What Is A DAC Report And How Will It Affect Your Job Opportunities?

In many other industries, consumer credit checks have become a standard part of a company's pre-hire process (though there is a growing legal backlash against a person's credit report being used against them in the hiring process).

In the trucking industry, there is the DAC report. That notorious handful of papers filled with your personal information being used against you in the court of trucking industry opinion. It will generally contain your employment history, driving incidents, and legal transgressions.

HireRight is a private, for-profit company that specializes in providing background checks for all kinds of industries, including DAC reports for trucking companies. As a background check provider, they are legally bound to operate under the regulations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

The FCRA is a set of federal regulations that covers the collection and use of credit information and forms the basis of consumer credit rights in the U.S.

What this means for your report is that you, as an individual, are given certain protections by the U.S. government when it comes to what's on your background report, and its accuracy.

As a truck driver, you are going to want to pay at least a medium level of attention to what is on your report. Generally DAC reports are treated the same as consumer credit reports by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). You are entitled to 1 free report every 12 months.

The DAC report request can contain various different aspects of your background and history, depending on what your potential employer feels is important. HireRight customizes reports containing any or all of a couple dozen different criteria.

Your report may contain DOT physical information, FMCSA crash and inspection records, drug and alcohol testing results, employment and license verification, and U.S. employment eligibility verification.

For each of your previous employers, the following information is usually included:

HireRight lists their DAC report options on their website: Trucking Industry DAC Reports

Much like consumer credit reports, it is a good idea for a CDL driver to know exactly what is on their DAC report, and to try to correct inaccurate, missing, or incomplete information. Periodically examining and correcting your report is just part of your job as a truck driver in the modern world.

In the case of wrong information on a report, drivers do have legal protections and remedies available from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC handles DAC reporting the same as it handles credit reporting.

A driver's first step will be to contact HireRight to file a free DAC report dispute. The investigation process may take up to 30 days, and can be done online, by phone or fax, or through the mail.

As computers and technology have connected everything about life today, it has made the world a lot smaller. Gone are the glory days of the past where you could run, "Dukes Of Hazzard"-style, from a bad driving record, criminal past, or a shady or spotty work history.

Good or bad, the electronic age is affecting the conditions that decide who will hire you and how much you will make - and crafting a new life will require dealing with the old one first.

Any time you apply for a job with any medium to large trucking company, they are going to check your work history and background. Whatever events led you to this point will be laid out in black and white for a hiring manager to use to decide whether or not you are a good fit for the company.

If your DAC report doesn't agree with the information that you've provided so far, they might want to know a little more about why, and ask you more questions about what is on your report, though you may never find out the "whys" on your non-hire.

As a representative of a company, you become part of the public perception of that company. Your face is the face of the company itself, through your actions as a driver and as a human rolling in a shiny metal box with their name on it.

If your past is filled with employment and legal events that look like a pattern of problems, the guy doing the hiring is going to find out about it, and possibly question whether he needs to go further in the process.

It has become more important to not only be up front with potential employers, but to follow up on your application and keep communication open. Trucking companies are typically buried in job applications, and being the "squeaky wheel" will more likely get you the grease over those applicants who drop their application off and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

In addition, the FTC also provides its own information on the Fair Credit Reporting Act and what you can do to help correct errors on your DAC report to help your future job searches:

FTC Summary of the Fair Credit Reporting Act

Disputing Errors On Your Credit Report

In 2012, the Department of Justice, at the request of the FTC, charged HireRight with multiple violations of the FCRA, and obtained a $2.6 million judgment against them. Among the charges were:

Unfortunately, we live in a reality in which some large, for-profit companies will bend and break and ignore the rules that were put in place to protect powerless individuals from those who control great power over them.