I have lived in three different states. DAC questions...

most applications ask for the past 5 years. if your state only goes back for 3 years, that's all you give. if any company wants a lifetime record, THEY WILL get it.

this has been the way i have been doing it. my state's immediate record only goes back 3 years. i will always have a lifetime driving record, we all do.

however on any application that asks "driving record for the past 5 years", unless YOU PAY for the lifetime record, only give them what your immediate record has.

 

You want your MVR(Motor vehicle record), not DAC report. Just get one from each of the states you have lived in and you should be fine. Best wishes!

 

With most trucking company's you don't. They have access to a host of information and in almost every situation will get it on their own. Just answer the questions honestly and file the application.

 

I pulled my own dac last year and it came up like there was nothing at all. I held a CDL for 31 years or so in two states but had been off the road so long if I wanted to get back to it it will have to be a refresher to me and a state test. (Hopefully in a manual.)

I was not OTR after 2001 but did manage a handful of semi truck work as yard jockey etc. into towards 2009 with the big rigs to the barn herding a team of CDL temps, some who did only auto needing manual learning, and vice versa for the others. As a crew boss that was my line, I had about 20 minutes to get all of them to the barn and back. Certain trucks with trailers on them or really old iron, I claimed for myself because no one was older than 23 or so usually. If i had a old hand I would let him have it. You couldnt do a better gift to put someone back into something he did when he was younger and bring it all back in that old thing. But most of the monthly sale days for trucks I had a batch of 20 to 25 temps all under 25 and half had some manual, the other half had some auto. So it's a bit of teaching for me to get them to function enough to get that tractor in and back without breaking anything.

Most of the tractors there were like 4 gallons on fuel too so you had to hold and wait until like 3 minutes prior to it's turn on the sale caller to go. Sometimes it ran out at the bay door. We would continue on with the other bay door as the money costing fast working refueling (20 dollars a gallon, 100 per fuel filter etc and so much per minute against the seller) we can usually get a completely out of fuel truck reprimed and going again in about 14 minutes depending on what model and type it was. Some had the manual primer above the fuel filters to get it going filling them. takes a few minutes. Others you spun em off and filled then put back on. Some others you splash fuel in the tank crank a bit and she catches. Its routine. No big deal.

But there were times a truck is trouble to everyone throwing me codes to bypass and keep it alive. Those are the bad work days for me. Start it. run it a little throws a code, dies. look up the code and learn what's matter with it and then start working around it where possible.

But once in a while maybe two times every ten years you get a tractor so well kept so pristine and so well done and well behaved for the actual miles on them those are the ones I would have bought on spot. If you had about oh... 50,000 on up as the caller threw out larger and larger numbers. Heh.


Back to my DAC.

I am happy there isnt anything on that dac. There have been very angry dispatchers putting in some very damning information that requries a rebuttal or attention from anyone in the industry who is thinking about hiring you.

There is another more secret problem above Dac in trucking. Blacklisting. You can google that and learn each of the state's laws on that practice of black listing drivers. I am BL in one company in indiiana and it's legal as long they verbalize it only over the phone. If I catch them writing that anywhere then by the time I finished in the indiana courthouse I would own the whole outfit hook line and sinker.

There is a benefit to also being on the trucking for so long. Some companies do not exist anymore. Nothing. Null. Void. Zip. However. There are probably still documents around federal agencies and some state agencies from those days that probably can be dug up and unearth from the never land of never happened. I think by law DAC cleans off 7 to 10 years as if nothing ever happened.

Now...

There is yet another level in this industry. Groups of companies that band together to share information on everyone. I found that Covenant remembers my half day orientation in which I was sent home for hearing problems. That one turned into a very serious ADA potential trial and a review with FMSCA which I was allowed to continue on as before after a test with a designated audiologist etc. The biggest problems were with people (A handful) in positions of ownership of the company and fleet or owner ship of trucks to discriminate against deaf drivers. For the most part all were what they were and nothing will ever change them. Except two. I spent a few minutes educating them on the deaf culture in Maryland and why they had so much trouble with certain other deaf who I actually knew from my school years there growing up and explained to one manager specifically why there is a problem that he had the way he had it.

Covenant and 15 other megas maintain their own association and own database at their own expense alongside DAC and everyone else online. It is not difficult to learn who are the other 15 companies with that one and just not even contact them at all. Otherwise that day never happened.

By the time I finished with him, he got educated. Never for one moment have I ever shown any difficulty with the telephone etc in those days. (Most of the time, the phones worked.. unless you were in say fightertown Virginia beach where it's futile to be trying a pay phone under Navy jets afternburning off the ground above.

Anyway my story is a long one. And it's unique to me.

There is one more thing.

Whatever state you live in. Once you pass your school and they stamp out a CDL on you in Teir one meaning you are free to haul freight in state across state or national boundaries etc especially post 9-11 security stuff. That CDL in your pocket will be your greatest asset. And the easiest to lose if you did something of a boo boo that is wrong or cost you or someone else money. The CDL today (I was grandfathered under Teir Two, to the state that means I haul dead bodies after a national emergency such as a nuked DC for example. As long I held a CDL I stood to be called for that work. (That was was explained to me specifically, there were three other ways to touch a big truck under Teir two. In some states you had additional tiers under which you might hold a CDL. Non commercial RV type is one. Some of the big ones weigh in at 54000 pounds these days. That's not something you hand to a basic car license holder.

During the process of getting your CDL you will face a multiplue of requirements on documentations to submit and so on.

There is one final thing left. Drugs. As of Jan 1 this year pain killers for a dental ow or a broken bone or other situations are not lawful.

Legalized pot is a problem because some states allow it. Some trucking companies hair test which goes back a year. And boom you have a hot result and you cannot be allowed to touch a truck, sometimes for life if you failed to go through a program designed specifically to keep drug users for whatever reason off that big truck.

In my state pot is legal for medical. If you are already that sick, you generally WILL NOT pass the DOT medical to get that CDL, it's all tied together now. ( Your weapons are also consificiated and melted down for you to be allowed to use medical pot under our new laws as well)

There has been a ongoing or if not a growing problem with people in drug states that it is legal and boom runinto a hot test with a CDL and that's that.

Finally....

Your first year in trucking after CDL is the most dangerous time for you. SImply because of what you don't yet know. Which you will LEARN in blood, sweat, tears and joy. Literally good luck. There isa very very very good chance for one reason or another you wont get past the first year. If you did and stayed clean and so on...

You have a golden oppertunity to write a ticket to whomever you ever wanted to work for and get that dream job. But you have to get through this time first. SOme people cannot cross town to be on time for doctor appointment. YOU will be racing the USA and sometimes part of Canada in ALL weather day and night to be somewhere within 10 minutes.

 

actually, if i recall (and I do) when you go to the website for a DAC report, on the order form, there is a check box for the DMV records as well.

i just am NOT SURE if all driver's licenses are available or just CDL licenses..

a nationwide search can be easily done.


as an added note, @WelshGuy said this:

I lived in Indiana from beginning to drive to 2010. Then went to Florida in 2010 thru 2012. Alabama 2012 to now, and am moving back to Indiana in a week to start CDL school.

so i think that his last state will suffice as that was a longer time there as a licensed driver.

 

Get a copy of your Motor Vehicle Report MVR from your state. The company & their insurance carrier will see your MVR whether you give them a copy or not. I don't if living in different states requires YOU to get the MVR from seperate states or not.