CDL Requirements in West Virginia
Verified against West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), WV 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 →
West Virginia CDL licensing runs through the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), part of the state Department of Transportation. WV ties its CDL/CLP fee to the same age-based fee chart used for regular Class E driver's licenses rather than publishing one flat CDL price, and it relies on a statewide roster of individually named third-party examiners (not testing companies) to administer skills tests across most counties.
West Virginia's CDL requirements — including an intrastate minimum age of 18 — are verified against West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), WV Department of Transportation (see West Virginia DMV — Commercial Driver's License (CDL) Rules and Regulations Manual (Rev. 08/2023)), current as of 2026-07-25.
West Virginia CDL Requirements at a Glance
This is the fee, age, and testing detail for West Virginiaspecifically — 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 | 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 | $25 |
| Skills test fee | $100 |
| Testing rules | |
| Third-party testers allowed | Yes |
| Retest waiting period | 7 days |
Other published fees
- Duplicate/issuance fee (added to most endorsement and class transactions): $7.50
- Class upgrade requiring a new knowledge test (includes duplicate fee): $32.50
- Class upgrade with no knowledge test required (duplicate fee only): $7.50
- Combined Hazardous Materials + Tank (X) endorsement: $20
- Expired-license (3+ years) additional fee: $5
- Skills-test no-show fee (paid to the Third Party Examiner): $50
Issued to holders of a valid WV operator's or Class D license who are at least 18 and have held a driver's license for a minimum of one year; must pass all applicable knowledge tests first. Only Tank (N), Passenger (P), and School Bus (S) endorsements may be added to a CLP (a Class C CLP with the N endorsement also carries the X 'no cargo in tank' restriction). The accompanying CDL holder supervising a CLP driver must be at least 21. WV's own primary sources conflict on validity: the live DMV CDL page states the permit 'may not be issued for a period to exceed one year' and 'cannot be renewed,' while the CDL Rules and Regulations Manual (Rev. 08/2023) states it 'may not be issued for a period to exceed 180 days' with 'only one (1) renewal or re-issuance... granted within a two (2) year period.' Because these two official DMV sources disagree, no single validity-in-months figure is asserted here.
Must be at least 18 with at least one year of licensed driving experience to qualify for a CDL or CLP — a WV-specific add-on to the federal age floor. Drivers under 21 receive a 'K' restriction limiting them to intrastate WV-only CMV operation; interstate operation before age 21 requires a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration (WV DMV: 304-347-5935).
DMV administers CDL knowledge tests directly (general knowledge, air brakes, combination); the $25 testing fee covers up to 3 attempts, and a driver who fails any section must wait 7 days before retesting. Skills tests are administered exclusively by DMV-listed third-party examiners (named individuals across most counties, largely testing evenings/weekends); no day-based wait is published for a skills-test retest, only the $100 fee due again per attempt.
West Virginia CDL Endorsements
| Endorsement | Available | Fee | Knowledge test | Skills test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hazardous materials (H) | Yes | $10 | Yes | No |
| Tank vehicle (N) | Yes | $10 | Yes | No |
| Doubles/triples (T) | Yes | $10 | Yes | No |
| Passenger (P) | Yes | $10 | Yes | Yes |
| School bus (S) | Yes | $10 | Yes | Yes |
Hazardous materials: A separate, non-refundable background-check fee is paid directly to the TSA's fingerprinting vendor, not to WV DMV. On renewal, a HAZMAT holder gets 3 attempts to pass the knowledge test on a non-expired license; an expired license requires obtaining a new test card from the Charleston CDL office first. Also available combined with Tank as the single 'X' endorsement ($20).
Passenger: Addable to a CLP; skills test performed in a passenger-type vehicle.
School bus: Addable to a CLP; skills test performed in a school-bus-type vehicle.
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 West Virginia
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 West Virginia
West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), WV Department of Transportation administers self-certification for the following FMCSA operating categories:
- Non-Excepted Interstate
- Excepted Interstate
- Non-Excepted Intrastate
- Excepted Intrastate
WV DMV's CDL manual lists the standard four FMCSA self-certification statements; excepted-status applicants (e.g., school bus drivers, government-agency CDL holders) are exempt from the FMCSA medical requirements.
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.
- West Virginia DMV's own sources disagree on how long a CDL instruction permit (CLP) is valid: the live 'Commercial Driver's License' page states permits are issued for up to one year and cannot be renewed, while the CDL Rules and Regulations Manual (Rev. 08/2023) states permits are valid 180 days with one renewal allowed within a two-year window. Confirm current validity directly with a WV DMV regional office before relying on either figure.
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: West Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), WV Department of Transportation