CDL Requirements in Idaho

Verified against Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles · 2026-07-25

Compiled and verified against primary state DMV/DPS/BMV sources by GetCDLLicense — cite-or-deny, with no invented figures. How we source & verify →

Idaho's DMV offices — including CDL issuance — are contracted out to county Sheriff's and/or Assessor's offices rather than run directly by the state (ITD's own DMV page: "DMV offices are operated by the Sheriff's Office and/or Assessor's Office of your county"). Skills tests are administered not by a single statewide vendor but by a roster of individually contracted CDL Skills Test Examiners who each set their own vehicle-use fee on top of a fixed $10 paid to the county. CDL issuance and renewal fees are tiered into four age-based terms — 1-year, 3-year, 4-year, and 8-year — set directly in Idaho Code §49-306.

Idaho's CDL requirements — including a $29 commercial learner permit fee and an intrastate minimum age of 18 — are verified against Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles (see Idaho Code §49-306 — Application for Driver's License, Instruction Permit, or Commercial Learner's Permit (fees and self-certification categories)), current as of 2026-07-25.

Idaho CDL Requirements at a Glance

This is the fee, age, and testing detail for Idahospecifically — 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.

CLP, age, fee, renewal, and testing requirements for a commercial driver’s license in Idaho
Commercial learner’s permit (CLP)
CLP fee	$29
Minimum holding period before skills test	14 days
CLP validity	—
Age minimums
Intrastate minimum age	18
Interstate minimum age	21 (federal floor)
Fees
Application fee	—
Initial CDL fee	—
Renewal fee	—
Renewal period	—
Knowledge test fee	$5
Skills test fee	$200
Testing rules
Third-party testers allowed	Yes
Retest waiting period	—

Other published fees

CDL — 1-Year term (issued at age 20): $15
CDL — 3-Year term (ages 18 to 21): $30
CDL — 4-Year term (age 21 and over): $40
CDL — 8-Year term (age 21 to 63): $60
Seasonal CDL (180 days, ag-related employers only): $44
License classification upgrade: $30
Duplicate CDL or CLP: $20
Endorsement addition after CDL issuance (written test fee extra): $20

The $29 fee is fixed by Idaho Code §49-306(2)(i) ($5 current expense fund + $4 EMS vehicle/equipment grant fund + $20 state highway account). ITD's own Commercial Learner's Permit policy (04-02-2020) states plainly: "Any time a skills test is required, the customer is required to obtain a Commercial Learner's Permit (CLP), wait 14 days, then take a skills test" — this applies to new issuance, class upgrades, and removal of the Air Brakes (L), Automatic Transmission (E), or No Tractor-Trailer (O) restrictions alike. No ITD or statutory source found states a CLP validity period in months.

Idaho Code §49-303(3) bars anyone under 18 from holding a Class A, B, or C license or instruction permit, and §49-303(4) additionally requires at least one year of licensed driving experience before a Class A, B, or C license or permit can be issued. ITD's CDL page confirms the federal 21-year interstate threshold operationally: its 'K' restriction ("Intrastate Operation only") "will also be placed on all 18, 19, and 20 year old CDL holders," restricting them to intrastate driving until 21.

Idaho's General Knowledge test is 50 questions with 40 correct required to pass (80%). Skills tests are administered off-site by ITD's statewide roster of individually contracted CDL Skills Test Examiners — not by DMV/county office staff — who must be given at least 48 hours' notice per federal and state test-auditing requirements. Examiners set their own vehicle-use fee on top of a fixed $10 paid to the county DL office (Idaho Code §49-306(2)(o) sends $10 to the state highway account with 'remainder retained by entity administering the test'; §49-306(10) separately lets the contractor 'collect an additional fee for the use of the contractor's vehicle'). ITD's District 3 (Southwest Idaho) examiner list shows currently posted vehicle-use fees ranging $120–$190 per test. No day-based knowledge- or skills-test retest waiting period is published on any fetched ITD page.

Idaho CDL Endorsements

Hazmat, tanker, doubles/triples, passenger, and school bus endorsement availability, fees, and testing in Idaho
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: Hazmat (H) knowledge exam is 30 questions with 24 correct required to pass. ITD's CDL fee table does not itemize a separate Hazmat endorsement fee at initial issuance — it is covered by the standard $5 knowledge-test fee like any other endorsement exam; adding H to an already-issued CDL costs the standard $20 endorsement-addition fee. Idaho also issues a combined Tank Vehicles/Hazardous Materials (X) endorsement representing both the N and H endorsements together; a CDL may show either X, or N and H separately.

Tank vehicle: Tank Vehicles (N) endorsement is required for any CMV designed to transport liquid or gaseous material in a tank with an individual rated capacity over 119 gallons and an aggregate rated capacity of 1,000+ gallons, whether permanently or temporarily attached; an empty, non-transport-designed storage tank temporarily strapped to a flatbed is explicitly excluded. ITD's page requires only the written Tank Vehicle knowledge exam — no skills test is itemized. May be combined with Hazmat into a single X endorsement.

Doubles/triples: Double/Triple (T) endorsement is required for drivers pulling two or three trailers; a dolly or load-divider ('jeep') counts as one trailer for this purpose. Written Doubles/Triples knowledge exam only — no skills test itemized on ITD's endorsement page.

Passenger: Passenger (P) endorsement is required for vehicles designed to carry 16 or more people including the driver. Both a written knowledge test and a skills test are required. It is also the mandatory prerequisite for the School Bus (S) endorsement — a driver cannot hold S without also holding P.

School bus: School Bus (S) endorsement is required to drive a yellow-and-black bus of any size transporting preprimary, primary, or secondary students to/from school or school-sponsored events. Requires both the Passenger (P) and School Bus (S) endorsements together, with both a written knowledge test and a skills test.

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 Idaho

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 Idaho

Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles administers self-certification for the following FMCSA operating categories:

Non-Excepted Interstate
Excepted Interstate
Non-Excepted Intrastate
Excepted Intrastate

Idaho Code §49-306(5)(c) requires every Class A, B, or C license application to state one of these four driving categories verbatim. Self-certification can be completed in person at a county driver's license office or online through ITD's self-certification portal (dmvapps.itd.idaho.gov/cdlselfcertification). A CDL holder not currently driving commercially may certify as 'Excepted Intrastate' to avoid maintaining a DOT medical certificate, but must update to a non-excepted category and obtain a current medical certificate before resuming commercial driving in a non-excepted capacity.

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.

ITD's published CDL skills-test fee of $200 is a combined total: a fixed $10 paid to the county DL office plus 'up to $190' paid directly to the private CDL Skills Test Examiner. ITD's own regional examiner lists (e.g. District 3, Southwest Idaho) show examiners currently charging between $120 and $190 for the same test, so the real out-of-pocket total for most applicants is less than $200 and varies by which examiner is chosen.

means no primary source publishes that figure — left blank on purpose rather than estimated or copied from an unverified aggregator.

Sources

Data last verified: 2026-07-25 (verified by: agent) | Source: Idaho Transportation Department, Division of Motor Vehicles