The Clearinghouse when you are your own employer
Running under your own authority makes you both the driver and the employer. That means two registrations, a consortium, a query plan, and an annual query on yourself.
- Author
- Relay Dispatch Desk
- Published
- 18 Aug 2026
- Verified
- 15 Aug 2026
- Re-checked
- annually
Key takeaways
- Under your own authority you are the driver AND the employer, and both need registering.
- You must designate a consortium or third-party administrator, because you cannot run your own random testing pool alone.
- Queries are bought in advance as a query plan.
- You run a full query on yourself annually — an employer checking their own driver, who happens to be you.
This one catches new authorities more than any other item on the list, because it does not feel like paperwork you owe yourself. It is, and the New Entrant audit treats a missing programme as an automatic failure.
Register as a driver
A driver account is how you give consent to queries and how you see anything recorded against your licence.
Register again as an employer
Under your own USDOT number you are the employer of record. That is a separate registration with separate obligations, and the two accounts are not interchangeable.
Designate a consortium or third-party administrator
A random testing pool of one is not a pool. A C/TPA runs the selections and manages the testing programme on your behalf; you nominate them in the Clearinghouse.
Buy a query plan
Queries are purchased in advance. Buy them before you need them, because you cannot run one in the moment without a plan in place.
Run the annual query — on yourself
Once a year the employer queries the driver. Both of those are you, and the record has to show it happened.
Sources
- FMCSA · Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse — owner-operator guidance · accessed 15 Aug 2026
- eCFR (GPO/OFR) · 49 CFR Part 382 — Controlled Substances and Alcohol Use and Testing · 49 CFR Part 382 · accessed 15 Aug 2026
Re-verified annually. Educational summary — the regulation controls. Not legal advice.
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