Road test vehicle requirements — Minnesota Permit Test

The vehicle you bring to the road test must have doors that open from both the inside and the outside.

A door that only opens one way traps whoever is behind it. The examiner is the one sitting there.

Doors open from both inside and outside.

The headlights, taillights, turn signals and brake lights on a road test vehicle must all work.

Lights are how the car talks to everyone else. A test drive with a dead brake light is a test drive nobody can read.

Headlights, taillights, turn signals and brake lights work.

Smoking is not allowed during the road test, and the vehicle must be smoke-free before the examiner gets in.

The examiner rides in a stranger’s car all day. Nobody should have to choose between the job and the air.

No smoking is allowed, and the vehicle must be smoke-free before the examiner enters.

No electronic devices or cell phone use are allowed during the road test.

A phone splits attention in exactly the way the test is measuring. It stays away for the whole drive.

No electronic devices or cell phone usage.

A vehicle with parking assist may not use that feature for parallel parking during the road test.

The test is asking whether the driver can park the car. A computer doing it answers a different question.

Vehicles with parking assist cannot use this feature for parallel parking during the test.

What must be true of the doors on a road test vehicle?

They open from both inside and outside. A door that only opens one way traps whoever is behind it. The examiner is the one sitting there. Minnesota Driver’s Manual, p.12: “Doors open from both inside and outside.”