New entrant safety audit checklist

When the audit happens

Once you have a USDOT number and start interstate operations, you are a new entrant for 18 months (49 CFR 385.307). During that time FMCSA watches your roadside inspections and carries out a safety audit.

• The audit comes within 12 months of beginning operations (FMCSA New Entrant program, Safety Audits).
• It needs a record history. FMCSA waits until you have run long enough to have records worth reviewing, generally at least three months (385.307(b)).
• Answer the first call. Within your first 90 days, FMCSA’s New Entrant Contact Center phones to confirm your registration details. If you don’t respond, your registration may be revoked (New Entrant program).
• Answer the letter. If a letter about your safety audit arrives, responding is mandatory.

When it can come sooner

FMCSA can order an expedited audit or a compliance review, or demand a written corrective-action response, if a new entrant (385.308):

• uses a driver without a valid CDL for the vehicle;
• runs a vehicle placed out of service before fixing it;
• uses a driver who tested positive or refused a test;
• operates without the required insurance;
• has a driver or vehicle out-of-service rate of 50% or more on at least three inspections in 90 days;
• is involved in certain hazardous materials incidents.

Refusing the audit isn’t an option. FMCSA sends a notice, and you have 10 days to agree in writing. If you don’t, your registration is revoked and you are placed out of service from the 11th day (385.337).

How it is done

An FMCSA-certified safety auditor either visits your place of business or reviews documents you send electronically: online, by mail or by fax. FMCSA tells you which type by phone or mail, so keep your contact details current (Safety Audits).

The audit is partly educational: its purpose includes giving you technical help, not only checking you (385.309). It covers at least five areas (385.311):

• driver qualification;
• driver duty status (hours of service);
• vehicle maintenance;
• the accident register;
• controlled substances and alcohol testing.

Watch for scams. New carriers get calls, texts and letters from people posing as FMCSA. FMCSA says it never uses robocalls or telemarketers, never asks for card numbers by phone and never charges for its forms. It also doesn’t endorse service providers, and you don’t need one to pass (New Entrant program).

What the auditor asks for

FMCSA’s Safety Audit Resource Guide lists the documents the auditor may request, in three groups. If you are a one-truck owner-operator, you are the driver on every list.

For ELD data, the guide explains how to send the file. You can send it from the ELD by web service with a comment code you get at the start of the audit, or upload the output file. Don’t print and fax it.

The drug and alcohol program trips up more owner-operators than anything else. Our drug and alcohol consortium guide walks through the setup.

The 16 automatic failures

Any one of these 16 violations fails the audit, whatever else your records look like (49 CFR 385.321). Fourteen fail on a single occurrence. Two need the violation in 51% or more of the records examined.

Notice how many of these are paperwork you can fix before the audit: a consortium enrollment, an annual inspection, a medical certificate. Others are about who drives and what runs: don’t put a truck back on the road with an open out-of-service defect.

Passing, failing and fixing

The auditor reviews the findings with you at the end. FMCSA then sends a written pass or fail notice within 45 days (385.319).

If you pass

FMCSA keeps watching your safety performance for the rest of the 18 months. If nothing else goes wrong, your new entrant designation is removed and your registration becomes permanent (385.333(a)). FMCSA notes that you then move to its regular CSA monitoring (Safety Audits).

If you fail

• You must fix it in time. Most carriers have 60 days from the notice to show corrective action. Passenger carriers and placarded hazmat carriers have 45 (385.319(c)).
• Send the plan within 15 days if you can. FMCSA’s corrective action plan guidance asks for the plan within 15 days of the notice, so it has time to decide before revocation takes effect. The plan addresses each violation and why it happened, and shows how it won’t recur, with documents. It needs a signed statement that you will operate in compliance.
• Extensions are limited. FMCSA may grant up to 60 more days if you are making a good-faith effort (385.323).
• No acceptable plan means revocation. Your new entrant registration is revoked and you are placed out of service from day 61 after the notice (day 46 for passenger and hazmat carriers) (385.325).
• You can ask for a review. If you think FMCSA got it wrong, you can request an administrative review within 90 days. File within 15 days if you want a decision before the out-of-service order would start (385.327).
• Reapplying takes time. After a revocation you can reapply after 30 days, with evidence the problems are fixed. You then start a new 18-month period (385.329T).

Printable checklist

Go through this list a month after you start running, and again when FMCSA contacts you. Tick the boxes on screen, or print it for your files.

The audit is one step of starting a new authority. Your MCS-150 update and UCR registration come up in the same first year. Our DOT compliance services and new authority dispatch help carriers through it, along with the rest of our trucking services.

Sources

Every rule, date, fee and rate on this page comes from the official sources below. We opened and checked each one on October 9, 2026. Rules change: if a source says something different from this page, the source wins.

1. 49 CFR Part 385, subpart D (sections 385.301T and 385.307–385.337, including 385.329T) (eCFR, National Archives), text current to October 5, 2026.
2. 49 CFR 385.321, Safety audit: Failure (table of 16 automatic-failure violations) (eCFR, National Archives).
3. New Entrant Safety Assurance Program (FMCSA), page updated May 31, 2022.
4. Safety Audits (FMCSA New Entrant program).
5. Welcome, New Entrant Motor Carriers (FMCSA New Entrant program).
6. Safety Audit Resource Guide (FMCSA).
7. Corrective Action Plan Submission Guidance (FMCSA).

This guide is general information for owner-operators and small fleets, not legal or tax advice. Your base state or province, FMCSA and the official program sites have the final word on your filings.