How to Get a CDL in Michigan: Tests, Training, and Endorsements

To get a CDL in Michigan, you need a valid Michigan driver’s license, a DOT medical exam, passing scores on the written knowledge tests at a Secretary of State office to earn a Commercial Learner’s Permit, federally required entry-level driver training, at least 14 days of supervised practice on the CLP, and a passing skills test administered by a state-approved private testing business. From start to finish, most applicants spend several weeks to a few months on the process, depending on how quickly they complete training and schedule tests.

Who Can Apply

You can apply for a Michigan CDL at 18, but drivers under 21 are limited to intrastate driving only. To cross state lines commercially or haul placarded hazardous materials, you must be at least 21.¹

You also need a current Michigan driver’s license and proof of both legal presence and your Social Security number. As of September 29, 2025, Michigan accepts a narrower set of legal presence documents for CDL and CLP applications than for a standard license: a valid U.S. passport, a certified U.S. birth certificate, a Certificate of Naturalization, a Certificate of Citizenship, or a valid unexpired Permanent Resident Card. Check your documents before going to a Secretary of State office so you don’t get turned away.¹

Pick Your CDL Class

Michigan issues three CDL classes based on what you plan to drive. Choose based on the heaviest or most complex vehicle you expect to operate, because upgrading later means more training and testing.

Class A: Combination vehicles with a gross combination weight rating of 26,001 pounds or more, where the towed unit exceeds 10,000 pounds. Covers tractor-trailers and most semis.
Class B: Single vehicles rated at 26,001 pounds or more, or such a vehicle towing a unit of 10,000 pounds or less. Think dump trucks, large buses, and straight trucks.
Class C: Vehicles designed to carry 16 or more passengers (including the driver) or vehicles carrying placarded hazardous materials, when the vehicle doesn’t qualify as Class A or B.

A Class A license covers Class B and C vehicles. A Class B covers Class C.²

Get Your DOT Medical Card

Every CDL holder needs a Department of Transportation physical exam from a medical examiner listed on the FMCSA National Registry. If you meet the physical qualification standards, the examiner issues a Medical Examiner’s Certificate (Form MCSA-5876).³

Conditions that commonly affect qualification include uncontrolled high blood pressure, insulin-dependent diabetes, and significant vision or hearing impairment. The examining physician makes the final call. Schedule the exam early, because you need the certificate before you can get your CLP.

When you apply, Michigan also asks you to self-certify which type of commercial driving you’ll do. Most CDL holders fall into non-excepted interstate, meaning they drive across state lines and must file a current medical certificate with the Secretary of State. Other categories cover excepted interstate work (school children, government vehicles, or farm operations within 150 air-miles), non-excepted intrastate, and excepted intrastate. If you operate both across and within state lines, choose the interstate category; if you operate both excepted and non-excepted, choose non-excepted.⁴

Complete Entry-Level Driver Training

Federal rules require entry-level driver training (ELDT) before your skills test. It applies to anyone getting a Class A or Class B CDL for the first time, upgrading a Class B to a Class A, or adding a school bus, passenger, or hazardous materials endorsement for the first time.⁵

Training must be completed through a provider on the FMCSA Training Provider Registry. When you finish, the provider submits your certification to FMCSA electronically, and Michigan verifies that record before letting you take the skills test. Confirm your school is registered before you pay for anything.⁶

Military drivers, farmers, and firefighters who are generally excepted from CDL requirements are exempt from ELDT, and anyone who held their CDL or the relevant endorsement before February 7, 2022, is exempt for that license or endorsement.⁷

One timing note. Michigan will issue your CLP before you finish ELDT; the training requirement kicks in before the skills test. The exception is hazardous materials: for that endorsement, you must complete the hazmat portion of ELDT before taking the written knowledge test.¹

Pass the Knowledge Tests and Get Your CLP

Bring your Michigan driver’s license, legal presence documents, Social Security proof, and Medical Examiner’s Certificate to a Secretary of State office. Then take the written tests for your class:

Class A: a 70-question general knowledge test plus a 20-question combination vehicles test
Class B or C: a 50-question test
Air brakes: a separate 25-question test if you want to drive vehicles with air brakes

You need at least 80 percent on each test. If you fail, you must wait one day to retake it. Take the air brake test seriously. Skip it or fail it and your CDL carries a permanent restriction barring you from driving vehicles with air brakes, which rules out most commercial trucks on the road.¹

Study the Michigan Commercial Driver License Manual. The general knowledge section covers safe driving practices, vehicle systems, cargo handling, and federal regulations; the combination vehicles test focuses on coupling and uncoupling, rollover prevention, and jackknifing. Your CLP is valid for up to one year from the date of issuance.

