Five reference questions that beat 'rehireable?'

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 33.5% mention an abandoned truck. 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. A lot of those same desks, on a recorded line, will still answer a different question: is the driver rehireable.

That box is a filter for HR. It is a poor filter for a truck sitting at a stop.

This is a call playbook, not a legal memo. What a previous employer will say is their policy and their counsel’s problem. If you need a rule, talk to yours. What I can tell you is what the write-ups keep repeating, and which questions actually pull that language out of a living person.

Why “rehireable” fails

Rehireable is a policy output. Left the truck is an event. Those can diverge. A carrier can mark someone not rehireable for a late attitude problem and never mention the unit. A carrier can mark someone rehireable because the lawyer said to confirm dates only, then go write that the driver abandoned the equipment.

Verdict language in the reviews — the author’s warning to the next employer — is not the event either. I do not ask a reference to endorse a verdict. I ask them to locate a truck, a ticket, a last day, a phone. The incident language is physical: left the truck, dropped the truck, abandoned the equipment, went home, never showed, stopped answering. That is the lexicon counted in the phrasing for this category. How we separate incident from verdict is on the methodology page.

Official reports will not do this work for you. PSP holds crashes and inspections. An MVR holds license events. The Clearinghouse holds program events. Previous-employer forms often hold dates and a box. The useful sentence is the one people say when you stop offering them a box.

The share of reviews mentioning an abandoned truck rose from 18.8% in 2018 to 40.4% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. The call did not get easier as the write-ups got more common.

Five questions, in this order

1. When did they start, and when did they last dispatch?

Dates first, because a short stint is the skeleton of both a walk-off and a no-show. If they never dispatched, you are in onboarding. If they dispatched and the last day is a Tuesday in the middle of a run, you are in operations. Do not skip this to be polite.

2. Where was the last truck left, and who recovered it?

This is the question the box cannot absorb. People who resigned at the yard can usually name the yard. People who walked often skip the location, or they talk about home time, or they say they “don’t recall.” You are not trying to trap them. You are trying to hear whether a recovery happened. Loaded-trailer language — under load, walked off a loaded trailer — belongs here. It sits in 11.6% of abandonment reviews and it changes the recovery.

3. Did they arrive for orientation, and did anyone buy them a ticket?

Different population. Only 1.2% of abandonment reviews also mention a no-show, far below chance. If you only ask about the truck, you will miss the empty chair. Paid travel with no arrival is in 6.0% of all reviews; 27.5% of those also mention a no-show. Ask the ticket question on every file that requested travel, not only on walk-off suspicions. The split is in two failure populations that barely overlap.

4. When did they last answer the phone, and who was trying to reach them?

Going unreachable sits in 8.4% of abandonment reviews and in 15.6% of paid-travel reviews. Silence is often the last step you hear about, not the first thing that happened. If the reference can name the day the phone died, you have a timeline. If they jump to a verdict, bring them back to a day.

5. What will your write-up say if the next recruiter looks the name up?

Not “would you rehire.” Not “any safety issues.” The write-up question invites the sentence they already typed, or the sentence they wish they had typed. If they hesitate, that is information. If they say “we only confirm dates,” thank them and go read what other carriers wrote. Confirming dates is a policy. It is not a clearance.

I would not ask “were they a good driver.” I would not ask “any red flags.” Both invite a mood. Mood is verdict language. You already know how that sounds, and it is not a fact about the driver.

What to do before and after the call

Look the name up first. The call is cheaper when you already know whether previous carriers used left-the-truck or never-showed. Asking a reference to contradict a write-up you have not read is how you waste the only live conversation you will get.

Ask the candidate the same five questions before you dial. People who resigned cleanly can usually walk the last two exits. People who walked often sand off the location. A mismatch between their story and the last desk is the point of the call, not a surprise at the end of it.

If the last carrier will only confirm dates, that is not a pass. It is a reason to read the rest of the name. Check it on CDLScan before you buy a ticket or assign a truck. It takes less than a minute. The words you want on the call are already sitting there more often than the box will admit.

This is not legal advice. It is a way to stop letting a yes/no field do a sentence’s job.

Frequently asked questions

Is “eligible for rehire” useless?

It is useful as policy and weak as an event. A box can disagree with a write-up about a left truck. Ask where the truck was. Keep the box as a extra, not as the screen.

Can I record these answers as a safety history?

That is a question for your counsel and your process, not for this page. I am talking about what to ask so you hear the event. What you store is a different job.

What if they refuse to say anything but dates?

Thank them. Then read what other carriers already wrote about the name. A dates-only policy is common. It is not a substitute for the sentence.

Why ask about a ticket on an abandonment call?

Because the empty chair and the walk-off barely overlap. One question set will not catch both. The ticket question is cheap and it belongs on any file that asked you to pay travel.

Should I read the reviews before or after I call?

Before. You want to know whether the language is already on the record so you can ask about a location, not about a vibe.

Do official reports replace this call?

No. PSP, MVR, and the Clearinghouse hold filings. An abandoned truck and a unused flight are usually not filings. Keep the reports. Add the questions.

Where do I look the name up?

On CDLScan, before the call and before the spend. The physical language — left the truck, never showed, stopped answering — is already written down. Use the call to see if the last desk will say it out loud.