Hiring a Driver Through an Agency in India: What to Verify Yourself

Many families do not find a driver on their own. They call a placement agency, a "driver bureau" near the market, or take a friend's driver's cousin. The agency says the driver is "fully verified", sends him the next morning and asks for a commission. It feels safe because someone else has done the checks. Often nobody has.

This guide is for that situation: the driver comes through a middleman, and you need to know what to ask the middleman, what to verify yourself and which red flags to watch for. For the step-by-step licence, test drive and daily safety routine, see our How to Verify a Driver Before Hiring: A 7-Step Checklist.

The short version

• "Verified by the agency" means nothing until you see what was checked, by whom and when.
• Get the agency's details, fee, replacement policy and the driver's file in writing.
• Check the driving licence yourself on the Parivahan website, even if the agency already has.
• Speak to past employers directly, not through the agency.
• File police verification in your own name where your city allows it.
• Run a public court records check before he drives your family.

Why agency-supplied drivers need your own checks

An agency earns when a placement happens. Some are careful, some are not, and from the outside you cannot tell which. Common gaps families report:

• The "verification" was a photocopy of an ID, nothing more.
• References are the agency owner's contacts.
• The driver who turns up is not the one whose papers were shown.
• When something goes wrong, the agency's number stops working.

None of this means agencies are bad. It means the check is your responsibility, whoever introduced him.

Part 1: Questions to ask the agency

Agency basics

• Full name, office address and a landline or second contact, not just one mobile number.
• Any registration it holds (shop establishment, GST, company or LLP). Ask to see it; if it is a company you can look it up on the Ministry of Corporate Affairs website (mca.gov.in).
• How long it has placed drivers in your area, and two households you can call.

Money and terms

• Commission amount, who pays it and when.
• Replacement policy: how many replacements, within what period, and whether commission is refunded if the driver leaves early.
• Get it in writing, even on WhatsApp. A verbal promise is hard to enforce.

The driver's file

Ask exactly what they have checked:

• Licence verified online, or only a copy?
• References called, by name and number?
• Police verification applied for, in which city, and the acknowledgement?

If the answer to everything is "all done, don't worry", treat it as not done.

Part 2: What to verify yourself

1. Match the person to the papers

Before anything else, check that the man in front of you is the person on the licence and ID. Compare the photo, name and date of birth. Ask him to tell you his father's name and native address and see that it matches the documents.

2. Check the licence on Parivahan

Driving licence records can be checked on the government's Parivahan Sewa website (parivahan.gov.in) with the licence number and date of birth. Confirm:

• The name matches.
• The licence is valid today.
• It covers the vehicle class he will drive (LMV for a family car).

A licence shown in the DigiLocker or mParivahan app pulls the record from the government database, which is a useful second check.

3. Call previous employers yourself

Ask the driver, not the agency, for the households he worked with, and call them.

• How long did he drive for you, and why did he leave?
• Was he ever late, absent without notice or using the phone while driving?
• Any accidents, challans or unexplained fuel bills?
• Would you hire him again?

If every reference only knows him "through the agency", ask for one employer the agency did not arrange.

4. Check the traffic challan history of your own car later

You cannot look up a stranger's challans by name, but once he drives your car, you can check challans against your vehicle number on the government e-challan website (echallan.parivahan.gov.in). Do it at the end of the first month.

5. Police verification in your name

Many city police departments let employers submit domestic staff for verification. Delhi Police publishes a Domestic Help Verification Form (delhipolice.gov.in), Mumbai Police has an online Domestic Servant form (mumbaipolice.gov.in), and Karnataka offers domestic help verification through Seva Sindhu. Ask your local station whether a personal driver is covered. Filing it yourself means the record is in your name, not the agency's.

6. Check public court records

There is no public police database in India, but court records are public. An online search shows whether his name appears in cases, criminal or civil, pending or disposed, anywhere in India. That matters with agency drivers because many have moved between cities, and a reference in Bengaluru will not know about a case back home.

Red flags with agency drivers

• The agency refuses to share his licence number or native address before he starts.
• A different driver turns up from the one you interviewed.
• He has no references outside the agency.
• The licence was issued very recently, yet he claims years of experience as a driver.
• He asks for a large salary advance in the first week.
• The agency pushes you to "decide today, others are waiting".

One flag is a reason to ask questions. Two or three together are a reason to wait.

A fair trial period

• Agree a one or two week trial with clear pay for those days.
• Keep the spare key and track trips with live location, telling him openly.
• Do not hand over children's school runs until you are comfortable.
• Note anything that worries you and raise it early, calmly.

Treat him fairly

Collect only the documents you need, keep copies private and do not share them in WhatsApp groups. Explain that checks are routine for anyone driving your family. A good driver will understand; most have been through it before.

What a fraudcheck.ai report adds

A fraudcheck.ai report costs ₹199 and is ready in about 5 minutes. You need only the driver's full name, his father's name and the city he lives in. No licence number, Aadhaar, PAN or OTP, and he is never contacted or told.

• Court cases across India, pending and disposed, criminal or civil, matched on name, father's name and city.
• News mentions that name him.
• Public social profiles, if any.

It is not a licence check, police verification, ID check or credit check, and it does not cover traffic challans. It gives you your own view of his public record, separate from whatever the agency says. Run a driver background check for ₹199 or view a sample report.

Frequently asked questions

Is a driver from an agency already police verified?

Not necessarily. Ask the agency for the police acknowledgement and the city where it was filed. If they cannot show it, file verification yourself through your city police.

What should I ask a driver placement agency?

Its office address and registration, commission and replacement terms in writing, and exactly which checks it did on the driver: online licence check, reference calls and police verification.

How do I check a driver's licence online?

Use the Parivahan Sewa website with the licence number and date of birth. Check the name, validity and vehicle class against the card.

Can I check a driver's criminal record by name?

Police records are not public in India. You can check public court records, which list cases where a person is a party. A fraudcheck.ai report searches these across India using his name, father's name and city.

What if the agency says its own check is enough?

Thank them and do your own anyway. You, not the agency, are trusting him with your car and family every day.

Can I check a driver's traffic challans?

Not by name. You can check challans on your own vehicle number on the e-challan website once he starts driving your car.

Before the agency's driver takes your family out, spend ₹199 and five minutes to check his court records yourself.