The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) is a federal law enacted in 1994 that restricts the public disclosure and use of personal information contained in state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records. For skip tracing and private investigations, the DPPA creates strict regulatory compliance boundaries around accessing vehicle registration, driver’s license numbers, and motor vehicle records (MVRs). Investigators and skip tracers cannot run DMV record searches for general public inquiries; they must establish a legally defined “permissible use”—such as service of process, fraud prevention, legal proceedings, or asset discovery under court order. Permissible use requests typically require formal documentation, signed authorization forms, and permissible use certifications to satisfy federal compliance standards. Non-compliance, unauthorized queries, or misuse of protected DMV data under the DPPA can result in severe federal civil liabilities, monetary fines, and loss of database access.

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