Driver Interview Questions to Ask
For whoever is doing the hiring: a shop owner with one delivery van, the manager of a fleet, or a family taking on a private driver. These driver interview questions to ask a candidate work for a van route, a shuttle, a chauffeured car or a truck that needs a commercial license, and they run in the order a good interview does: experience and hours, the license and driving record, care of the vehicle, judgment on the road, then customers, passengers and cargo. The last group turns the table, with what a candidate is likely to ask you, so you can have honest answers ready.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Experience and hours
What have you been paid to drive, and when did you last drive each kind?
Why ask it
Ask for the type and size, not only the job title: a small car, a cargo van, a box truck and a minibus handle very differently, and three years in a van a decade ago is not three years in one now. Compare the answer with the vehicle you would hand over. Where there is a gap, ask what the largest thing they have parked in a tight spot was.
What did a normal day look like in your last driving job?
Why ask it
Listen for numbers: how many stops or trips, how many miles, what time it started and when it ended. Someone who can describe the day in order has done the job, and the description shows whether your day is lighter, heavier or simply different.
What do you like about driving for a living, and which part of it wears on you?
Why ask it
Some drivers want the quiet of a cab and some want the people at each stop, and your job is mostly one or the other. Hold the second half up against your own day: if waiting, traffic or stairs is what grinds them down, check how much of that you are offering.
What made you leave your last driving job, or want to leave the one you have now?
Why ask it
Set the reason against your own job: someone who left over unpaid waiting or a van that was never fixed will leave you over the same thing. A dispute about damage, a customer or a schedule deserves one calm follow-up, and it is worth raising with the reference too.
Which days and hours can you work, and is there anything regular you need to be free for?
Why ask it
Put your real timetable on the table before they answer: the earliest start, the latest finish, weekends, and how often a day overruns. A standing commitment can usually be planned around once you know its hours. You need the times, not the reason behind them.
How well do you know this area, and which parts of it have you driven most?
Why ask it
Local knowledge still counts with navigation on the dashboard: which roads flood, where a van cannot turn, when the school run blocks a street. Name two places on your usual routes and ask how they would get between them at five in the afternoon.
A lot of this job is waiting: outside a school, at a loading dock, in an airport lot. How do you spend that time?
Why ask it
For a chauffeur or a shuttle driver the waiting can outlast the driving, and it is where boredom turns into a vehicle left unattended. The good answers are dull ones: staying with the vehicle, tidying it, checking the next address.
Which of these have you handled: a manual transmission, a trailer, a lift gate, a wheelchair ramp or a child seat?
Why ask it
Trim the list to what your vehicle has before you ask. A plain 'no, but show me' beats a vague yes, and anything they claim can be tested in ten minutes in your yard or driveway.
Who has supervised your driving or ridden with you at work, and may I call them?
Why ask it
A reference who knew the candidate only socially cannot tell you about late arrivals, damage or complaints. When you call, ask one thing above all: would you put this person behind the wheel of your own vehicle again?
License and record
Which license do you hold, which classes or endorsements are on it, and when does it expire?
Why ask it
Ask to see it, and read the expiry date and any restrictions printed on it. Which class a vehicle needs depends on its weight, its seats and where you operate, so confirm with your licensing authority or insurer before assuming the candidate's license covers yours.
What driver training have you had since you passed your test?
Why ask it
A defensive driving course, passenger assistance, first aid or a dangerous goods certificate all count, and so does a week spent riding with a senior driver at a past job. Ask when it was and whether there is a card or certificate to show. Having none is common and no mark against a careful driver, so ask instead whether they would take a course if you paid for it.
Has your license ever been suspended, restricted or revoked?
Why ask it
Ask it flatly, then wait. An old suspension explained without excuses, along with what has changed since, can weigh less than a recent one waved away as a paperwork mix-up. A record check may show it either way, so it is the telling you are judging.
When I pull your driving record, what am I going to find on it?
Why ask it
Say plainly that you will be checking, through whichever route your state, country or insurer provides and with the consent it requires. Write down what they tell you, with rough dates. A list that includes the small things, a parking fine or a warning, comes from someone who expects to be believed.
