Guide

Guide: Choose a SAP Without Getting Trapped

Step by step: get the free SAP list, compare bundled totals in writing, check the red flags, then designate — the choosing order that avoids the can't-switch trap.

Check my stage — free

  1. Ask your employer (or former employer) for the free SAP list they must provide under 49 CFR 40.287 — in writing, so the list is on record.
  2. Add candidates from the free SAPlist.com search and from SAPs who evaluate nationwide by permitted face-to-face video.
  3. Ask each candidate one question by phone or email: 'What is your total price for the initial AND follow-up evaluations together?' Write the answers down. $399–$600 bundled is the normal range.
  4. Walk away from any candidate who will not state a total, pressures you to designate today, or asks for your Clearinghouse login.
  5. Pick on total price and calendar (how fast the evaluation can happen), then designate that exact SAP in the Clearinghouse yourself — exact registered name — and call to confirm acceptance before you pay any balance due.

Included in the $49 ReturnToDuty Kit

  • Choosing a SAP: the price table ($399–$600 bundled is normal), the questions to ask before you designate, split-pricing and bait-pricing red flags, and the payment-plan truth
  • The no-job path in full: registering as an owner-operator in the Clearinghouse and designating a C/TPA for the test — what step services charge versus doing each piece yourself
  • The follow-up years: plan math (at least 6 tests in year one, up to 5 years), changing employers mid-plan, and what a new employer must do
  • Getting hired: the SAP-friendly carrier search method, what to say on an application and in an interview, and the consent forms — honestly, with no invented list of companies
  • Records and licenses: Clearinghouse consent, what employers actually see, the state downgrade defense timeline, and the cost tracker worksheet

Get the ReturnToDuty Kit — $49

One payment of $49. No subscription. The kit is a web page you can return to and print — the full playbook for choosing a SAP, taking the test with no employer, managing the follow-up years, and getting hired again.

All guides · The six-step path