Do NEMT Drivers Need a Chauffeur License in Michigan? Vans, Buses, and the Limousine Act

Which Michigan NEMT drivers need a chauffeur license

Michigan handles paid driving with a separate license type, the chauffeur’s license. Whether your drivers need one depends on the vehicle they drive and the law that regulates it, and the dividing line is seat count, driver included.

The Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.6, makes three kinds of drivers chauffeurs:

• Motor carriers of passengers. Anyone who drives as a motor carrier of passengers under the Motor Bus Transportation Act. That act covers vehicles seating 9 or more, driver included, that carry riders for pay (MCL 474.103).
• Bus drivers. Anyone who drives a bus or school bus. The Vehicle Code defines a bus as a vehicle designed for 16 or more passengers, driver included (MCL 257.4b).
• Heavy vehicle drivers. Anyone employed mainly to drive a vehicle rated 10,000 pounds or more. The statute ties this one to hauling merchandise for sale or delivery.

The same section then excludes limousine drivers, taxicab drivers, rideshare drivers, and volunteer drivers who are reimbursed only for operating costs. MDOT closes the loop for NEMT: its bus and limousine page says a non-emergency vehicle carrying 9 or more passengers, driver included, is regulated under the Motor Bus Transportation Act.

Find your vehicle

Put together, the rules sort a NEMT fleet like this as of October 2026:

Vehicle or driver	Chauffeur license	Why
Car, minivan, or wheelchair van with 8 or fewer seats, registered with LARA	No	Limousine drivers are excluded
Van that can seat 9 to 15, carrying riders for pay	Yes	MDOT bus under the bus act
Bus designed for 16 or more	Yes, plus a CDL	Vehicle Code bus, federal CDL line
Taxicab with a roof light	No	Taxicab drivers are excluded
Volunteer paid only for operating costs	No	Volunteer drivers are excluded

Count seats the way MDOT does. It treats each 14 inches of seat width as one seating position under 49 CFR 571.10, and a vehicle that can hold 9, driver included, stays a bus even if you let only 8 ride. To register it with LARA as a limousine instead, the seating must be physically reduced to 8 or fewer. The Michigan state guide covers LARA and MDOT registration, fees, and insurance.

Why limousine drivers skip it, and what they carry instead

A company that runs sedans, minivans, and converted wheelchair vans with 8 or fewer seats registers them with LARA. The state’s limousine act defines a limousine as a for-hire passenger vehicle seating 8 or fewer, driver included (MCL 257.2102), so those drivers are limousine drivers. The Secretary of State’s chauffeur guide (TS-025, January 2025) lists them among the drivers who need no chauffeur’s license.

They still have a records duty. Under MCL 257.208b:

• The driver keeps the most current copy of the nonpersonal information on their own driving record inside the limousine, where any prospective passenger may review it.
• The carrier, meaning your company, subscribes to the Secretary of State’s commercial look-up service, which charges $15 for each record looked up.
• The penalty for a driver or carrier who fails to provide the information is a civil infraction, and each failure counts as a separate offense.

Put a fresh copy in a sleeve in each vehicle whenever you pull a new record. The limousine act also sets driver background checks, a minimum age of 19, and limits on moving violations (MCL 257.2107), which the state guide lists.

How to get a Michigan chauffeur license

A driver who already holds a Michigan license can get a chauffeur’s license in one visit. These steps follow the Vehicle Code and the Secretary of State’s guide (TS-025, January 2025):

