Opinion on damage to truck

actually, ya know, we only have that one picture to make comments on.

but now, i am thinking that more and more, i am seeing yellow painted parking lot wheel stops. (curbing).

now, if that is another scenario to look at, the driver (the o/p's kid), could have run up and over such a curbing maybe sideways (at an angle) and ripped up the underside.

just as easily as a p&d driver could do that, in a customers parking lot

but still, he was driving it at the time, and did not take notice of it prior, in a pre-trip, then a call to his company, to cover his butt.

 

yeah, that's why we need more.

but i am suspecting under the front section between the radiator support and oil pan, close to either side's steer

 

If I was in your son's position, I would have called it in the moment I saw it. I am going off of that your son is being completely honest that he didn't hit anything and found the damage on the post trip. So whoever did the damage almost certainly knows they caused the damage. If you sit in a truck all day, you are well in tune with what sounds normal, and when you make contact with another object. You will literally hear it and feel sudden resistance.

It's entirely possible that the other driver is betting the barn that your son won't catch it, so that he can blame your son for the damage on their next P&D shift. Which is why he might as well get a head start and report it.

Best case scenario they will believe him. Bad case scenario they will believe him but still give him a letter and maybe ding him for the damage. Worst case scenario is that he doesn't report it and then they will fire him for an unreported accident. Damage is damage, it doesn't matter who caused it. He needs to call it in and send in photos.

 

Looks like a post or a guardrail maybe was involved. I hate to sound judgmental but a proper pretrip would have caught this and he could have documented it before he moved it. Unfortunately it is his baby now. Probably best to report it now and hope for the best. It is minor damage but some companies will fire you for not reporting this. Maybe the terminal he started his night in has cameras and could document the damage when he outbounded. Either way he needs to admit to it or admit that he didn’t do a proper pre trip. We all make mistakes and this a minor learnable mistake. I have worked for companies that you document everything to CYA.

 

yeah, you said earlier, that HE said he did a pre-trip

i call out his lie.

he did that.

no self respecting trucker does a pre-trip, as you said your son said he did, and misses that.

he's toast.