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North Carolina CDL Requirements
No later than January 30, 2014, all CDL holders must provide information to the North Carolina DMV regarding the type of commercial motor vehicle operation they drive or expect to drive.
Drivers operating in non-excepted types of commerce will be required to submit a current DOT medical examiner’s certificate to the NC DMV to obtain a “certified” medical status as part of their driving record.
If you do not provide NC DMV with your self-certification and if required, your medical examiner’s certificate and any required variance document by January 30, 2014 – NC DMV will notify you that you are no longer medically certified to operate a CMV in non- excepted interstate/non-excepted intrastate commerce. You will have 30 days to respond or your entire NC driving privileges will be cancelled.
Interstate Non-Excepted
You must meet the Federal DOT medical certificate requirements.
Intrastate Non-Excepted
You must meet the Federal DOT medical certificate requirements.
Submit your Self-Certification and Medical Certificate to North Carolina DMV
You are required to self-certify to a single type of commercial operation on your driver license. If you self-certify to non-excepted interstate or non-excepted intrastate, you must provide NC DMV with a copy of your current DOT medical examiner’s certificate and any applicable variance document.
Submit the following two documents:
- North Carolina Certification for CDL – download the form CDL-5 here from NC DMV.
- A copy of your valid DOT medical certificate. Enlarge the copy to ensure that all information is legible.
By Mail:
NC Division of Motor Vehicles
CDL Medical Certification Unit
3126 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-3126
By Fax:
919-861-3915
By Email:
You may scan the documents (PDF) and email the attachments to cdlmedical@ncdot.gov. You should receive a confirmation email.
Keep Your Medical Card Current With North Carolina DMV
CDL holders required to have a ”certified” medical status who fail to provide and keep up-to-date their DOT medical examiner’s certificate with the NC DMV will become ”not-certified” and may lose their CDL.
If your medical card or variance expires and you do not provide NC DMV with a new one, the DMV will notify you that you are no longer medically certified to operate a CMV in non- excepted interstate/non-excepted intrastate commerce. You will have 30 days to respond or your entire NC driving privileges will be cancelled.
Before your medical card expires, you must have a new medical examination and obtain a new DOT medical examiner’s certificate.
Submit your renewed valid medical certificate to North Carolina DMV:
By Mail:
NC Division of Motor Vehicles
CDL Medical Certification Unit
3126 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-3126
By Fax:
919-861-3915
Other Information:
NCDOT new medical certification requirements guide
Phone: 919-861-3525
Special Information Updates Pertaining To ALL STATES
MEDICAL EXAMINERS MUST CONTINUE TO ISSUE MEDICAL CERTIFICATES TO ALL DRIVERS
The FMCSA has requested that all medical examiners continue providing drivers with a paper copy of the Medical Examiner’s Certificate – Form MCSA-5876, so that Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders can provide a copy to the State licensing agency, and the non-CDL drivers can provide the documentation to their employers and Federal and State enforcement officials.
The Agency is currently completing efforts to put into place an electronic system to enable medical examiners to transmit the medical certificate information from the National Registry system to the State licensing agencies.
Until that system is completed, which compliance date according FMCSA is June 23, 2025, medical examiners must continue to issue paper copies of the medical certificates to drivers who pass the medical exam.
ALL DRIVERS MUST CONTINUE TO CARRY A PAPER COPY OF THEIR MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
Commercial Drivers – You still need to carry a paper copy of your medical card, until FMCSA announces that this is no longer necessary.
Your Feedback Is Welcome
Dealing with Federal DOT Regulations across the board is tough enough!
But when it comes to State Regulations — There are 50 different sets of rules. Someone could move the goal posts at any time…
To help us all avoid the black eye experience — AARGH! —
Please leave your feedback about your experience in this State.
Go to the Questions and Comments box below and post your feedback.
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NOTE: This website is not affiliated with, or endorsed by FMCSA or any government or state agency.
I heard that medical exams were no longer required for non-profit organizations such as churches. Any truth to that? Can’t find anything to support it so tend to think there is no non-profit exemption
Can you confirm?
Thanks
@Bob
Can not confirm. Each state has a little different ruling on this issue. I would check with your local drivers license department and see what they have to say. They should be able to confirm or deny the truth in this matter.
I work for a trucking company and we have drivers all over the United States. Is there a way for our drivers with NC CDL to verify their CDL status online and verify their medical certification status?
@Kat
We feel your pain. It’s difficult to keep up with this as each state has their own, DIFFERENT, process.
We do our best to keep the information as up to date as possible for each state’s regulations, but we also rely on our community to share the information they have about their state’s regulations and process. So our answer about a specific state’s regulations and process is to call that state’s drivers license department and get the most up to date answer directly from “the horse’s mouth”.
The focus of our website is to address Federal regulations about the medical certification exam for commercial drivers.
i am vn veteran, get a excellent thourough physical yearly, why do you not reconize or aprove them anymore? for medical card?
@Gerald
You need to ask FMCSA. Once they got the NRCME up and running now all DOT’s need to be done by a medical examiner who is on the NRCME. I think mostly it was about doctors who had no real idea about what an OTR drivers full responsibilities were, so they wanted each examiner to have a full understanding of the OTR drivers responsibilities really were.