1. Confirm the driver’s age. MCL 257.303 bars a chauffeur’s license for anyone under 18, except as the Vehicle Code provides otherwise. Michigan Medicaid also requires commercial NEMT drivers to be at least 18. A broker can set a higher minimum in its agreement, so read yours before you hire. The MTM Health guide covers MTM’s own driver rules.
2. Study the chauffeur guide. TS-025 explains the rules and prepares drivers for the knowledge test. Its study topics include speed limits for heavier vehicles, following distance outside city limits, handling curves and downhill grades, mirrors and blind spots, flags on long loads, the 13 foot 6 inch height limit, warning devices for a disabled vehicle, and drying wet brakes.
3. Take the written test at any Secretary of State office. No driving test is required unless the driver has never been licensed.
4. Choose standard or enhanced. The standard chauffeur’s license costs $35. The enhanced version costs $50 and also serves as a federally approved identity and citizenship document for re-entering the United States by land or sea from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, or the Caribbean.
5. Get a medical card if the vehicle needs one. TS-025 says a chauffeur needs a medical examiner’s certification to drive a vehicle rated 10,001 pounds or more, one designed for 16 or more people including the driver, or one carrying hazardous materials. Federal rules (49 CFR part 567) require a certification label showing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), usually on the driver’s door edge or door pillar, so read it for every van in your fleet.
6. Add a CDL for large buses. A vehicle designed for 16 or more people, driver included, or one rated 26,001 pounds or more, also needs a CDL. Michigan adds the group designation to the operator’s or chauffeur’s license, and a bus for 16 or more also needs the passenger endorsement on that commercial license (MCL 257.312e). Since February 7, 2022, a first passenger endorsement also requires entry-level driver training. Do NEMT drivers need a CDL walks through the federal lines.
7. Copy the license into the driver file. Keep a copy of the chauffeur’s license, any medical card, and the driving record together, and track each expiration date.

Nonprofits, public agencies, and heavy vans

Three situations fall outside the simple seat-count rule. Ask the Secretary of State or MDOT before you rely on an exemption in any of them.

• Nonprofit corporations. The limousine act’s definition leaves out vehicles run by a nonprofit corporation that provides transportation services (MCL 257.2102), so a nonprofit’s drivers cannot rely on the limousine exclusion. The Motor Bus Transportation Act exempts a 501(c)(3), (4), (19), or (23) nonprofit only when its service is limited to registered members or funded under Public Act 51 of 1951 through MDOT programs (MCL 474.104). Work outside those limits falls back under the act, so drivers of the nonprofit’s vehicles with 9 or more seats then need a chauffeur’s license.
• Cities, counties, and transit authorities. The bus act does not apply to local governments, public transportation authorities, or regional transit authorities. Their drivers still count as chauffeurs when they drive a bus designed for 16 or more passengers, driver included.
• Heavy vans outside the limousine rule. The current statute ties the 10,000-pound test to hauling merchandise, but TS-025 still describes it as covering paid passenger driving too. If a driver of a heavy van is not a limousine, taxi, or volunteer driver, get the Secretary of State’s answer in writing.

What Michigan Medicaid and the brokers check

The Medicaid Provider Manual, in the version dated October 1, 2026, requires drivers for commercial and nonprofit NEMT providers to hold a valid driver’s license appropriate to the class of vehicle being operated. It also requires compliance with Vehicle Code sections 304 and 319 on restricted licenses, and MDHHS can deny or revoke enrollment over a restricted or suspended license. A driver who needs a chauffeur’s license for a 12-passenger van and does not have one is not licensed for that vehicle, so match each driver’s license to each vehicle before you schedule.

Each broker adds its own paperwork:

• SafeRide Health, as of October 2026, asks for each driver’s license and supporting documents for background and sex offender registry checks, motor vehicle reports, pre-hire drug screens, first aid or CPR, defensive driving, and wheelchair securement training. See SafeRide Health in Michigan.
• MTM Health writes its driver rules into its provider agreement. The standard agreement, in the January 1, 2023 version Pennsylvania posts, requires a current license suited to the vehicle and to state and local rules, a copy of it at credentialing, and drivers at least 21. Ask for the Michigan version before you hire, and see MTM Health in Michigan.
• Modivcare arranges fee-for-service rides in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties under its MDHHS broker contract. See Modivcare in Michigan for its driver rules.

Local MDHHS offices arrange fee-for-service rides in the rest of the state, and the Michigan fee-for-service guide covers how those trips are approved and billed on the MSA-4674. For the driver rules that apply everywhere, see NEMT driver requirements, and track each driver’s documents with the driver file checklist.