CDL Requirements in Hawaii
Verified against Hawai'i county driver licensing divisions (administered individually by the City & County of Honolulu and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i), operating under statewide CDL standards set by the Hawai'i Department of Transportation ·
Compiled and verified against primary state DMV/DPS/BMV sources by GetCDLLicense — cite-or-deny, with no invented figures. How we source & verify →
Hawaii is one of a handful of states where CDL issuance and testing are administered independently by each of the state's four counties — the City & County of Honolulu and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i — rather than by a single statewide DMV; the Hawai'i Department of Transportation (HIDOT) sets uniform statewide standards (the CDL Manual, application forms, and ELDT policy) but does not itself issue licenses. Hawai'i's own CDL Manual sets a flat minimum age of 21 to hold any CDL, with no intrastate-only pathway for 18-20 year-olds (they may hold only the commercial learner's permit). Fees are itemized rather than bundled and are largely tied to a $5-per-year, age-banded license-issuance schedule that mirrors the state's regular driver's license fee structure.
Hawaii's CDL requirements — including a $30 commercial learner permit fee and an intrastate minimum age of 21 — are verified against Hawai'i county driver licensing divisions (administered individually by the City & County of Honolulu and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i), operating under statewide CDL standards set by the Hawai'i Department of Transportation (see Hawai'i Department of Transportation — Commercial Driver's License Manual (rev. June 2025)), current as of 2026-07-25.
Hawaii CDL Requirements at a Glance
This is the fee, age, and testing detail for Hawaiispecifically — for the full step-by-step process see how to get a CDL, and for what Class A, B, and C each permit see CDL classes.
| Commercial learner’s permit (CLP) | |
|---|---|
| CLP fee | $30 |
| Minimum holding period before skills test | 14 days |
| CLP validity | 6 months |
| Age minimums | |
| Intrastate minimum age | 21 |
| Interstate minimum age | 21 (federal floor) |
| Fees | |
| Application fee | — |
| Initial CDL fee | — |
| Renewal fee | $40 |
| Renewal period | Tied to age bracket rather than one fixed term: 8 years for drivers ages 25-71 ($40, i.e. $5/year), 4 years for ages 21-24 or 72-79 ($20), 2 years for age 80+ ($10) — the same $5-per-year formula applies to both new and renewed CDLs, so there is no separate first-time-issuance amount. |
| Knowledge test fee | $15 |
| Skills test fee | $50 |
| Testing rules | |
| Third-party testers allowed | No |
| Retest waiting period | 7 days |
Other published fees
- CDL/CLP license issuance, 4-year cycle (ages 21-24 or 72-79): $20
- CDL/CLP license issuance, 2-year cycle (age 80+): $10
- Special/endorsement knowledge test (each): $5
- Oral/aural test administration, in addition to the standard test fee: $15
- Duplicate CDL/CLP or change to license information: $15
- Reinstatement of commercial driving privilege (per Hawai'i CDL Manual and County of Maui fee schedule): $20
- Reinstatement (per City & County of Honolulu CDL Office FAQ — conflicts with the statewide/Maui figure; see disclosures): $41
- Reinstatement plus simultaneous renewal (per City & County of Honolulu CDL Office FAQ): $66
- Late renewal, per month or partial month after the 90-day post-expiration grace period: $5
Valid 180 days from issuance and may be renewed once for an additional 180 days without retaking the knowledge test (Hawai'i CDL Manual). Applicants must be domiciled in Hawai'i and hold a valid Class 3 (regular) Hawai'i driver's license. Only the Tanker (N), Passenger (P), and School Bus (S) endorsements may be added to a CLP; a CLP issued with a Passenger or School Bus endorsement also carries a 'no passengers' restriction, and one issued with a Tanker endorsement carries a 'no cargo' restriction, until the full CDL is obtained.
Hawai'i's own CDL Manual states plainly, with no intrastate carve-out, that 'you must be 21 years old to be eligible for a CDL.' Unlike many states, Hawai'i does not issue an intrastate-only CDL to 18-20 year-olds: an 18-year-old may obtain only the commercial learner's permit (CLP) and must wait until 21 to hold the CDL itself, regardless of the self-certified commerce category.
No third-party CDL skills-testing program was found; knowledge and skills testing is administered directly by each county's driver licensing office (e.g., the City & County of Honolulu's dedicated CDL Office in Pearl City). A CLP holder must wait at least 14 days after permit issuance before scheduling the skills-test appointment. Any failed test carries a mandatory minimum one-week (7-day) wait before a retest may be scheduled, and the $50 skills-test fee is paid in advance and is non-refundable.