Tell me about the last collision you were in as a driver, at work or in your own car, whoever was at fault.
Why ask it
'Whoever was at fault' is the part that matters, because it lets them describe a crash without defending themselves. Listen for whether the story ends with something they do differently now, such as more following distance or a second look at a junction, or only with the other driver's mistakes.
What tickets or violations have you had in the past few years, and what was going on each time?
Why ask it
One speeding ticket tells you little. Several of the same kind point to a habit, and the circumstances show whether it appears under time pressure, which is when your vehicle will be on the road. Ask your insurer how far back it looks and what it will not accept.
What is the closest you have come to a crash that did not happen?
Why ask it
Every driver with real miles has one, so 'never' means very little driving or very little noticing. The useful part is what they saw late and what they changed afterward.
Have you ever scraped, dented or clipped something with a work vehicle? Who did you tell, and how soon?
Why ask it
Minor damage is a normal cost of running vans and cars in tight places. What you cannot run a business around is finding it yourself a week later. A candidate who reported a scrape the same day, unprompted, is describing how they will treat your vehicle.
Before a start date I would run the checks this job requires. Is there anything you would like me to hear from you first?
Why ask it
Which checks apply, such as a record check, a background check, drug and alcohol testing or a medical certificate, depends on the vehicle, the passengers or cargo and where you operate. Find out from your regulator and insurer what is required and what is allowed, then name the checks to the candidate. The offer of a first telling often brings out something that is easier to weigh in person.
Has an employer or an insurer ever declined to cover you as a driver?
Why ask it
Small employers often learn this only when they try to add the new driver to the policy. Call your insurer or broker with the candidate's details, with their permission, before you make an offer, since the reply can change the cost or rule the hire out.
Vehicle care
Walk around this vehicle with me and show me what you would check before the first trip of the day.
Why ask it
Do this outside with the real vehicle if you can, and say nothing while they work. A driver with the habit usually goes round in one direction, tires, lights, mirrors, fluids, a look underneath for leaks, then the load space or the seats, and puts a hand on things. Ask afterward about anything skipped: it may be a gap, or it may be something their last vehicle did not have.
Tell me about a time you refused to take a vehicle out, or wish you had.
Why ask it
This shows where their line is and whether they hold it with a schedule waiting. A bald tire, a brake pedal that felt soft or a door that would not latch are the answers to hope for, along with who they called. If they have never refused one, ask what it would take.
A warning light you do not recognize comes on halfway through a run. What do you do?
Why ask it
The answer should begin with stopping somewhere safe and finding out what the light means, from the handbook or a phone call, before deciding whether to carry on. Driving on to the last stop first is how a cheap repair becomes an engine. Ask which lights they would never drive on, then show them where the handbook lives in yours.
How do you keep track of fuel, mileage and when a service or inspection is due?
Why ask it
In a small operation nobody else may be watching the odometer, which makes the driver the maintenance system. Ask what they recorded in their last job and where: a logbook, an app, a sheet on a clipboard. Then say what you will expect.
In what state do you leave a vehicle at the end of a shift?
Why ask it
You are listening for fuel level, trash, where the keys go, and whether it is locked and parked so the next driver can get it out. For a family car or a chauffeured one, ask about the inside in particular, since passengers judge the whole service by the back seat.
What do you do about a fault that is not stopping you today, like a slow leak in a tire, a worn wiper or a new noise?
Why ask it
Small things are cheap while they are still small, so you want them reported. Ask how they passed on defects before, in writing or by word of mouth, and what happened when nobody acted. The driver who kept raising it is the one to hire.
On the road
How do you plan a route before setting off, and what do you do when the navigation turns out to be wrong?
Why ask it
Look for a glance at the whole route before the engine starts: the order of stops, known roadworks, a bridge or a street the vehicle will not fit. When the map is wrong, the safe answer is to pull over and plan again, not to fix it on the screen while moving.
You are twenty minutes behind with three stops still to make. What do you do?
Why ask it
Hope for a phone call, made while parked, to you or to the customer, and a decision about which stop can move. 'I would make it up on the road' is the answer to worry about, because the only ways to do that are speed and skipped checks. Tell them what you want instead: a late van and an early call.
