Damage. Who pays?

I might argue that a poorly secured load of scrap going slow in the middle lane is not perfectly fine and legal.

 

Hopefully he got stopped and fined.

 

What you are asking is a point of personal honor. No one can make that call for you. You are not an employee. You are a fellow owner operator. What happened is what is called Road Hazard. Road Hazard is not covered normally by insurance. There for who pays is a matter of responsibly for whoever whats the tire replaced. You have no duty to replace the tire. As you do not have to care whether the truck ever runs again or not. So it comes down to this. What percentage of the load did you receive? I would split it that way or pay for it myself.

If you used your dads car growing up, did you bring it back with the tank full?

 

I see what most are saying honestly I do. But the owner of the car hauler hired the OP as a short term or part time employee to drive his truck because he wanted time off.
Just because the part time employee is also an owner operator doesn't make him less of an employee here.

It's a whole different matter if the OP had broke down and the owner of the damaged tire loaned him a truck to get the #### load off. But the way I read the post that isn't the case

 

I know that and that's why I said I hope he gets stopped and fined.

 

In the aftermath, it's a grey area as to who should pay
Which is why I now favor the 50/50
You two should've discussed the "what ifs" before you turned the key.
Imo