Practice on Your CLP

A Commercial Learner’s Permit is not a license to drive alone. A CDL holder with the proper class and endorsements must sit in the front passenger seat, or directly behind you in a passenger vehicle, and supervise you at all times while you’re driving.⁸

Other restrictions apply while you hold the CLP: no passengers other than your supervising CDL holder, test examiners, and other trainees; no hazardous materials; and if you have a tank endorsement, the tank must be empty.

You must hold your CLP for at least 14 days before you’re eligible to take the skills test. That’s a federal minimum. Use the time to practice in the type of vehicle you’ll test in.⁹

Take the Skills Test

Michigan does not administer CDL skills tests directly. The state contracts with private driver testing businesses, so you schedule and pay through one of these approved facilities. Fees are set by each business, not the state, so call around when you book.¹⁰

On test day, bring your valid CLP, your Michigan driver’s license, and a commercial vehicle that matches the CDL class you’re testing for. The vehicle must be registered, insured, and in safe operating condition with an empty cargo area. If you’re testing for Class A, bring a combination vehicle. If you need air brakes on your CDL, the test vehicle must have air brakes.

The test has three parts, run in sequence. The examiner can stop the test at any point if your performance poses a safety risk.

Vehicle inspection: You walk around the vehicle, identify major components, and explain what you’re checking and why.
Basic controls: Low-speed maneuvers in a controlled area, including straight-line backing, offset backing, and parallel parking or alley docking. Hitting cones or making too many pull-ups costs points.
Road test: Real traffic driving, with turns, lane changes, and highway entries, while the examiner evaluates your control, observation, and compliance with traffic laws.

The basic controls section fails more first-time testers than the road portion, so practice those maneuvers until they feel routine.

Finalize Your CDL at a Secretary of State Office

After you pass, the testing business submits your results electronically to the Secretary of State. You then visit a branch to finish the transaction. Fees are $18 for a standard photo license or $33 for an enhanced license, plus $5 for each endorsement. If you’re correcting an existing license rather than getting a new one, the correction fee is $9. You leave with a temporary permit that day; the permanent card arrives by mail.¹

Adding Endorsements

Certain cargo or vehicle types require endorsements on your CDL. Each has its own knowledge test, and some require a skills test:

H (Hazardous Materials): 30-question knowledge test plus a TSA security threat assessment
N (Tank Vehicle): 20-question knowledge test
P (Passenger): 20-question knowledge test plus a skills test in a passenger vehicle
S (School Bus): 20-question knowledge test plus a skills test in a school bus
T (Double/Triple Trailers): 20-question knowledge test
X (Hazmat and Tank Combined): requires passing both the H and N tests

Each endorsement test requires an 80 percent score, and you can only take one test per testing category per day.¹

The hazmat endorsement has the most extra steps. Beyond the 30-question test, you must complete a TSA security threat assessment: submit an application, visit an enrollment center for fingerprinting, and provide identity documents such as a U.S. passport, or a driver’s license paired with a birth certificate. The TSA fee is $85.25 for new and renewing applicants, or $41.00 if you hold a valid Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) that your state accepts in lieu of the hazmat assessment. TSA recommends starting the process at least 60 days before you need the endorsement, since processing can exceed 45 days in busy periods. You must also be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or otherwise in lawful immigration status.¹¹

What Can Cost You Your CDL

A CDL carries stricter penalties for driving violations than a regular license, and federal law sets mandatory disqualification periods that Michigan enforces. A first conviction for driving under the influence, a blood alcohol concentration of 0.04 or higher (half the standard DUI threshold), refusing an alcohol test, leaving the scene of an accident, using a commercial vehicle to commit a felony, or causing a fatality through negligent operation triggers a one-year disqualification from all commercial driving. A second conviction for any of these means a lifetime disqualification. Using a commercial vehicle to manufacture or distribute controlled substances is an automatic lifetime disqualification on the first offense. Railroad crossing violations carry a minimum 60-day disqualification for a first offense.¹²

You should also know about the FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, an electronic database that tracks drug and alcohol violations across the industry. Employers must query it before hiring any CDL driver and at least once a year for current employees, so a violation follows you between jobs. Drivers register with the Clearinghouse and provide electronic consent before an employer can run a full query that reveals violation details.¹³¹⁴

1
Michigan Department of State. Applying for a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL)
2
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.91 – Commercial Motor Vehicle Groups
3
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. About the Medical Examiner’s Certificate (MEC), Form MCSA-5876
4
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How to Determine Which of the 4 Categories of Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Operation I Should Self-Certify
5
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT)
6
Training Provider Registry. Training Provider Registry
7
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. Section 380.603 Applicability Guidance QA Question 2 – Who Is Exempt from Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) Requirements
8
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.25 – Commercial Learner’s Permit (CLP)
9
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. How Do I Get a Commercial Drivers License
10
Michigan Department of State. Driver Testing Businesses and Examiners
11
Transportation Security Administration. HAZMAT Endorsement
12
eCFR. 49 CFR 383.51 – Disqualification of Drivers
13
FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Query Plans
14
FMCSA Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse. Before You Register