Tell me about a time you were late for a pickup or delivery. Who knew, and when did they know?
Why ask it
Lateness happens to every driver. What separates them is whether the person waiting found out before the appointed time or after it. Ask what caused it and whether the same cause came up again.
Where is your phone while the vehicle is moving, and what happens when it rings?
Why ask it
Ask for the physical place: a mount, a pocket, the glove box. Then look at your own side, because a driver who is expected to answer the office at once will answer at the wheel. Rules on handheld and hands-free use differ from place to place, so check yours and set a policy at least as strict.
Our rule is no alcohol, and nothing else that impairs you, before or during a shift. How does that compare with the rule you keep yourself?
Why ask it
Give your rule in hours, not in words like 'sensibly', so that 'before' means the same thing to both of you. A driver who already has a rule can state it at once, and a careful one's is often tighter than yours. Stay on the working day and off their private life, and if testing comes with the job, say so: whether and when an employer may test depends on the work and where you operate.
How do you keep yourself alert on a long shift or a long run?
Why ask it
Listen for what happens before the shift, such as a proper night's sleep, as much as for coffee and an open window during it. Then ask what they do when none of it is working. Pulling over to rest, and telling you the run will be late, is the answer to hope for, so say now that you would back it.
Have you ever told a boss you were in no state to drive that day? What happened?
Why ask it
Tiredness is the usual reason, and whatever it was, you do not need the details: leave anything medical alone, since what an employer may ask about health differs by place. What you are testing is whether they will speak up. Tell them that a call saying 'I should not drive today' costs them nothing here, then make sure that is true.
How does your driving change in heavy rain, snow, fog or after dark?
Why ask it
Slower and farther back is the start of an answer, not all of it. Ask about the conditions your own routes get, whether they have ever stopped to wait the weather out, and who they told when they did.
When do you choose to drive well under the speed limit?
Why ask it
A thoughtful driver has a list: outside schools, past parked delivery vans, on a wet bend, with a tall load, with a child asleep in the back. A blank look suggests the limit is being treated as a target.
Another driver cuts in front of you, or sits on your bumper leaning on the horn. What do you do?
Why ask it
Your name may be on the side of the vehicle, and a passenger or a load is inside it. The only good answers involve making space and letting it go. Watch the candidate's face as well as the words, since irritation in the retelling is a fair preview.
How do you get a vehicle this size into a tight loading bay, driveway or parking space?
Why ask it
Scrapes tend to happen at walking pace and not on the highway, so ask for their method: getting out to look, using a spotter, backing in on arrival so they leave nose first. Then have them do it during the road test.
What do you do in the first few minutes after a collision, however small?
Why ask it
The order matters: check for injuries, make the scene safe, call for help if it is needed, then exchange details, take photos and call you. Arguing about fault at the roadside is not on the list. Write your own steps down and keep them in the vehicle, since what must be reported, and to whom, depends on where you are.
If I, a dispatcher or a customer asked you to do something you thought was unsafe, such as overloading, skipping a break or squeezing in an extra passenger, what would you say?
Why ask it
Put yourself in the question on purpose. A driver who can politely refuse the boss will also refuse a customer on a doorstep, and that refusal protects your insurance and your name. Limits on driving hours and breaks may apply to your vehicles, so ask your regulator which ones do.
Our vehicles carry a tracker or a dash camera. Have you worked with one, and what did it show about your driving?
Why ask it
Skip this if you use neither. If you do, say so now, along with what is recorded and who sees it: what an employer must tell a driver about monitoring varies by place, and one who finds out later will feel ambushed. Drivers who have been scored before can usually name their weak spot, such as harsh braking or idling.
Customers and cargo
Tell me about a difficult customer or passenger, and how the trip ended.
Why ask it
With no manager in the cab or on the doorstep, the driver decides alone how far an argument goes. The story you want ends with the trip completed or safely cut short and a call to the office, not with the driver getting the last word. Ask what they would do if the same person was booked again tomorrow.
Nobody is there to take the delivery, or your passenger is not at the pickup point. What do you do?