Hawaii CDL Endorsements
| Endorsement | Available | Fee | Knowledge test | Skills test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazardous materials (H) | Yes | — | Yes | No |
| Tank vehicle (N) | Yes | — | Yes | No |
| Doubles/triples (T) | Yes | — | Yes | No |
| Passenger (P) | Yes | — | Yes | Yes |
| School bus (S) | Yes | — | Yes | Yes |
Hazardous materials: Requires passing a special written exam on recognizing, handling, and transporting hazardous materials; no separate endorsement fee beyond the standard special-knowledge-test fee is published. Hawai'i ties CDL expiration to the TSA-issued Hazardous Materials Endorsement approval date (valid up to 5 years), so a CDL carrying an HME renews on that 5-year cycle rather than the standard age-based schedule, and the hazmat knowledge test must be re-passed at each renewal.
Tank vehicle: Required for any CMV tank with an individual rated capacity over 119 gallons and an aggregate capacity of 1,000 gallons or more. Special knowledge exam only; no separate endorsement fee beyond the standard special-knowledge-test fee is published.
Doubles/triples: Addable only to Class A licenses; requires a special knowledge exam on the problems associated with pulling multiple trailers. No separate endorsement fee beyond the standard special-knowledge-test fee is published.
Passenger: Required to drive a bus of any class (A, B, or C) with a design capacity of 16 or more people including the driver. Requires a special knowledge exam plus a skills test performed in a representative passenger vehicle; addable to a CLP.
School bus: Required to drive a school bus of any class (A, B, or C). Requires a special knowledge exam on safety considerations for transporting passengers in a school bus, plus a skills test performed in a school bus; addable to a CLP.
For what each endorsement permits, the federal knowledge/skills testing baseline behind it, and hazmat’s separate TSA security threat assessment, see CDL endorsements.
Federal requirements that apply in Hawaii
These are set by federal regulators and are the same in every US jurisdiction. Full detail here.
- Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT). Since February 2022, first-time CDL applicants — and drivers upgrading to Class A or seeking a first-time school bus, passenger, or hazmat endorsement — must complete Entry-Level Driver Training with a provider on the FMCSA Training Provider Registry before testing.
- DOT medical certificate. Most CDL holders who operate in interstate commerce must hold a valid DOT medical examiner's certificate, issued by an examiner listed on the FMCSA National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners.
- Interstate minimum age. Federal rules set 21 as the minimum age to drive commercially across state lines; states set their own intrastate minimum, commonly 18.
- Hazmat security threat assessment. A hazardous materials endorsement additionally requires a TSA security threat assessment, which is a federal process separate from the state endorsement.
Self-certification in Hawaii
Hawai'i county driver licensing divisions (administered individually by the City & County of Honolulu and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i), operating under statewide CDL standards set by the Hawai'i Department of Transportation administers self-certification for the following FMCSA operating categories:
- Non-Excepted Interstate
- Non-Excepted Intrastate
- Excepted Interstate
- Excepted Intrastate
Hawai'i's statewide Commercial Driver's License Application requires every applicant to check one of the four FMCSA self-certification categories.
Source Notes
Where a source is stale, conflicting, or required a judgment call, we document it here rather than presenting a single confident-sounding number. See our methodology for how these calls are made.
- Hawai'i does not have a single statewide DMV for commercial driver licenses: CDL issuance and testing are handled independently by each of the state's four counties (City & County of Honolulu, and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i), while the Hawai'i Department of Transportation sets the standards (manual, forms, ELDT policy) all counties use. Fees shown here are drawn from Honolulu and Maui, the two counties with a published, current CDL fee schedule we could verify; Hawai'i and Kaua'i county pages could not be reached to confirm, though the figures we did verify are consistent across sources. Confirm current fees with your own county's driver licensing office.
- Sources disagree on the CDL reinstatement fee: the statewide CDL Manual and the County of Maui's fee schedule both list $20, while the City & County of Honolulu CDL Office's FAQ lists $41 (or $66 if reinstating and renewing at the same time). Confirm the current amount with your county CDL office before budgeting for a reinstatement.
- Unlike many states, Hawai'i does not allow an intrastate-only CDL for drivers under 21. Hawai'i's own CDL Manual requires every CDL holder — intrastate or interstate — to be at least 21; 18-20 year-olds may hold only the commercial learner's permit (CLP), not a full CDL.
means no primary source publishes that figure — left blank on purpose rather than estimated or copied from an unverified aggregator.
Sources
- Hawai'i Department of Transportation — Commercial Driver's License Manual (rev. June 2025)
- City & County of Honolulu, Dept. of Customer Services — Commercial Driver Licensing (CDL) Office FAQ
- County of Maui, Dept. of Finance — Division of Motor Vehicles & Licensing (DMVL)
- County of Maui — License Fee Schedule, effective October 1, 2024 (PDF)
- County of Maui — Renewal of Commercial Driver's License
- Hawai'i Department of Transportation — Motor Vehicle Safety Office (statewide CDL standards, forms, and county links)
- State of Hawai'i Commercial Driver's License Application (DOT form, self-certification section)
Data last verified: 2026-07-25 (verified by: agent) | Source: Hawai'i county driver licensing divisions (administered individually by the City & County of Honolulu and the Counties of Maui, Hawai'i, and Kaua'i), operating under statewide CDL standards set by the Hawai'i Department of Transportation