Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Company Property Damage Documentation for Yards, Docks and Lots
When a truck clips a dock door, a gate, a light pole, or a parked trailer, Delator Claims Division documents the damage and the surrounding yard for the business that owns it, its carrier, or the party said to have caused it.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Damage to company property often happens on the company's own ground and is caused by someone else's vehicle: an inbound carrier backing to a dock, a vendor's box truck cutting a corner at the gate, a customer's car against a bollard. There is seldom a police report because it happened on private property. The business is left with a bent door track, a driver's name on a bill of lading, and a need to show what happened.
Delator documents the damaged item, the area around it and the path a vehicle would take to reach it. The investigator measures heights, widths and clearances, photographs paint transfer and scrape marks, and notes which cameras cover the area. Gate logs, bills of lading and camera recordings belong to the business and stay with it. The report identifies that they exist so the claim file is complete.
Typical requests from facilities and motor carriers
- An inbound carrier's trailer damages a dock door, leveler or building corner and the carrier disputes that its driver was involved.
- A perimeter fence, sliding gate or guard shack is struck overnight and the facility finds the damage at shift change.
- A parked company trailer or yard tractor is hit in a drop lot and the other vehicle has already left.
- A canopy, sign or light pole in a customer parking area is struck by a delivery vehicle taller than the posted clearance.
- A trucking company is told its driver caused damage at a shipper's facility and wants an independent look at the dock.
What the investigator photographs and measures
- Dock doors and levelers
- Door panels, tracks, seals, bumpers, leveler lips and dock locks, with damage heights measured from the pavement so they can be compared to a trailer.
- Gates, fencing and bollards
- Bent posts, displaced footings, torn fabric, gate operators and bollard covers, including the direction of lean and any pavement cracking at the base.
- Transfer and contact marks
- Paint transfer, rubber scuffs, scrape height and length, and broken lens or reflector fragments left at the point of contact.
- Yard layout and turning room
- Lane widths, dock apron depth, striping, trailer parking rows and obstructions, measured so a reviewer can judge the space available for a maneuver.
- Clearance and posted signs
- Posted clearance heights, speed and direction signs, and the measured height of canopies or overhangs compared with what the sign states.
- Camera coverage
- Position and apparent field of view of yard and dock cameras, noted so the business knows which recordings to pull from its own system.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Matching damage to a vehicle
The most common dispute in a yard strike is simple: the facility says a particular truck did it and the trucking company says the damage was already there. Physical evidence can help others resolve that. Fresh damage has bright metal, loose fragments and clean breaks. A scrape on a door frame sits at a measurable height. Paint transfer has a color. If the vehicle is still available, the same measurements and photographs can be taken on its bumper, trailer corner or mirror bracket.
Delator records both sets of observations and presents them together. It does not state that a given vehicle caused the damage. Weathering sets in within days, yard traffic grinds fragments into the pavement, and maintenance staff straighten a gate so the facility can be secured, so timing matters. If temporary repairs are unavoidable, photographs taken before the work and the damaged parts themselves, if kept, leave the evidence available for whoever evaluates the claim.
Private yards and the records the business already holds
Because these incidents occur on private property, the facility's own records often take the place of a police report. Gate check-in logs show which carriers were on site and when. Bills of lading carry driver names and trailer numbers. Dock scheduling systems show which door was assigned. Camera systems may have recorded the contact itself, though many overwrite on a short cycle. Delator's report lists each of these sources as the business describes them and does not take custody of them.
The documentation serves either side. A facility owner or its property carrier uses it to support a recovery from the responsible party. A motor carrier or its insurer uses it to evaluate a demand it has received. Either way the content is the same factual record. Where a carrier or self-insured business wants more, such as voluntary interviews with dock staff or the driver, that can be added as investigative work for that client.
On this assignment Delator field personnel record what is physically present: photographs, video, measurements and factual notes. They do not adjust, appraise or value the loss, do not determine coverage, cause or fault, and do not represent any party to the claim.
Delator Claims Division is not a law firm, an insurer or an engineering firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Common questions about this service
The damage was found hours later and nobody saw it happen. Is documentation still useful?
Yes. The investigator records the damage, contact marks, fragments and the camera positions that cover the area. Combined with the gate log and camera recordings the business holds, that record often narrows the time window and the vehicles that were on site. Delator reports what is observed and does not name a responsible party.
Can you also document the truck that hit our dock?
If the truck is still on site, or its owner agrees to make it available, yes. The investigator photographs and measures the relevant parts of the vehicle in the same way as the damaged property. Delator does not enter another company's yard or examine its vehicle without permission.
We need the gate working tonight. Can repairs go ahead?
That decision belongs to the business. An Emergency tier assignment places an investigator on site in 30 minutes to 4 hours, which in many cases allows the damage to be recorded before a repair crew starts. The investigator can also photograph removed parts if work has already begun.
Do you estimate what the repair will cost?
No. The report documents the damage and its dimensions. Repair pricing comes from the business's contractors, and the amount of any claim is worked out between the parties and their carriers. Delator does not value property or negotiate a recovery.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.