If your business has employees who drive, you face a significant hidden risk on the road. Vehicle collisions are the leading cause of workplace fatalities in the United States (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records), and in 2019 alone U.S. employers lost $72.2 billion due to work-related motor vehicle accidents (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). For a small business owner or fleet manager, even one serious crash involving an employee can create tremendous legal, financial, and reputational headaches. How can you reduce that risk? One key step is to regularly check your drivers’ Motor Vehicle Records (MVR).
Understanding MVR Checks
An MVR check is a review of an official report on a person’s driving history (What is an MVR Check? Understanding Motor Vehicle Records). In plain terms, it’s like a background check for driving. An MVR report typically shows details such as the status of the driver’s license (valid, suspended, or revoked), any traffic violations or tickets, past accidents, and driving-related convictions (like DUIs) (What is an MVR Check? Understanding Motor Vehicle Records). Many companies pull MVRs when hiring employees who will drive, and often again on a periodic basis (for example, annually) to make sure their drivers remain safe and qualified. Essentially, an MVR check helps you verify that an employee’s license is in good standing and that they don’t have a history of risky driving behavior that could endanger your business.
Cutting Legal, Financial, and Reputation Risks
Regular MVR checks are about managing risk. They help you spot problems early and take action before an incident occurs. Here are the main liability areas that MVR checks address:
- Legal Protection: Putting an unsafe driver on the road isn’t just dangerous – it could be considered negligent entrustment, a legal concept that holds employers liable for entrusting a vehicle to someone who they knew or should have known was unfit to drive (Protect Against Negligent Entrustment | Blogs | SuperVision). If an employee with a suspended license or a record of DUIs causes an accident, your company could face costly lawsuits. In fact, companies have been sued for “negligent hiring” for failing to check driving history; one employer in Texas ended up paying a $150 million settlement after a fatal crash, because the lawsuit claimed they should have known the driver was high-risk (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). By conducting MVR checks, you demonstrate due diligence in vetting and monitoring drivers, which can strengthen your defense against legal claims. You’ll know if someone’s license status changes or if they get a serious violation, allowing you to intervene or remove them from driving duties before something bad happens.
- Financial Savings: Accidents are not only traumatic – they are expensive. Beyond vehicle repair costs and medical bills, accidents drive up your insurance premiums and can result in big payouts. (For example, the average verdict in a lawsuit involving a serious truck crash is in the tens of millions (97% of Accidents are Preventable).) Overall, U.S. employers are hit with billions in accident-related losses each year (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). Even smaller incidents have hidden costs: over half of employees injured in a crash end up missing work (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records), hurting productivity, and a single serious violation on a driver’s record can cause your commercial insurance rates to skyrocket or even lead your insurer to drop coverage (Why Continuous MVR Monitoring Isn’t Optional for Employers in 2025). Regular MVR checks help avoid these costs by preventing crashes in the first place. You can identify high-risk drivers and address their behavior (or remove them from driving) before an accident occurs. Research shows that a small fraction of drivers are responsible for a large share of risk – one analysis found 10% of drivers accounted for 40% of a company’s crash-related costs (Why Pre-Employment MVR Checks Aren’t Enough). By using MVR screenings to pinpoint those risky drivers, you can focus training or disciplinary measures where they’re needed most, potentially averting costly incidents. Safe driving records may also make your company eligible for better insurance rates over time, directly saving money.
- Reputation Protection: Every company vehicle on the road is essentially a rolling billboard for your business. A preventable wreck or a news headline about “Company X driver causes fatal accident” can seriously damage your reputation and customer trust. Poor safety practices can turn into a PR nightmare (What is an MVR Check? Understanding Motor Vehicle Records). On the other hand, demonstrating a strong safety culture can be a positive selling point. MVR checks help protect your brand by keeping unsafe drivers off the road. They enable you to proactively deal with issues (like a driver with multiple speeding tickets or a recent DUI) before a public incident occurs. Moreover, drivers who know their records are being monitored tend to be more cautious – one industry study found that employees aware of active monitoring had 22% fewer violations than those not in a monitoring program (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). Fewer violations and accidents mean fewer negative headlines and more goodwill for your business.
