Charging detention is easy. Getting paid for it is where most fleets lose. According to ATRI's 2023 detention research, 94.5% of trucking companies charge detention fees, yet fewer than half of those invoices get paid, a gap ATRI puts at $3.6 billion a year in direct costs.
The money is rarely lost because a broker had a good reason to refuse. It is lost because the claim was late, thin on proof, or nobody followed up. Here is the process that fixes all three.
1. Know your terms before the truck arrives
Detention is a contract term, not a law. What you can collect depends on the rate confirmation for that load. Before dispatch, pull three numbers from the rate con:
- Free time: usually two hours at shipper and receiver.
- Rate: per hour after free time, often billed in 15-minute or hourly increments.
- Notice requirement: how soon you must tell the broker the truck is being held, and how (email, portal, phone).
If the rate con says nothing about detention, ask for it in writing before you accept the load. A verbal "we pay detention" is the weakest position you can be in.
2. Capture the clock at the dock, not from memory
Your claim lives or dies on two timestamps: arrival and departure. The strongest sources are the ones neither side typed by hand:
- ELD or GPS geofence arrival and departure times
- The in and out times written on the signed bill of lading
- Check-in records or gate tickets from the facility
Driver texts and dispatch notes help, but they should support the ELD record, not replace it. See what evidence a detention claim needs for the full checklist.
3. Send the detention notice inside the window
Most rate cons require notice once free time is about to run out or within a set number of hours. Send it by email so you have a timestamped record, and keep it short: load number, facility, arrival time, and a line saying the truck is now on detention per the rate con. Missing this step is the most common technicality brokers use to deny a claim. We cover it in detail in detention notice windows.
4. File a complete claim the same day
A claim that arrives a week later, with the BOL "to follow," invites delay. File as soon as the truck departs, with everything attached:
- Load and rate con numbers, and the detention terms quoted
- Arrival, departure, total dwell, free time, and billable time
- The amount due and how you calculated it
- Signed BOL, ELD excerpt, and a copy of your detention notice
Our detention invoice template shows a full worked example you can copy.
5. Follow up on a schedule, not when you remember
Unpaid detention usually is not refused. It just sits. A simple cadence works: a polite check-in around day 7, a firmer reminder around day 14 that re-attaches the evidence, and a final request around day 30 asking for payment or a written reason. Ready-to-send wording is in our follow-up email templates.
6. Track results by broker
After a few months you will see which brokers pay promptly, which pay after one reminder, and which never pay. That is pricing information. Factor slow-paying brokers' detention risk into your rates, or move capacity to brokers who honor their terms.
The short version
Know the terms, prove the time, notify on time, file complete, follow up on a schedule. None of it is hard. It is just work that nobody in a small fleet office has time to do consistently, which is exactly why so much detention goes unpaid.
Source: ATRI's 2023 driver detention study, as reported by SupplyChain247.