Why ask it
There should be a sequence: wait a set time, call the person, call you, record what happened. Afterward tell them your own rule, whether that is never leaving a parcel unattended or never leaving a school pickup without speaking to a named adult.
How do you load and secure what you are carrying so it arrives the way it left?
Why ask it
For delivery work, ask about order as well as straps: last stop loaded first, heavy items low, nothing free to slide into the cab. If the cargo is regulated, fragile, chilled or valuable, ask what experience they have with that exact kind, and check what training your own rules call for.
Tell me about something you carried that arrived damaged, went missing or was delivered to the wrong address.
Why ask it
Over enough stops, something goes wrong for everybody. Ask how it was discovered: by the driver at the door, or by the customer on the phone the next day. Then ask what check they added afterward.
The job means lifting and carrying, and climbing in and out of the vehicle many times a day. How have you handled heavy or awkward items before?
Why ask it
Describe the real physical demands, with the weight of the heaviest regular item, and ask whether they can do the job as described. Stay on the tasks and off the candidate's health or age, since what an employer may ask about either differs by place. Talk of a hand truck, two trips or asking for help is a good sign.
How do you drive differently with passengers on board, especially children, older people or someone who is unwell?
Why ask it
Smoothness is the skill here: gentle braking, slow corners, nobody moving until the vehicle has stopped. With children, ask who checks the seats and belts and what they do if a child unbuckles on the way. A family should then have them drive the actual route with a parent in the back.
A passenger is taken ill on the way, or a child in the back is in real distress. What do you do?
Why ask it
The first move is the same every time: stop somewhere safe before doing anything else. After that, listen for a call to the emergency number where it is serious and a call to you or the family either way. Ask whether they have had first aid training and when, and give them your own instructions, including who to phone about a child.
Drivers overhear phone calls and learn where people live and when they are away. What do you do with that?
Why ask it
A family or an executive is hiring discretion as much as driving. The right answer is short, and it does not come with a story about a former employer's private life. If one arrives, you have heard what will later be said about you.
What paperwork or app work have you done at each stop: signatures, photos, proof of delivery, taking payment?
Why ask it
A delivery is not finished until it is recorded, and disputes are settled by that record. Ask what they did when a customer refused to sign or the handheld would not connect. Where cash is involved, ask how it was counted and handed over at the end of the day.
A passenger or customer asks for something outside the plan: an extra stop, a detour, a parcel left with a neighbor. How do you answer?
Why ask it
A small request can be a judgment call, and you may want the driver to say yes. Anything that changes where a person or a parcel ends up, or adds time someone else is paying for, needs a call to you first. Say where your own line sits so they are not guessing on the day.
What they ask you
Which vehicle would I be driving, how old is it, and who is responsible for its maintenance?
Why ask it
This is the first of the questions a good candidate tends to put to you, and one who opens with it cares about what they will sit in all day. Have the truthful answer ready, faults included, and offer to show them the vehicle.
What does a typical day involve: how many stops or trips, how many miles, and when does it really end?
Why ask it
Answer with last week, not the best week. If the finish time moves, say how often and by how much: a five o'clock that is really seven twice a week is something a driver can plan around, but only if told.
How is the pay worked out, and are waiting time, loading time and overtime paid?
Why ask it
Work this out before the interview, because hourly, per-trip and salaried arrangements treat a two-hour wait very differently. How drivers must be paid and classified is set by local law, so check with an accountant or your labor authority if you are unsure, and put the answer in writing.
Who pays for fuel, tolls, parking and any fines, and how do I get the money back?
Why ask it
Decide in advance which costs go on a company card, which are reimbursed and how fast. Fines need a clear rule of their own. If the driver would use their own vehicle, add insurance and wear to the list and ask your insurer what cover that kind of use needs.
If the vehicle breaks down or I am in a collision, who do I call and what happens next?
Why ask it
The candidate is checking whether they would be left at the roadside or blamed by default. Give them a name, a number that is answered out of hours and a plain account of how damage is handled. If you do not have those yet, the question has shown you what to set up.
Who gives me my schedule, and how much notice do I get when it changes?
