Detention and accessorial pay: how to document and bill it
Detention, layover, truck-order-not-used, lumper and other accessorial charges in trucking: what each one is, how to get it on the rate confirmation, what to record at the dock, and how to invoice it.
Accessorials are the charges on top of the linehaul for things the shipper or broker caused: waiting at a dock, a canceled load, an extra stop, a lumper at the receiver. They are real money, often the difference between a load that made sense and one that did not, and they are the easiest money in trucking to lose, because they are paid only when they were agreed in advance, documented at the time and billed with proof. This guide covers the common ones, what to write down and when, and how the invoice should look.
The common accessorials
Common accessorial charges and what triggers them
Charge
What it is
Typical structure
Detention
Waiting at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time
Hourly rate after a free period, often with a cap
Layover
Held overnight because loading or delivery slid to the next day
Flat amount per night
Truck order not used (TONU)
Load canceled after you committed or arrived
Flat amount, sometimes plus deadhead
Lumper
Third-party unloading at the receiver
Reimbursed at cost against a receipt
Extra stop
Try it on your own trucks
Every plan includes every feature. Start a 30-day free trial and set up your first load, driver and settlement.
None of these have a legal rate. They exist only if the rate confirmation or the broker’s carrier agreement says they do, at the amount it says. “Detention paid per broker policy” without the policy attached is a promise of nothing.
Step one: get it on the rate con
Before you sign, ask for the accessorials you care about to be written in: detention with the free time and the hourly rate, layover, TONU, lumper reimbursement, extra stops. Most brokers will add reasonable terms when asked at booking, and almost none pay them after the fact without a line to point to (see rate confirmation explained). If the broker refuses detention entirely on a load known for slow docks, that is information about the load.
Read the conditions too. Detention clauses commonly require that the driver arrived on time or within the appointment window, that the broker was notified before the free time ran out, and that the in and out times are on the BOL. Miss any of those and the clause does not pay.
What to ask for
Free time is the number to negotiate, not just the hourly rate. Two hours of free time at each end is a common starting point on dry van and reefer rate cons; the hourly rate after that should cover what an hour of your truck costs, which your cost per mile turns into a cost per hour once you divide the fixed costs by the hours the truck runs. Ask for detention to apply at both pickup and delivery, for the clock to run from the appointment time or the arrival time, whichever is later, and for no cap, or a cap that is at least a full day. For a load that delivers on a Friday to a receiver that may not unload until Monday, ask for the layover amount in writing before you accept.
On multi-stop loads, count the stops on the rate con against the stops on the shipper’s order. Extra stop pay is usually a flat amount for every stop beyond the first pickup and last delivery; a load quoted as “two stops” that turns out to be three on the BOL is a phone call before the driver leaves the first dock, not an argument on the invoice.
Step two: document at the dock
The driver is the only witness. The habit to build, on every load, whether or not a problem is expected:
Arrival time written on the BOL and signed or stamped by the shipper or receiver, and a photo of it. A timestamped photo of the truck at the gate or the check-in screen backs it up. The ELD’s location record shows the truck was there, but the signed paper is what the broker pays against.
Notify dispatch before the free time ends, and dispatch notifies the broker in writing, by email or through the broker’s tracking app, with the arrival time. Many rate cons make this notice a condition of payment.
Departure time on the BOL the same way, with a photo. Loaded and unloaded times, not just out of the gate.
Lumper receipt with the amount, the receiver’s name and the date, photographed before the driver leaves. If the lumper was paid with a broker-issued code, note the code on the load.
Anything unusual as a note on the load with the time: the receiver refused the load, the appointment was moved, the shipper was not ready, the driver was told to come back tomorrow.
A TONU needs its own proof: the signed rate con, the message canceling the load with its timestamp, and if the driver had already arrived, the arrival time. A layover needs the message from the shipper or broker moving the appointment to the next day.
Step three: bill it with the proof attached
Accessorials go on the same invoice as the linehaul, each on its own line with the reference the rate con uses (“Detention, 3 hrs @ $X after 2 hrs free, receiver”), with the BOL showing the times, the notice email and the lumper receipt attached. Some brokers issue an updated or adjusted rate confirmation with the accessorial added; if yours does, wait for it and invoice the adjusted total, because accounting will pay against the document in their system, not your line item.
If you factor, the factor advances on the invoice it receives; an accessorial added after the fact may need a separate invoice or a revised one, depending on the factor’s process. Ask once and follow it every time.
What the driver gets
Decide in the pay agreement, before the first load, which accessorials the driver shares in. Detention and layover are commonly passed to the driver in whole or in part, since the driver did the waiting; lumpers are a reimbursement, not pay, and go back to whoever paid them; TONU is often split. Whatever you choose, show each item as its own line on the settlement with the load it belongs to (see the settlement template), and make sure a lumper the driver paid out of pocket is reimbursed on the next settlement, not the one after the broker pays.
Refused freight
A receiver that refuses all or part of a load creates the most expensive accessorial of all, and the one with the least rules. The driver should not leave the dock without a note on the BOL of what was refused and why, a photo of the freight and, for a reefer, a photo of the temperature download or the set point. Then dispatch calls the broker before the truck moves, because the broker decides what happens next and pays for it: a redelivery, a return to the shipper, or disposal. Driving away with refused product and no instruction in writing turns a claim into your claim. Redelivery and return miles are billed as a new line on the same load, at a rate agreed on that call and confirmed by email.
When the broker does not pay
Send the signed rate con, the BOL with times, and the notice email to the broker’s accounts payable contact, and ask for the specific line.
If they cite a condition you did not meet, check the rate con. If you met it, say so with the document that proves it.
Keep the dispute separate from the linehaul; do not hold up the main invoice over the accessorial.
Record the outcome on the broker in your TMS. A broker that never pays detention gets priced accordingly next time, or not at all.
Doing it in freightline
On a load, the Extras section logs lumpers, tolls, scales, detention, layover and other costs with the receipt, and for lumpers records who paid (driver, broker or carrier) so a driver-paid lumper is reimbursed on the settlement automatically. When the broker sends an adjusted rate confirmation, attach it to the load and enter the new total; the invoice then shows the base rate and the adjustment on separate lines, and factoring and revenue use the adjusted total while driver pay stays on the base rate. The invoice goes out from the load with the rate con, BOL and POD attached (invoicing and factoring, how the invoice and packet work).
Log the next detention as it happens and send the invoice with the proof in the same email. The 30-day trial needs no card, and every plan includes every feature.
Common questions
How much detention can I charge?
Whatever the rate confirmation or carrier agreement says. There is no legal rate. Ask for the free time and hourly rate to be written in before you sign.
When does detention start?
After the free time stated on the rate con, counted from the arrival time, and usually only if the driver arrived on time and the broker was notified before the free time ran out.
What proof does a broker need for detention?
In and out times on the BOL signed or stamped by the facility, usually with the notice you sent before free time expired. Photos with timestamps and ELD location records support it.
Who pays the lumper?
Most rate cons say the broker reimburses lumpers against a receipt, or issues a payment code. If the driver pays cash, keep the receipt and bill it on the invoice as a reimbursement.
Should the driver get detention pay?
Common practice is to pass some or all of it to the driver, since the driver waited. Put it in the pay agreement and show it as its own line on the settlement.