Logbook trouble often sits with equipment that never returns

When a previous carrier writes about logbook and hours problems, the useful next question is not only whether logs were disconnected. It is whether a fuel card or a truck never came back in the same file. Those two sit together far more often than chance. Treat that pairing as one screen before you issue either, not as two unrelated compliance complaints.

Among the reviews carriers left on CDLScan, 4.6% mention logbook and hours problems. 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.

Inside that slice, 7.4% also mention equipment or a fuel card that never returned. Read the denominator before you use the number. It is 7.4% of logbook reviews, not 7.4% of all reviews, and not 7.4% of equipment-return reviews. Flip the pair and the share changes: 9.0% of equipment-return reviews also mention logbook and hours problems. Same overlap, two bases.

That pairing is not random. Equipment or a fuel card never returned is 3.7% of all reviews. If logbook problems and a missing card showed up together only by chance, you would expect about 3.7% of logbook reviews to also mention equipment that never came back. The observed share is 7.4% — about 2.0 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier. It is not a probability that the next person you issue a card to will disconnect an ELD.

Logs, then the card

The write-ups talk about a log book, a disconnected ELD, an ELD device, hos rules, how to use the ELD, a fuel card, return truck, return equipment, left equipment, refused return, didn’t return, abandoned truck, left truck, sometimes a cash advance in the same paragraph. That is the incident register.

Stay away and waste your time are a different register. Those are the author’s recommendation to the next recruiter, not a description of what the driver did. In 32.7% of logbook reviews the carrier also writes a verdict. In 28.5% of equipment-return reviews they do the same. That is a fact about how these reviews end, not a fact about the driver. Read the scene. Do not hire off the temperature of the last sentence.

From the logbook side, the louder companions dwarf this pair. An abandoned truck sits in 36.2% of logbook reviews. Aggression or threats sit in 22.3%. A crash or damage sits in 21.3%. Late or missed deliveries sit in 17.6%. Theft sits in 15.3%. Going unreachable sits in 9.5%. The missing card is not the most common companion. It is the one that turns a hours complaint into an asset problem.

From the other side, 36.6% of equipment-return reviews also mention an abandoned truck. Theft sits in 20.6%. Aggression sits in 16.2%. A crash or damage sits in 14.4%. Late deliveries sit in 11.4%. Always name which base you are standing on.

I keep the card next to the logs because the packet you already buy is built for hours and inspections, not for a fuel card that never came back. A disconnected ELD can leak into a filing. A missing card usually cannot. The logbook trend itself is in logbook mentions that are falling, not gone. The equipment side is in a fuel card that never comes back. Theft next to a missing card is a separate pairing; that is theft and a missing fuel card.

The share of reviews mentioning logbook and hours problems ran 5.0% in 2018, 5.8% in 2019, 6.5% in 2020, 5.5% in 2021, 5.5% in 2022, 4.6% in 2023, 4.3% in 2024, and 3.7% in 2025. I stop that line at 2025. 2026 is still open. The completed series is down, not gone.

Equipment-return mentions ran 2.3% in 2018, 1.6% in 2019, 3.2% in 2020, 2.6% in 2021, 3.8% in 2022, 4.5% in 2023, 4.5% in 2024, and 3.8% in 2025. The logbook line eased. The missing-card line did not. How these shares are counted is on the methodology page. Compare percentages inside each year, not year totals.

What the pairing is not

It is not proof that every logbook mention is a missing fuel card. Most logbook reviews do not also mention equipment that never returned. 7.4% is a heavy overlap relative to chance, not a majority.

It is also not a CSA score by itself. Logbook and hours problems in these write-ups are an employment complaint: disconnected ELD, log book, hos rules. A recorded crash can sit next to them — 21.3% of logbook reviews also mention accident or damage — and that part can show up if it was filed. The fuel card that never came back usually cannot.

I would not read the last sentence of these reviews as the finding. Carriers reach for stay away. That is their recommendation to the next desk, not a category of behavior.

Why the packet you already buy stays quiet

PSP, an MVR, and the Clearinghouse hold what someone filed: a roadside inspection, a recorded crash, a failed test, a license action. A disconnected ELD can leak into that packet if someone actually falsified logs or took an inspection. A fuel card that never returned is an accounts-payable and asset problem. It is not a query result.

Previous-employer forms are not much better. Eligible for rehire can come back blank while the same desk will later write that the driver disconnected the ELD and never returned the card. The behavior lives in carrier-to-carrier memory. Most of that memory never becomes a query result.

A clean packet on Monday morning does not tell you whether Friday’s fuel card is still in the truck. Those are different claims.

I am not going to pretend this is an independent study. CDLScan is the source, and I write from the data they share. Logbook mentions are uncommon enough in what carriers bother to write down, a missing card rides along far above chance, and the packet you already run is designed for hours, not for the asset.

What was visible before you issued the card

The pattern I’d watch for is a previous carrier who already used log book, disconnected ELD, fuel card, or didn’t return, plus a hole between two recent jobs. Those words are not a violation code. They are a reason to look the name up before you issue a card or a unit.

Typical sequence, built from how these reviews cluster, not from one person’s file: they start. The ELD gets disconnected or the logs look wrong. Then the truck does not come back, or the fuel card does not. Sometimes a cash advance sits in the same week. Sometimes they go home and refuse to return equipment. People who left cleanly can usually tell you where the unit is and whether the card was turned in. People who are about to walk often skip the asset and jump to home time.

None of that is a reason to treat every logbook mention as a theft. It is a reason to run the name before you issue either.

What to do before you issue either

Look the name up in what previous carriers already wrote. If you see logbook problems and a fuel card that never returned in the same history, treat the first week as a supervised start, not as a full issue of cards and keys.

Ask how they ran logs at the last carrier, whether equipment was returned, and what that desk will say about the card. Then make the call. Five open questions beat a rehire box.

If you already issued a card, freeze the next unit until someone has looked. Check the name on CDLScan first. It takes less than a minute, and it is where that pairing actually sits.

Frequently asked questions

Does 7.4% mean a logbook mention usually comes with a missing card?

No. 7.4% is the share of logbook reviews that also mention equipment or a fuel card that never returned, among reviews carriers left on CDLScan. Most logbook write-ups do not include that companion. The pairing is far above chance. It is not a majority.

Why is the other share 9.0%?

Because the base changed. 9.0% of equipment-return reviews also mention logbook and hours problems. Same overlap, counted from the other side. Always name the denominator.

What does lift 2.0 mean here?

Equipment or a fuel card never returned is 3.7% of all reviews. Seeing it in 7.4% of logbook reviews is about 2.0 times the chance rate. Lift is that multiplier, not the odds on your next issue.

Will PSP or an MVR warn me?

Sometimes about the hours, if something was filed. Not about the card. Those reports hold inspections, recorded crashes, and license events. A fuel card that never came back is usually not filed there.

Is this the same problem as theft?

Nearby, not the same. Theft sits in 15.3% of logbook reviews and in 20.6% of equipment-return reviews. Screen the money games separately. This pair is logs plus an asset that did not come back.

What should I ask before I issue a fuel card?

How they ran logs at the last carrier, whether equipment was returned, and what that desk will say about the card. Then read the write-ups.

Where do I check the name?

On CDLScan, before you issue the card. Previous carriers already wrote this pairing down. You should read it while the asset is still yours.