Why ask it
For a family this often decides whether the arrangement lasts: a driver who is on call at any hour needs that said and paid for. Name the one person who gives instructions, so the driver is not taking different orders from two people.
What would my first week look like: would someone ride with me or show me the routes?
Why ask it
Even an experienced driver is new to your vehicle, your customers and your streets. A day or two of riding along costs little next to a wrong delivery or a scraped van, and it gives you a second look at the driving before they are out alone.
How to interview a driver
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the candidate arrives
Describe the job in one paragraph
Write down the vehicle, the area, the hours, what or who is carried and the heaviest thing lifted, and read it to the candidate at the start. Every question on this page lands better when the candidate knows whether you mean a cargo van on forty stops or a family car on a school run. It also gives people the chance to rule themselves out.
Find out which licenses and checks apply to you
The license class a vehicle needs, whether a medical certificate or drug and alcohol testing is required, and which record or background checks an employer may run all depend on the vehicle, the work and where you operate. Call your licensing authority and your insurer or broker before you advertise. Ask the insurer what kind of record it will accept, since its reply can settle a hire before the interview does, and get the candidate's consent in whatever form your rules ask for.
Choose questions for the kind of driving
For delivery work, lean on Vehicle care, the time-pressure questions and Customers and cargo. For a shuttle or a chauffeur, the passenger, waiting and discretion questions carry more weight. A family hiring a personal driver should keep all of License and record, then spend most of the time on children, schedule and privacy. A dozen questions, each followed up once, fill most interviews, with time left for the group under What they ask you.
During the interview
Start in a chair, finish at the vehicle
Do Experience and hours and License and record sitting down, with the license on the table. Then go outside. The walk-around question, the tight-space question and anything about lift gates, ramps or child seats are answered better with hands than with words.
Swap 'would' for 'did'
After a what-would-you-do question, ask when that last happened and what they did then. The first answer shows they know the right thing. The second shows what they do with a customer waiting and nobody watching.
Add a road test
Twenty minutes on your usual roads shows things no answer will: mirror use, following distance, what happens at a yellow light, how they park. Before you hand over the keys, ask your insurer whether a candidate is covered to drive your vehicle and what it needs from you first. Ride along, say little and write your notes afterward.
Keep the core questions the same for everyone
Put the license, record, collision, phone and alcohol questions to every candidate in the same words. It is fairer to them, and it lets you set answers side by side when two drivers are close.
Weighing the answers
Set the account beside the record
Once the checks come back, compare them with what you were told. A candidate whose record holds nothing they did not mention has passed a test of honesty as well as one of driving. A surprise deserves a phone call before a decision, because records can contain errors.
Notice who gets told, and when
Across lateness, damage, defects and tiredness, the mark of a reliable driver is the same: they told someone early. Count how many answers included a call to the office, the customer or the owner without your prompting.
Give the dull answers their due
Good driving is uneventful, and good drivers often interview modestly. Slowing down, pulling over, calling in and checking twice make poor stories and safe trips. Be more careful with the candidate whose best material is how fast they got somewhere.
Ask references about the driving
Ask a former supervisor about punctuality, damage, complaints and whether they would hand the keys back. Some employers will only confirm dates of employment, so ask the candidate for someone who rode with them or received their deliveries.
Mistakes that cost employers later
Treating the license as the interview
A valid license shows the candidate passed a test once. It says nothing about how they behave when they are late, tired or alone with a customer, which is what the questions under On the road and Customers and cargo are for.
Asking about the person instead of the job
Questions about health, age, family plans or where someone is from can be unlawful in a hiring interview, and the rules differ by country and state. Describe what the job demands, such as early starts, lifting or night driving, and ask whether the candidate can do it. If you are unsure what you may ask, check with your labor authority or an employment adviser first.
Making the job sound easier than it is
Unpaid waiting, a temperamental van or a finish time that drifts will be discovered in the first week. Say it in the interview, and let the candidate's own questions at the end run as long as they need. A driver who accepted knowing the worst of it is more likely to stay.
Leaving the insurer until after the offer
A small business or a household can make an offer and then learn that its policy will not take the driver, or will only at a higher price. One call with the candidate's details, made with their permission, belongs before the offer.