Are you currently looking forward to landing your dream job as a truck driver? Do you have an idea of what is recorded on your DAC report? As an individual looking for a suitable driving job, it is imperative for you to understand that your DAC reports can be the major factor that decides whether your job search will be successful or not. Having a clear idea of what the report says about you is very important as you are preparing to land your dream job.

This article will explicitly explain what a DAC report is, where you can get it and other essential things you need to know about the report.

What Is a DAC Report?

A DAC report contains the personal information of a driver which is usually used to make a judgment about the suitability of the individual for the trucking industry. Typically, legal transgressions, driving incidents, and employment history of an individual are the types of information that can be found inside the report. The information found in the report generally covers the last ten years with regards to the job history of the individual as an Owner Operator Trucker.

Unlike other industries where consumer credit scores are often considered and checked during the process of hiring a new employee, a DAC reports is the standard way that the competency of a new employee is checked in the trucking industry. By hiring you as a truck driver, you will become the face of the trucking company (along with its many other truckers); therefore, whatever grievances that you commit will have an effect on the company. Consequently, trucking companies want to avoid hiring a truck driver that will ruin their reputation; hence, they check the employment history and past incidences of their prospective employee by obtaining their DAC reports.

Most notably, everybody has a legal right to get a free DAC report once every year. However, if necessary, you can make a formal request to get more than once. We are in the digital age, and it is easy for you to make a request for your free DAC report online today.

What Are the Major Benefits of DAC Reports?

The DAC reports provide several benefits, and these include:

• Quick access to the records of the driver with regards to their work as a trucker, alcohol or drug histories, auto accidents and so on.
• Eliminate the rigor involved in hiring new truck drivers as trucking companies can easily understand whether an applicant meet the required criteria or not.
• Offer an opportunity to earn credit for the records of driver termination that have been submitted.
• Allow potential employers to seamlessly reconcile the discrepancies and gaps that may be available in the employment history of any applicant.
• Provide cheaper and faster alternatives to contacting past employers to learn more about an applicant.

What Are the Important Things to Be Understood about DAC Reports?

As a current or aspiring employee in the trucking industries, there are a few things that you should understand about DAC reports. Some of these essential things are:

• You should understand that a DAC report is synonymous with credit reports in the trucking industry. Therefore, it is safe for you to assume that after you have applied for a trucking job; your potential employer will check your DAC reports to determine your qualification for the position.
• HireRight is the organization that manages and provides DAC reports. This company helps employers in screening the background of job applicants and allows every individual to obtain a free DAC report each year.
• Although DAC reports are usually a detailed, correct history of truck drivers, it should be clearly noted that the reports are not infallible. In other words, the reports may have unjustified, false or incorrect information.
• If you have any problems with the information on your reports, you have the right to dispute it. HireRight, which is a for-profit organization, offers you the opportunity to dispute the information on your reports. A legal review and investigation will be done based on your dispute, and corrections will be made when and where necessary.
• About 9 out of 10 medium and large companies in the trucking industry conduct DAC report check before hiring any employee.

What Are the Pieces of Information on a DAC Report?

In general, there are several pieces of information that can be found in the DAC reports. Each potential employer has the right to request certain information that they believe is more important in hiring a truck driver. Therefore, HireRight usually provides reports that are personalized to suit the specific preference and needs of an employer although they can request the whole report.

A few of the pieces of information that are likely going to be included in the free DAC report are:

• License number and information of a truck driver. The information may include endorsements and restrictions
• Name and address of the employer that requested the report
• Personal identification details of the drivers such as name, date of birth and social security number
• DOT (Department of Transportation) physical information
• Date of the submission of the request for the DAC report
• Employment history of a driver which gives details of their performance while on the jobs
• FMCSA crash and inspection history
• Alcohol and drug testing results
• Month and year of the driver service
• Types of the trailers and freight the driver hauled in the previous jobs
• Reasons for leaving the previous trucking jobs
• Eligibility to be rehired as a truck driver

Who Keeps and Provides DAC Reports?

As briefly stated earlier, HireRight is the company that keeps and provides DAC reports on request to truck drivers as well as trucking companies. Notably, this private company provides different forms of reports that are often used for checking the backgrounds of employees in various industries; so, the DAC reports are basically the reports the company provides for companies and individuals in the trucking industry. Instituted under the regulations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), HireRight is obligated to provide a free DAC report to each person once every year upon request.

In order to access your free DAC report, you must provide information to confirm your identity. This is done to prevent fraud, and keep you safe. The items required are:

• Name
• Address
• Social Security #
• Driver's License #
• Phone contact information (cell phone or home phone)

With the aid of the regulations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), each individual is protected by the U.S government as long as the type and accuracy of information is on par with that of any that background check providers can offer to potential employers. It should be noted that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) handles the DAC reports and the consumer credit reports the same way.

To ensure that each prospective employer can easily and quickly learn many things about their applicants, the reports are usually designed in a way that is easy to read with all standard requirements for driving clearly highlighted. Because of the way they are written even employers that are relatively new to the use of DAC reports are able to utilize the information in the reports to determine the eligibility of an employee.

To get your free DAC report you can go here.

How Can You Dispute and Correct Any Information on Your Dac Report?

Foremost, it is highly recommended for each truck driver to take time to read and understand the information available on the free DAC report they get from HireRight. Understanding the information on the report will let them know whether there is any missing, wrong, incomplete or inaccurate information on it. Failure to check and understand the report may cost you your dream job or even more. One such example of falsified information that is frequently disputed is that many times accidents that were judged to be no-fault sometimes end up on the report as 50% or 100% at fault for the truck driver. Also, dispatchers that you don't necessarily get along with may report that you've damaged equipment even if you return it in the same shape that you took it out. In these cases make sure you take the proper measures to get the report fixed.

Peradventure you have noticed any missing, inaccurate or incomplete information on your report; you should endeavor to dispute it so that it can be fixed. There are various legal protections and solutions provided by the Federal Trade Commission that can be used in taking care of the errors in the DAC report.

When disputing any information on your report, this is the process to follow:

• Get in touch with HireRight to officially file a dispute for a free DAC report. You can file a dispute through a phone call, fax, mail or online.

The contact information of HireRight is found below:

Telephone: (800) 381-0645 (Monday-Friday, 7am to 7pm Central Time)

Fax: (918) 664-5520

Address: HireRight Attn: Consumers Department 14002 E. 21st Street, Suite 1200 Tulsa, OK 74134

• Wait patiently for HireRight to investigate the errors you have reported. It may take as much as 30 days before the investigation process will be concluded. If there is truly any inaccurate, false, incomplete or missing information in the DAC report, HireRight will correct the errors.

The Bottom Line

If you can painstakingly read and understand the important information described above, you should have a comprehensive idea of what the DAC report is all about. As early stated, it is your duty as a truck driver to avoid discrepancies that may jeopardize your opportunity to be gainfully employed in the trucking industry. You must understand that your DAC report is capable of making or breaking your experience as a truck driver.