Guide · getting paid
How to bill detention and actually collect it
Detention is the money carriers are owed most often and collect least often, and the reason is almost always the same: nothing was put in writing while the truck was still sitting at the dock. Here is the sequence that gets it paid.
1. Check the rate con before you roll
Detention is not a right, it is a term. Whatever the rate confirmation says is what you can collect, so find these four things before you accept the load:
- Free time. Two hours is the common figure. The clock usually starts at your appointment time, not at arrival - so arriving three hours early buys you nothing.
- The hourly rate, and whether it is per hour or per quarter hour.
- The cap. Many rate cons cap detention per day. If it is capped low, that changes whether the load is worth taking.
- Who has to be told, and when. This is the clause that kills most detention claims: notify the broker before free time expires, or there is nothing to bill.
If the rate con says nothing about detention at all, ask for it in writing before you take the load, not after you are sitting.
2. Notify them while you are still sitting
Send a message as free time runs out - not when you leave. Put it in writing even if you also call, because a phone call is not evidence. Keep it short and factual:
"Load 48812, arrived 08:55 for a 09:00 appointment, still not loaded at 11:00. Free time is up at 11:00 and detention starts now at $50/hr per the rate con. Please confirm."
Then send a second message when you are released, with the time. Two timestamped messages from the dock are worth more than any amount of arguing a month later.
3. Get the times on the paperwork
Ask the shipper or receiver to write arrival and departure times on the bill of lading and initial it. Plenty will refuse, and that is fine - get what you can:
- Times written and signed on the BOL is the strongest.
- A check-in or gate ticket with a timestamp is next best.
- Your own photographs of the trailer at the dock, with the phone's timestamp, plus the messages you sent, is the fallback - and it has settled plenty of claims.
Photograph every page before you pull out. Related: BOL vs POD.
4. Bill it as its own line
Never fold detention into the linehaul to make the invoice match the rate con. Accounts payable checks the linehaul against their system, and a number that does not match gets the whole invoice kicked back. Put it on its own line with the hours, the rate and the date:
Detention — 09/18, 3.0 hrs @ $50.00/hr — $150.00
The same goes for lumper fees, layover, extra stops, TONU and tarping. One line each, each tied to something the broker approved.
5. Attach the proof
Send the detention proof in the same packet as the invoice, the rate con and the signed POD - one PDF, one email. An accessorial that arrives in a separate email a week later gets handled by a different person, who does not have the load in front of them. Everything about sending it: how to invoice a freight broker.
The other accessorials, briefly
| Charge | What it is | What has to be attached |
|---|---|---|
| Lumper | The warehouse's unloading crew, paid at the dock | The lumper receipt. Always. No receipt, no reimbursement |
| Layover | A night held over because the dock could not take you | Written approval before you sit, plus the times |
| Extra stop | A pickup or drop the rate con did not include | The amended rate con, or an email approving it |
| TONU | Truck ordered, not used - the load cancelled after you accepted | The original rate con and the cancellation in writing |
| Tarping | Flatbed work beyond the straps | Whatever the rate con says; a photo of the tarped load helps |
| Reconsignment | Delivery address changed after pickup | The written instruction to divert, and the new miles |
The one rule
Get it approved in writing before you incur it, and attach the approval to the invoice. Every accessorial dispute comes down to the same question - who agreed to this, and when - and the carrier who can answer it in one forwarded email gets paid. The one who has to explain it over the phone usually gets talked down to half.
If it still is not paid: what to do when a broker won't pay.
Bill every hour
you actually sat.
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