years: $8.
  • 7 years: $10.
  • Complete driving history: $10.

Include the appropriate payment in the form of personal check or money order payable to the “Division of Motorist Services."

Ordering Through a Private Company

Compared to state services, third party companies tend to be less expensive and less work for you.

First, most of the processing fees for ordering records are already paid for by the private company. They can also obtain your applicant's driving records from each state where they've held a license with a single request. This means you don't have to make individual record requests to cover each state your applicant has had a CDL in.

There are certain federal standards that third party companies are required to uphold. When deciding on a provider make sure you know that they:

  • Gather information from every state your applicant has ever held a license in.
  • Are notified with updates to your applicant's driving record(s).

By law, you need to keep records of the person requesting driving history reports and the date(s) they did so.

Reading a FL Driver History Record

The driving record that you receive will contain several different sections concerning your applicant's personal information, qualifications, and traffic incidents.

The record will contain the following:

  • Driver's license information.
  • Personal information.
  • Current class of license.
  • Prior license(s) information.
  • Types of licenses held from past to present day.
  • License issuing history.
  • General licensing exams.
  • CDL exams.
  • Driving restrictions and endorsements.
  • Special driver information.
  • Sanctions.
  • Violations.
  • Crashes.
  • Driving school.
  • Correspondence with the court.

Federal Guidelines for Commercial Driving Records

If you run a business that requires employees to have a commercial driver's license (CDL), you are required by law to look into your applicants' driving records before hiring them. You will also need to conduct annual driving record checks on your current employees.

If your applicant has had previous experience as a CDL driver, the information that you're required to request includes:

  • Every state that your applicant has held a CDL in the last 10 years.
  • Safe driving evaluations done by their previous employers in the last 10 years.
  • Driving records for each state where they've held a commercial license.
  • Illegal use of drugs and alcohol in the last 10 years.
  • Status of drug/alcohol treatment program completion (if applicable).
  • Proof that you've made every effort to obtain the required information.

If your applicant has no previous experience working as a CDL driver (i.e. this is their first job applying as a commercial driver), you are required to order:

  • Identification information.
  • Validation of their CDL privileges.
  • Traffic incidents/accidents.

Forms

HSMV 90511
Driver License Records Request
Use this form to request a copy of your FL driving record or someone else's for purposes allowed by law
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