Reference check questions for delivery drivers

A delivery driver spends the shift alone, in your vehicle, at your customers’ doors. The motor vehicle record shows the tickets and crashes the state has on file. It does not show the mirror clipped in the loading yard, the package left at the wrong address or the driver who checks their phone at every red light. The people who dispatched and supervised the candidate are the ones who hear about all three.

Ask about the candidate’s actual routes: what vehicle, how many stops, what kind of area. A driver who ran a dense city route in a box truck and one who drove their own car on a suburban food route have done different jobs, and the reference’s examples tell you which experience carries over to yours.

Who to ask

• A dispatcher or route supervisor who assigned the candidate’s routes and heard about late stops and customer complaints.
• A fleet or safety manager who reviewed their inspections, incidents and any driving data the company kept.
• A store or restaurant manager, for food and retail delivery, who saw how the candidate handled orders, payment and customers.
• A trainer who rode along with the candidate, for a driver early in their career.

Questions to ask, by competency

Choose the competencies that matter most for the position and two or three questions from each. Ask every reference the same set, and when an answer is a rating, ask for the example behind it.

Safe driving

A supervisor hears about things that never reach the state record: close calls, yard scrapes and what the camera caught.

1. Did the candidate have any accidents or vehicle damage while working for you, including small ones in the yard or at a customer’s dock? How did they report them?
2. If your vehicles had cameras or tracking, what did the reviews show about the candidate’s speed, hard braking or phone use?
3. How did the candidate drive in bad weather, or when they were behind on a route?
4. If you rated the candidate’s driving from one to five against the rest of your drivers, what would you give them, and why? (rating)

Vehicle care and inspections

A driver who skips the walk-around misses the soft tire or the dead brake light that causes the next problem.

1. Did the candidate do their pre-trip and post-trip inspections, and did they write up the defects they found?
2. How did the candidate leave the vehicle at the end of a shift: fueled or charged, clean, and with any problems reported?

On-time, accurate delivery

A late route or a package at the wrong door turns into a complaint call, and the customer remembers who brought it.

1. How did the candidate run a full route? Did they finish on time, and how did they decide what to do with a stop they could not complete?
2. Were any packages or orders on the candidate’s route reported missing, damaged or delivered to the wrong place? What did you find when you looked into it?
3. How did the candidate handle proof of delivery, signatures or collecting payment when a stop called for it?

Conduct at the door and on the road

Drivers work without a supervisor nearby, and every customer they meet forms a view of your company.

1. Tell me about a difficult stop: an upset customer, a building the candidate could not get into or a dog in the yard. What did they do?
2. When something went wrong on the road, how quickly did the candidate call it in, and to whom?

Close the reference

End every reference the same way: ask whether they would hire or work with the candidate again and why, what support would help the candidate do their best work, and whether there is anything else you should know. The general question bank explains why the first of these matters most.

Checks a reference does not replace

• The driving record. With the candidate’s consent, order their motor vehicle record from each state where they have recently held a license. It shows the license class, its status and the violations on file.
• Commercial motor vehicles. Under 49 CFR 390.5, a commercial motor vehicle includes one used in interstate commerce that weighs or is rated at 10,001 pounds or more. For those drivers, 49 CFR 391.23 requires the motor carrier, within 30 days of the start of employment, to get the driving record from each state where the driver held a license or permit in the past three years and to investigate their safety performance history with employers regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation over the same period. Drivers who stay within one state may fall under state rules instead.
• Drug and alcohol history for CDL drivers. Under 49 CFR 382.701, an employer must not use a driver covered by the federal motor carrier drug and alcohol testing rules in safety-sensitive work until it has run a full pre-employment query of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, which needs the driver’s specific consent.
• Insurance and vehicle requirements. If your insurer approves drivers, or drivers will use their own cars, confirm eligibility and proof of insurance before the first route.

Warning signs to follow up

• A reference who mentions an accident, a damage claim or a ticket that the candidate left off their application.
• A recent move from driving to a non-driving job at the same company that nobody explains.
• A dispatcher who cannot say whether the candidate finished routes on time, or who changes the subject when you ask about customer complaints.
• References from other drivers only, with nobody who dispatched, supervised or rode along with the candidate.

One warning sign is a reason to ask another question, not a verdict. Reference check red flags covers how to check a concern fairly.

Questions to leave out

Ask only about the work. Before an offer, the EEOC’s guidance says an employer may not ask a third party, such as a former employer, any question it could not ask the candidate directly. Leave out health, medical leave, age, family plans and other protected characteristics. What to leave out has the full list.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm the requirements that apply to your organization, and in your state, with your counsel or HR policy office.