Hire off the scene, not off the closer

A stay-away line without a scene and a walk-off written in full are not the same file. One tells you the last carrier is done talking. The other tells you where the truck was. If you treat every don’t-hire as a completed investigation, you will copy heat into your notes and skip the sentence that would have changed the hire. If you treat every explanation as a pass because it never says stay away, you will miss the event sitting in plain language.

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 32.2% contain a verdict. That figure describes those reviews, not drivers in general: carriers write after a bad run, so the share tells you what shows up once someone bothers to report it. The rest of the corpus still has scenes. Abandoned-truck language sits in 33.5% of all reviews. A no-show sits in 5.3%. A crash or damage sits in 13.7%. Those events do not wait for a closer.

Two kinds of write-up, same star

When a carrier explains, the language is physical: left the truck, never showed, damaged trailer, stopped answering, cash advance, flight ticket. You can ask a follow-up that has a location, a date, a load, or a phone.

When a carrier only warns, the language is a recommendation to you: stay away, waste your time, don’t hire, avoid this driver. There is nothing to recover. There is only a temperature.

Those two registers often share a paragraph. An abandoned truck sits in 32.3% of verdict reviews — against a 33.5% base rate, essentially chance. Aggression sits in 16.0%. Drugs or alcohol sit in 14.3%. A crash or damage sits in 13.9%. Late or missed deliveries sit in 11.1%. Theft sits in 10.3%. Going unreachable sits in 9.5%. Paid travel with no arrival sits in 7.9%.

Read that mix the right way. A closer is not a pointer to one failure type. It rides with whatever scene the author already had. The explanation, when it is there, is the screen. The closer is optional heat on top.

Almost every write-up already carries the lowest rating: 94.8% of this corpus sits on that floor. Inside that floor, verdict language is common. A milder star does not turn a missing scene into a finding, and it does not turn a named walk-off into a pass.

How we count these shares is on the methodology page. The companion on heat versus event is what do-not-hire wording actually tells you. How not to add the closer to the incident count is in a closer is not a second incident. Why the corpus is already a complaint file is in carrier review bias.

Why desks pick the wrong sentence

Because stay away is short. Because an explanation takes a minute and a closer takes a second. Because a hiring manager would rather quote don’t hire than ask where the last truck was left.

If you only keep files that explain, you will still have plenty of work: most reviews do not contain a verdict. The ones that do still need the sentence that came first. If that sentence is left the truck, you have a walk-off screen whether or not the closer is loud. If that sentence is never showed, you have an empty chair. If that sentence is stay away and nothing else, you have heat without a scene — a reason to look the name up, not a reason to write “do not hire” as if you had verified an event.

If you only keep files that warn, you will skip the larger set of write-ups that name the event and never bother to warn you. An abandoned truck does not need a closer to be a walk-off. A damaged trailer does not need don’t hire to be a crash screen.

The closer itself has climbed. Verdict language ran 19.6% of reviews in 2018 and 37.2% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. Carriers are ending more write-ups with a recommendation. That is a fact about how reviews are written, not a fact about how drivers behave, and it is not a reason to stop reading the scene.

What official reports do with either version

Nothing useful. PSP, an MVR, and the Clearinghouse do not store stay away. They also do not store left the truck unless someone filed a crash, a license action, or a program event. A clean packet on a closer-only file is the default. A clean packet on an explained walk-off is also common. The packet you already buy is silent on both. The write-up is not.

Previous-employer forms fail the same way. The last desk may confirm dates and leave the scene in a review instead of a box. “Eligible for rehire” is a legal position. It is not a description of whether the unit came home.

I am not going to pretend this is an independent study. CDLScan is the source, and I write from the data they share. Some carriers explain. Some only warn. The hire turns on which of those you actually read.

What was visible before you spent

The tell is which sentence you can follow up. Typical sequence, built from the mix, not from one person’s file: two carriers in a year, a short last stint, a write-up that either names the truck or only tells you to stay away. If you stop at the closer, you never ask the recovery question. If you skip a file with no closer, you never see the recovery sitting in the middle of the paragraph.

Ask where the last truck was left. Ask who recovered it. Ask whether the trailer was still loaded. Ask whether they made orientation. Ask who bought the flight. Those questions work on an explained file. On a closer-only file they still belong on the reference call, because the review did not do that work for you.

Do not treat the two write-ups as a score. 32.2% of this corpus already ends in a recommendation. That is how often carriers warn the next desk, not how often a scene is missing.

Then look the name up across write-ups, not across last lines. Check it on CDLScan before you spend. It takes less than a minute. Keep the files that explain. Do not throw away the files that only warn — look them up, then go get the scene from the last desk.

Frequently asked questions

If they only wrote stay away, can I treat that as do not hire?

No. That is the author’s recommendation to you, not a verified event. Look the name up. Ask the last desk what happened. Do not copy the closer into your notes as if you had the scene.

If they explained and never said stay away, is the file softer?

No. Left the truck is a walk-off screen without a closer. Never showed is an empty chair without a closer. The event does the work. The missing recommendation is not a pass.

Does a closer usually sit on an abandoned truck?

In 32.3% of verdict reviews, yes — which is about the same as the 33.5% base rate in the whole corpus. The closer does not point you at one failure type. Read the scene that came with it.

Should I prefer explained reviews over warned ones?

Prefer the sentence you can follow up. An explanation gives you a location, a date, a load, or a phone. A closer-only file still needs those questions. It does not get a free pass, and it does not get a rubber stamp.

Will PSP tell me which kind of review I have?

No. Official reports do not store stay away, and they usually do not store left the truck. A clean packet means the filed items are clean. It does not classify the write-up.

What do I tell a manager who only quotes don’t hire?

Give them the event if there is one. If there is not, say you have heat without a scene and you are going to ask the last desk before you spend.

Where do I read the write-ups?

On CDLScan, before you hire. Keep the scene. Use the closer only to know how done the last carrier was.