New carriers: you have 12 months to pass your New Entrant Safety Audit

Under 49 CFR Part 385, Subpart D, FMCSA reviews every new motor carrier within 12 months of starting operations. The single most common automatic failure is not having a drug & alcohol testing program in place.

The fix is simple: stay enrolled in a consortium (C/TPA), keep your driver qualification files current, and have your Clearinghouse queries and DOT physicals on file. That’s the bulk of what the audit checks for a new carrier.