We scanned and emailed the documents for our 4 NC drivers. Your website says that we should receive a confirmation email. We did not. When we called we were told that we would not receive anything. I am not sure what the benefit is of submitting the documents electronically if we then must live in limbo. Please have someone in NC design a system similar to the one in Mississippi. The driver’s data must be typed into the system and the supporting documents must be submitted but they do provide an immediate response.
@Felicia
Great suggestion, but you need to send your suggestion to NCDOT.
We do state on this information page that “NOTE: This website is not affiliated with, or endorsed by FMCSA or any government or state agency.”
We are a private website that helps drivers nationwide with questions regarding the DOT physical exam itself.
I faxed a copy of my cdl medical certification on 12/12/14 and still got a letter saying that I still need one
I never recived any info about this at all. Nor have I recived any letters. What do I need to do to correct this issue. Just recertifed in oct 2013.
I live in Chapel Hill and have been told by 4 different doctor’s offices that they no longer will do CDL physicals and my primary physician was the 1st to give me this bad news. Why aren’t doctor’s offices willing to do participate any more and how on earth do I find a doctor who will? On your website it looks like there is one Doctor within a 50 mile radius. Surely the DMV has the ability to facilitate finding an office that will help. I just received a letter from DOT about needing this by June-never was a problem until this year- why are no doctors willing to do these physicals any longer ,even my own primary physician? What is going on and what happens when an entire geographical area loses all their truckers because no physicians will be willing to do physicals for CDL certifications.?
A copy of my medical paper was faxed right at the doctors office after my physical and before I even left the doctors office, yet I keep getting a letter and the cdl medical line in Raleigh is always busy.
@ James
I think if you try and call now you can get through and leave a message, and they will return your call. They were short staffed for a while, but now they aren’t.
Richard W. Prosser, DC
I have faxed and sented a copy of my medcal certification to raleigh. I have called so many times and I never get no one to answer. What I am supposed to do?
my son has a CDL set to expire on May 9 2014. he is overseas now but will be home in June 2014. can he get an extension until then. he does not drive a truck over there.he wants to keep his CDL. please send me a reply to this email. Thank You Major Jarman
@ Jarman
If his CDL expires he should get a letter from NC DOT giving him 30 days to respond or his entire NC driving privileges will be cancelled.
See NC DMV website FAQs for more information.
Q: How can I get back my CDL privileges?
A: If the DOT medical examiner’s certificate has expired, you must obtain a new one and provide it to NC DMV. If the variance has expired, you must renew it with FMCSA. NC DMV may require retesting and additional fees to restore your CDL privileges.
my health card expires in march.i wont to keep my cdl but I have not drove a truck in fore years do I need to get a new health card
@Martie
Whether you need a new medical card depends which driving category you selected for self-certification.
If you haven’t completed the self-certification (deadline January 2014) then the DMV is going to downgrade your CDL anyway.
See our blog post on Medical Certification Requirements to better understand your options.
@ Martie
Right now, in most states, you will need to get a new medical card if you want to maintain your cdl. I would check with your state DMV to confirm though.
I have tried to contact your office multiple times, the line remains busy. I obtained my medical DOT physical in Dec 2013, I mailed the certification on Dec 14. I received a letter stating that the certification form was marked incorrectly. I received a corrected cert. form and faxed it to your office. I recently received a new letter stating that my self-cert. & medical cert. documents have not been received. I have tried to provide you with the necessary documents to be in compliance with the new DOT protocol. At this point, I am not sure what I should do. Can you help?
I am very confused by the 4 different classes: Interstate, Intrastate, Excepted, Non-Excepted. I only drive locally for Durham Co. Government. Do I even need a medical card?
I have mailed the letter and medical card the first of January and received a letter stating that it had not been received. Called several times and could never get through. I have emailed the letter and medical card twice, still no response. I tried to fax and could never get through. My driver is suppose to drive and he still hasn’t gotten anything back yet, I am in need of some kind of response due to him driving our players to and from games. I can not afford him to loose his CDL or driving privileges cause our players depend on him to drive them to their games. Would appreciate a response.
Is there something wrong with the phone? I have called this number several time (919-861-3599) the line seems to be business all the time.
I send it by fax and by mail and still getting letters what is going on
My husband received several letters also. Finally today he received a letter from DMV stating they received it.
@Daniell
Yeah! Thank you for your feedback. This news will be a relief for many drivers who have submitted their information, but have also received letters.
@ Randy
They were short staffed in Raleigh at the DOT, but now they seem to have more staff and can handle things you need much better.
Dr. Richard Prosser
If you want a reply best way send an Email to cdlmedical@ncdot.gov they will get back to you.
Email is on the top of the page other wise you may never know if they got your stuff.
Thank you Erich for your helpful feedback.
i work at charlotte meckleburg school i have a cdl lic i submitted the paper work to the transportation person from cms i to have called that number 9198613599 and never got thur
Same here I sent it in 4 times by fax as well as mail.. I just sent it certified over a week ago as well and just recieved letter stating will cancel in April.. Whats the problem.. I keep calling the numbers and it’s like the phone is off the hook.. What can I do now
Cdl medical certification form and copy of cdl license sent receiving letter stating have not rec d and license will be cancelled what must I do