CDL Requirements in Tennessee
Verified against Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security ·
Compiled and verified against primary state DMV/DPS/BMV sources by GetCDLLicense — cite-or-deny, with no invented figures. How we source & verify →
Tennessee licenses commercial drivers through the Department of Safety and Homeland Security (DOSHS), whose driver-license administrative rules are codified at Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 1340-01-13, 'Classified and Commercial Drivers Licenses and Temporary Driver Licenses.' The department's consumer-facing website (tn.gov) was unreachable from this research pipeline for the duration of this review — both direct requests and an independent fetch service timed out or were refused at the network level — so Tennessee's specific fee amounts, CLP details, and endorsement-level requirements could not be independently confirmed and are left blank rather than estimated.
Tennessee's CDL requirements are verified against Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security (see Tennessee Secretary of State — Official Compilation of Rules and Regulations (index listing Ch. 1340, Dept. of Safety and Homeland Security)), current as of 2026-07-25.
Tennessee CDL Requirements at a Glance
This is the fee, age, and testing detail for Tennesseespecifically — 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 | — |
| Minimum holding period before skills test | — |
| CLP validity | — |
| Age minimums | |
| Intrastate minimum age | — |
| Interstate minimum age | 21 (federal floor) |
| Fees | |
| Application fee | — |
| Initial CDL fee | — |
| Renewal fee | — |
| Renewal period | — |
| Knowledge test fee | — |
| Skills test fee | — |
| Testing rules | |
| Third-party testers allowed | — |
| Retest waiting period | — |
21 is the federal interstate-commerce age floor, identical in every jurisdiction. Tennessee's intrastate-only minimum age was not verifiable against a reachable current DOSHS source, so it is left blank rather than assumed to be the common 18.
Tennessee CDL Endorsements
| Endorsement | Available | Fee | Knowledge test | Skills test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazardous materials (H) | Yes | — | — | — |
| Tank vehicle (N) | Yes | — | — | — |
| Doubles/triples (T) | Yes | — | — | — |
| Passenger (P) | Yes | — | — | — |
| School bus (S) | Yes | — | — | — |
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 Tennessee
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 Tennessee
Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security administers self-certification for the following FMCSA operating categories:
- Non-Excepted Interstate
- Excepted Interstate
- Non-Excepted Intrastate
- Excepted Intrastate
These are the four federally-defined FMCSA self-certification categories (49 CFR 383.71) that every State Driver Licensing Agency, including Tennessee's, is required to offer. Tennessee-specific form names or administrative detail were not verifiable against a reachable current source.
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.
- Tennessee's official CDL information site (tn.gov) was not reachable during this review due to what appears to be a network-level access issue rather than a content problem; fee amounts, CLP details, and endorsement-specific requirements above are left blank rather than estimated. Visit tn.gov/safety/driver-services/cdl.html directly in a browser, or contact the Department of Safety and Homeland Security, for current figures.
means no primary source publishes that figure — left blank on purpose rather than estimated or copied from an unverified aggregator.
Data last verified: 2026-07-25 (verified by: agent) | Source: Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security