Connecticut Road Test Guide

Connecticut vehicle check

DMV checks the car before the drive starts. Tick these off the night before — a vehicle that fails the check ends the appointment before you have driven anywhere.

• Valid registration certificate
• Proof of insurance meeting Connecticut's minimum liability limits ($25,000 bodily injury per person / $50,000 per accident / $25,000 property damage); declaration page required if the vehicle is registered out of state
• Vehicle must be mechanically safe and pass an evaluation — disqualifying conditions include a cracked windshield, defective brake or signal lights, active SRS/ABS warning lights, worn tires, missing lug nuts, defective seatbelts, a defective speedometer, or a faulty braking system
• Aftermarket window tint requires a DMV compliance sticker
• Vehicle must not have an Ignition Interlock Device installed unless the applicant is required by law to have one

What ends the Connecticut road test immediately

Most mistakes cost you points you can afford to lose. These are different — a critical error ends the drive on the spot, however well the rest of it went:

Road tests share this list because each item is a safety failure rather than a scoring one. DMV publishes the rules that apply in Connecticut — check the official source above before test day.

Your test-day checklist

The documents DMV publishes for the Connecticut road test. Ticks save automatically. Guest ticks stay in this browser; signed-in ticks sync across devices.

• Road Test Appointment Confirmation Page
• Completed application for a non-commercial driver's license (Form R-229)
• Learner's permit
• Vehicle registration certificate
• Connecticut insurance card (or the declaration page for an out-of-state vehicle)
• Driver education certificate (Form EDEC), if applicable
• The test vehicle has passed the check above
• Appointment time and location confirmed with DMV

Mock score sheet

Have your supervising driver tick anything that went wrong on a practice drive. This is our practice sheet, not an official form — where the state publishes a real threshold it is in the scoring section above.

• Locating and using the vehicle's controls without looking down
• Seatbelt on, mirrors and seat set before moving
• Checking mirrors and blind spots before moving, turning, or changing lanes
• Signaling every turn, lane change, and pull-out early enough to be seen
• Approaching and completing turns from the correct lane at a safe speed
• Scanning left-right-left and covering the brake at every intersection
• Stopping fully behind the line at a stop sign, then edging out to see
• Responding correctly to green, yellow, and red lights
• Yielding right of way when the law requires it
• Yielding to pedestrians at marked and unmarked crosswalks
• Holding your lane position without drifting or riding a line
• Changing lanes with signal, mirror, blind-spot check, and a safe gap
• Keeping a following distance you could actually stop within
• Driving at a speed that suits the limit, traffic, and conditions
• Backing in a straight line, looking over your shoulder, under control
• Parallel parking within the space, close to the curb
• Turning the car around in a limited space (three-point turn)
• Parking accurately in a marked bay and pulling out safely
• Parking on a grade with the wheels turned the right way
• Merging onto a higher-speed road at the speed of traffic