You can check your DAC report by requesting it from HireRight, the company that compiles it, through its candidate support portal at support.hireright.com. Federal law entitles you to one free copy every 12 months, and HireRight must deliver the report within 15 days of receiving your request.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681j – Charges for Certain Disclosures Because the report follows you from carrier to carrier, checking it before you apply for your next job is worth doing on a regular schedule.
Submitting the Request to HireRight
HireRight keeps a dedicated page for CDL drivers who want to pull their file. Go to the candidate support site and navigate to the DAC report request section. The form asks for standard identifying information: your full legal name, mailing address, date of birth, Social Security number, and your driver’s license number with the issuing state.
HireRight qualifies as a nationwide specialty consumer reporting agency under the Fair Credit Reporting Act because it maintains employment-history files on consumers. That classification is what triggers the free annual copy and the 15-day delivery window. You can request additional copies outside the annual window, but HireRight may charge a small fee for those.
Expect an identity verification step after you submit. HireRight typically sends the report by U.S. mail rather than making it available for download, so build a little lead time into your planning. If you need it faster, calling HireRight and asking about expedited options is worth the effort.
What You Should See on the Report
A DAC report is a portable work history that trucking companies share with each other. When a previous employer reported to HireRight’s database, the entry could include any of the following:
- Employment dates and positions: which carriers you worked for, when you started and left, and your role.
- Reason for leaving: whether you resigned, were laid off, or were terminated, along with whether the employer would rehire you.
- Accident records: dates and basic details of any DOT-reportable incidents during your employment.
- Drug and alcohol testing: results from pre-employment, random, post-accident, and reasonable-suspicion tests.
- CDL information: license class, endorsements, and any restrictions or violations.
Not every carrier reports to HireRight, so a missing job doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong. Read the entries you do see closely: dates, termination reasons, rehire eligibility, and any accident or test entries are the fields most likely to be inaccurate and most likely to cost you a job.
How Long Entries Stay on the Report
Employment information generally remains on a DAC report for up to 10 years. After about seven years from the date your employment ended, HireRight restricts what it will disclose about that job. At that point, the report typically shows only your start and end dates with that employer; the detailed work record, rehire eligibility, reason for leaving, and accident history are no longer disclosed. Drug and alcohol violations follow the reporting windows set by FMCSA regulations, which focus on the most recent three years of safety-sensitive employment history.2eCFR. 49 CFR 391.23 – Investigation and Inquiries If you see full detail from a job that ended more than seven years ago, or a violation reported outside its window, flag it.
The FMCSA Clearinghouse Is a Separate Database
Checking your DAC report does not tell you what is in the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. The Clearinghouse is a separate, federally managed registry that tracks drug and alcohol violations for CDL holders, and employers must query it before hiring you and at least once a year while you are employed. Since November 2024, a “prohibited” status in the Clearinghouse results in the loss or denial of your commercial driver’s license. If you want to know your Clearinghouse status, you have to check it directly through the FMCSA system; it is not part of the HireRight file.
Disputing Something That’s Wrong
HireRight is required to follow reasonable procedures to ensure maximum possible accuracy of the information in your file.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681e – Compliance Procedures When errors slip through, you can dispute them at no cost.
You can file a dispute online through HireRight’s candidate support portal, by phone, or by mail to HireRight, Attn: Applicant Care Team, 14002 E. 21st Street, Suite 1200, Tulsa, OK 74134.4HireRight Candidate Support. Dispute the Accuracy of My Background Report or Testing Results Be specific about which entry you are challenging. Attach anything that backs you up: pay stubs showing different employment dates, a letter from a former employer correcting a termination reason, or test records showing a clean result.
HireRight then has 30 days to reinvestigate and resolve the dispute. That window can stretch to 45 days only if you send additional relevant information during the initial 30-day period. If HireRight finds the disputed item is inaccurate, incomplete, or unverifiable, it must correct or delete the entry.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681i – Procedure in Case of Disputed Accuracy
If the Dispute Doesn’t Fix It
If HireRight refuses to correct a legitimate error, you have legal options under the FCRA. Willful violations can carry statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 without proof of specific financial loss, plus possible punitive damages and mandatory attorney’s fees for a prevailing consumer.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681n – Civil Liability for Willful Noncompliance Negligent violations allow recovery of actual damages, such as lost wages from a job the report cost you, plus attorney’s fees.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681o – Civil Liability for Negligent Noncompliance Because the statute forces the losing side to pay legal costs, many FCRA attorneys take these cases on contingency, so you don’t necessarily need money upfront to pursue a legitimate claim. The Department of Justice has previously taken enforcement action against HireRight for failing to give consumers timely access to their files and not properly investigating disputes.8United States Department of Justice. Employment Screening Services Provider Settles Charges of Violating Fair Credit Reporting Act
Requesting the report before you need it is the whole point. If you already know what’s in your file, you can fix problems on your own timeline instead of learning about them from a carrier that has already decided not to hire you.