Last reviewed Oct 26, 2026. General information, not legal advice.
The FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is an online database run by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It keeps records of drug and alcohol program violations by CDL drivers. Employers check it before hiring a driver and once a year after that.
Why owner-operators have two roles
If you have your own authority and drive your own truck, you are both the employer and the driver. In the Clearinghouse, that means:
- You register as an employer to run queries.
- You register as a driver to give consent for queries on yourself.
- You name a consortium/third-party administrator (C/TPA) to handle reporting for your company.
The queries you need
- Pre-employment (full) query: before a driver starts. The driver gives consent inside the Clearinghouse.
- Annual query: at least once a year for each driver, including yourself.
Queries cost money. You buy a query plan in the Clearinghouse and use it as you go.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting the annual query for yourself.
- Registering as an employer but not as a driver, so you cannot give consent.
- Not naming a C/TPA.
- Mixing up the personal and company logins.
Getting help
The website can be confusing the first time. Our Clearinghouse query service walks you through setup and your first queries. New carriers can also look at our new authority launch package.