Reasons Your Medical Examiner’s Certificate Will Be Returned To You By The DMV

So you paid for your DOT physical and received your Medical Examiner’s Certificate, and then you receive a letter from DMV.  What could have gone wrong now?  Well, drivers make sure that once you get your certificate that it meets the standards of the Department of Motor Vehicles.  So let’s go through a checklist to make sure that you will not be in that situation.  One of the most common reasons I see drivers come in from other offices after they have already paid for their DOT exam and received their certificate is simply because they submitted a Medical Examiner’s Certificate to DMV that was not legible.  They may even have submitted the small wallet card that you can barely read to begin with, and the hand writing on the card is not legible.  What about that checklist?

Reasons that your Medical Examiner’s Certificate will be returned to you ( By the way this is straight from the NYS DMV):

1. Driver’s name is missing from the Medical Examiner’s certificate
2. Medical Examiner’s signature is missing
3. Medical Examiner’s name is missing or illegible
4. Medical Examiner’s license or certificate number is missing or illegible
5. Medical Examiner’s issuing State is missing or illegible
6. Medical Certificate issue date is missing or incomplete
7. Medical Certificate expiration date is missing or incomplete
8. Medical Examiner’s Certificate is expired
9. Medical examiner’s Certificate expiration date is greater than 2 years from the issue date
10. Medical Examiner’s Certificate provided is invalid.  Required check boxes usually located at top of certificate regarding waivers/exemptions are missing
11. Driver’s signature is missing
12. Driver’s license number is missing

Usually you are given 30 days to make the corrections indicated on the form and to return it to Albany. http://www.dmv.ny.gov/cdl-medcert.htm

The moral of the story is, once you get your certificate review it before leaving the office to make sure that it is completed properly.  We rarely have issues in our office because we go over the certificate with the driver before he leaves.  But no one’s perfect.  Both doctor and driver should double check the Medical Examiner’s Certificate to be sure.

Remember in NYS, the DMV will not remind you that your Medical Examiner’s Certificate or Medical Variance will expire.  It is the responsibility of the driver to send an updated copy of his Certificate to Albany prior to the expiration date of the current Certificate that is on file .  It is recommended that you do so at least 2 weeks prior to the expiration date to allow adequate time for processing.

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