Active MVR Monitoring vs. Periodic Checks
How often should you review driving records? Many businesses pull MVRs only once a year or only during hiring. Unfortunately, annual checks are just a snapshot – they can leave you blind to problems that develop between checks. Consider this: more than 125,000 traffic tickets are issued every day in the U.S. (Is Relying on Annual MVR Checks Sufficient for Driver Safety? – Validity Screening Solutions). If one of your employees gets a serious violation or has their license suspended the month after your annual check, you might not find out for many months. In that time, they could still be driving on behalf of your company, creating invisible risk. This gap in awareness is often called the “visibility gap,” and it can lead to nasty surprises. As one safety expert put it, relying solely on infrequent MVR pulls can give a false sense of security and leave employers exposed to accidents, legal issues, and reputational damage that could have been prevented (Is Relying on Annual MVR Checks Sufficient for Driver Safety? – Validity Screening Solutions).
Continuous MVR monitoring is a more proactive approach. “Active” or continuous monitoring means you’re automatically notified any time there’s a change in an employee’s driving record – essentially getting real-time updates rather than waiting months. This way, if a driver gets a DUI, has an at-fault accident, or loses their license, you’ll know right away. You can then take immediate action (such as suspending driving privileges, providing remedial training, or assigning them to non-driving duties) to mitigate the risk before something worse happens. Continuous monitoring closes that 364-day information gap and ensures there are no unwelcome surprises. In short, active monitoring lets you catch small issues before they turn into big problems. It’s no wonder many fleet safety programs now consider continuous MVR checks a best practice – they help keep only safe, qualified drivers behind the wheel at all times, significantly reducing the likelihood of crashes or violations. One white paper concluded that shortening the interval between MVR checks directly results in fewer crashes and injuries, simply because issues are caught and corrected sooner (WHITE PAPER-MVR-V3).
While active monitoring might sound costly or complex, it can actually streamline your administration and save money in the long run. Automated alerts spare your team from manually pulling records and combing through them. And compared to the costs of accidents or quarterly manual checks, real-time MVR services are often very cost-effective (WHITE PAPER-MVR-V3) (WHITE PAPER-MVR-V3). Most importantly, continuous monitoring gives owners and managers peace of mind – you aren’t left wondering what you don’t know. You can be confident you’re staying on top of your drivers’ status and can prove your diligence if ever questioned.
Real-World Examples
Real companies have seen the difference that regular and active MVR checks make. Here are a couple of brief examples:
- Success Story: After a fleet company implemented continuous MVR monitoring, they saw a dramatic improvement in safety. According to one case study, this proactive approach reduced the number of incidents on the road by 40% and improved the company’s overall safety record (The importance of continuous driver record monitoring | Cardata). Fewer crashes not only meant lives and property were better protected, but it also had positive effects on their bottom line (lower incident costs, insurance savings, etc.). This example shows how catching and addressing risky driving early can have tangible benefits.
- Cautionary Tale: In contrast, companies that fail to monitor driving records can face dire consequences. In one notable lawsuit, an employer was accused of negligent hiring after one of its drivers caused a fatal accident. The investigation revealed the driver had a history of violations that the company hadn’t checked. The outcome? The case ended in a staggering $150 million settlement against the employer (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). In another case, a family sued a business for over $75,000 after a fatal roadside crash, arguing the company should have known the driver had a poor driving record (The Value of Monitoring Employee Driving Records). These incidents highlight how overlooking an employee’s MVR can come back to haunt a business. They serve as harsh reminders that it’s far better to screen and monitor drivers before something tragic happens.
Driving Safer Business Outcomes
At the end of the day, regular MVR checks – especially with continuous monitoring – are about prevention. They help you build a safer fleet of drivers and avoid the accidents and violations that could harm your business. By actively reviewing your drivers’ motor vehicle records, you’re not just checking a compliance box; you’re protecting your employees, other road users, and your company’s livelihood. The tone you set with safety can even improve driver behavior over time, creating a positive feedback loop. Small businesses and fleet managers often wear many hats, but prioritizing driver safety through MVR checks is one duty that pays off in spades. It reduces legal exposure, saves money by preventing costly incidents, and safeguards your hard-earned reputation. In a friendly, non-technical sense: think of regular MVR checks as cheap insurance for your insurance – a simple step that keeps your drivers on the straight and narrow and keeps your business out of trouble (Is Relying on Annual MVR Checks Sufficient for Driver Safety? – Validity Screening Solutions). By keeping an eye on driving records, you keep your business’s risks in check and pave the way for smooth, worry-free operations on the road ahead.
