How to Complete the Illinois CDTP Form: Bond, Inspections, and Fees

The Illinois CDTP application is the packet you file with the Secretary of State’s Commercial Driver Training Section to get licensed as a private driving school or paid driving instructor. Send the completed forms, a $500 school license fee, and $70 for each instructor to the Commercial Driver Training Section, 1800 W. Hawthorne Ln., West Chicago, IL 60185.¹ Before any of that gets approved, you’ll need financial guarantees in place, background checks run, vehicles inspected, and your facility reviewed on site.

Who Has to File

Under 625 ILCS 5/6-401, anyone who charges a fee to teach driving or to prepare someone for a Secretary of State licensing exam needs this license. Sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations are all covered. Public and private schools that offer driver education as part of their regular curriculum under the State Board of Education are the only exemption.²

Owner Eligibility Before You Start the Paperwork

Confirm you meet the baseline qualifications in 625 ILCS 5/6-402 before filling anything out. A school applicant must be at least 21 years old and of good moral character, keep a dedicated business location (not your home) that meets the facility standards in Sections 6-403 through 6-407 of the Vehicle Code, pass a fingerprint-based background check through the Illinois State Police and FBI, carry the required insurance and surety bond, and maintain a business telephone listing along with the equipment needed to teach.³

There is no blanket felony ban. The Secretary of State evaluates whether a conviction bears a reasonable relationship to operating a driving school.

Instructor Applications

Every instructor at the school needs a separate instructor license. Under 625 ILCS 5/6-411, each instructor must be of good moral character and submit to the same fingerprint-based background investigation that owners go through, with prints run through Illinois State Police and FBI databases. The instructor pays fingerprint processing fees directly.⁴

For each instructor you add to the packet, include an Application for Driver Training Instructor and a Driving Instructor Physical Form. The instructor license fee is $70 per person.

Insurance and Surety Bond

Getting the insurance and bond amounts wrong is probably the fastest way to have your application sent back.

Liability Insurance

You need bodily injury and property damage liability coverage on every vehicle used for instruction. Statutory minimums are $50,000 for injury or death of one person in a single crash, $100,000 for injury or death of two or more people in a single crash, and $10,000 for property damage. The policy has to cover the school, the instructors, and any student receiving instruction. Your insurance carrier files a certificate directly with the Secretary of State, and that certificate must include a clause requiring 10 days’ written notice to the Secretary before cancellation. Each training vehicle also needs an insurance decal on the windshield.³

Surety Bond

The bond protects students’ contractual rights if the school fails to deliver what it promised. The required amount depends on your accreditation status and size:

$10,000 for a non-accredited school
$40,000 for a school with CDL accreditation or teenage accreditation
$50,000 for a CDL or teenage accredited school with three or more licensed branches
$60,000 for a school with both CDL and teenage accreditation
$70,000 for a school with both accreditations and three or more branches

The bond must be issued by a surety company authorized to do business in Illinois, and the surety can cancel only after 30 days’ written notice to the Secretary of State.

Vehicle Inspections and the Fleet Sheet

Every training vehicle has to pass a safety inspection by the Illinois Department of Transportation before you can use it. To pass, a vehicle needs dual control brakes, a mirror on each side positioned to give the driver a view of at least 200 feet to the rear, and signs visible from the front and rear displaying the school’s full name in letters at least two inches tall.⁵

Your packet includes a Fleet Sheet listing every vehicle the school will use. Each one needs a current IDOT safety inspection sticker before the Secretary of State will approve the application.

Forms in the Packet

The Secretary of State’s website hosts all the required forms as downloadable PDFs. A complete submission usually includes:

Application for Commercial Driving School, with your business name, address, legal structure, and ownership information
School Ownership Personal History Form for every owner or partner
Application for Driver Training Instructor, one per instructor
Driving Instructor Physical Form, one per instructor
Surety Bond Form and Surety Bond Schedule from your bonding company
Vehicle Insurance Form from your carrier
Fleet Sheet listing all training vehicles with inspection documentation
CDL Accreditation Form or Teen Accreditation Form, if you plan to offer those accredited programs

Additional forms apply in specific situations, such as the Agreement between Parties for Use of Vehicles by Commercial Driving Schools when you share or lease training vehicles, or the Application for Adult Driver Education Course Certification.¹

Prepare copies of the student contracts and tuition schedules you plan to use. Students must be informed of eligibility requirements in writing at registration.⁶

Fees and Where to Send It

Mail the packet with payment by check or money order payable to the Secretary of State:

Illinois Secretary of State
Commercial Driver Training Section
1800 W. Hawthorne Ln.
West Chicago, IL 60185

Fees are $500 for the commercial school license, $70 for each instructor license, and $50 for each branch location license. The same amounts apply at renewal.³

What Happens After You Submit

The Secretary of State’s office reviews the background checks, verifies the bond and insurance certificates, and confirms that all forms are complete. Processing takes several weeks. Expect a representative to schedule an on-site inspection of your business facility, where they verify that the physical space meets the established-place-of-business requirements and that the vehicles on-site match the fleet documentation in your application. Once everything checks out, the office issues the school license and the individual instructor licenses, and you can start enrolling students.

Renewal

The school license is renewed annually. You must submit the renewal application at least 15 days before your current license expires. The fees are the same, and you reapply under the same conditions as the original license, so lapsed insurance, an expired bond, or an unresolved background issue will hold up the renewal.¹

If You Plan to Train CDL Drivers

Schools that train drivers for a Class A or Class B commercial driver’s license have an additional federal layer. Under the FMCSA’s Entry-Level Driver Training rules, schools must register with the federal Training Provider Registry before certifying CDL students. After a driver finishes a course, the school must report the completed training to the FMCSA through the registry by midnight of the second business day. A school that submits no certifications for 12 consecutive months is flagged as inactive.⁷ The federal registration is separate from your Illinois CDTP license, and you need both to lawfully offer CDL training for a fee in Illinois.

1
Illinois Secretary of State. Commercial Driver Training Schools
2
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 625 ILCS 5/6-401 – Driver Training Schools License Required
3
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 625 ILCS 5/6-402 – Qualifications for License
4
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 625 ILCS 5 – Illinois Vehicle Code
5
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 625 ILCS 5/6-410 – Inspection of Motor Vehicles
6
Illinois General Assembly. Illinois Code 625 ILCS 5/6-408.5 – Eligibility Requirements
7
Training Provider Registry. Training Provider Registry