Accessorial charges in freight: what triggers each one, who pays, and how a carrier gets it paid

Freight accessorial charges are where a good load turns into a bad one, or a thin load turns into a fair one. Most guides list them for shippers who want to avoid them. This one is for carriers: for every common accessorial, what triggers it, who usually pays, where it has to be agreed, and the document that proves it. The rules are the same on every load. Get the term in writing before you book, keep the proof while it happens, and send both with the invoice.

The map below puts all of them on one load. Tap a block to see what triggers it, who pays, where it's agreed and what proves it. The amounts are examples, not market rates.

Accessorial charges freight carriers see most

Accessorials fall into three groups, and the group decides how the money is handled.

• Time charges: detention, layover and redelivery pay for time the truck is held or wasted.
• Service charges: liftgate, inside delivery, residential delivery, driver assist, stop-offs, tarping and reefer pre-cool pay for extra work or equipment.
• Pass-throughs: lumper fees, tolls and scale tickets return money the carrier spent on the load. They are reimbursements, not earnings.

TONU, truck order not used, sits apart: it pays for a truck dispatched to a load that was cancelled. Each group follows the same basic rule: no term, no pay; no proof, no pay.

Detention: the clock at the dock

Detention pays for time held at a shipper or receiver past the free time on the rate con, usually by the hour. It starts at check-in or at the appointment, depending on the wording, so read it before you accept. The biggest mistakes are not having a detention term at all, and not telling the broker before free time runs out. Our guide to what detention is in trucking covers the rules line by line.

Detention isn't a small problem. A U.S. DOT Office of Inspector General report estimated that detention reduces for-hire truckload driver earnings by $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion a year, and that each 15-minute increase in average dwell time raises the expected crash rate by 6.2 percent. Our page on truck detention statistics (coming soon) collects the research, with what each study can and can't tell you.

Sources: U.S. DOT OIG, 2018 (ST2018019), checked October 2026; U.S. DOT OIG, 2018 (ST2018019), checked October 2026 Based on limited data; the OIG notes industrywide detention data don't exist.

Facilities set their own rules too. Many publish a policy on appointments, late arrivals and wait times; our warehouse detention policy template (coming soon) shows how those policies are written, which helps when you read one.

Layover: when the delay costs a day

Layover pays when a shipper or receiver delay holds the truck overnight or into the next day. It's usually a flat amount per day rather than an hourly rate, and some rate cons cap how many days count. The trigger has to be the shipper or receiver, not the carrier running late. Our guide to layover pay in trucking explains how it's usually worded and how it differs from detention.

TONU: paid for a load that never moved

Truck order not used pays when a load is cancelled after the carrier was dispatched or arrived. The amount is usually flat and set on the rate con. What proves it is the timeline: when you were dispatched, when you arrived or how far you'd driven, and the cancellation message. See what TONU is in trucking for how to word the request.

Lumper fees: your money coming back

A lumper is outside labor that unloads, or sometimes loads, a truck at a warehouse. Federal law says that when a shipper or receiver requires that help, it must provide it or pay the carrier for the cost, and coercing a carrier to pay is unlawful. In practice, carriers often pay at the dock and are reimbursed, which is why the lumper line is a pass-through, not income. Our guide to the lumper covers who they are and how the arrangement works, and lumper fees covers payment methods, receipts and getting reimbursed.

Source: 49 U.S.C. 14103(a)-(b), checked October 2026 Not legal advice.

Some freight avoids the question altogether. On no-touch freight, the driver never handles the load, and a rate con that says so protects you from being asked to unload without pay.

Driver assist and unloading

Driver assist pays when the driver loads, unloads, counts or sorts freight. It needs to be agreed in advance, because a load booked as no-touch shouldn't turn into hand-unloading at the dock. If you're asked to help without a term, message the broker before you start and get the pay in writing.

Liftgate, inside and residential delivery

These are service charges common on LTL and final-mile freight. A liftgate charge applies when the delivery site has no dock and the freight comes down on a liftgate. Inside delivery pays for moving the freight past the dock door. Residential and limited-access charges cover homes, schools, construction sites and similar places where a truck can't simply back into a dock. Shippers should put them on the bill of lading before pickup; carriers should see them on the rate con before accepting.

Redelivery and stop-offs

Redelivery pays for a second attempt when the first delivery is refused or impossible, such as a closed receiver or a missed appointment the receiver caused. Stop-off pay covers each extra pickup or drop beyond the first pickup and final delivery. On multi-stop loads, stop pay is easy to underprice; the accessorial charges calculator lets you add up stop pay, detention and other lines on one load before you agree to it.

Tarping and reefer pre-cool

Open-deck freight that must be tarped earns tarp pay, usually a flat amount that depends on the tarp size. It takes time and effort and adds risk, so it belongs on the rate con. Reefer pre-cool pays for running the unit to set temperature before loading. Both need a record: photos of the tarped load, and the reefer's temperature download.

Accessorials by equipment type

The same rules apply to every truck, but each equipment type meets some accessorials more than others. In alphabetical order:

• Box truck (26 ft): liftgate, inside and residential delivery, stop-offs and driver assist on local and final-mile freight.
• Car hauler: TONU when a vehicle isn't ready, and wait time at dealers and auctions.
• Dry van: detention, lumper fees and stop-offs, especially on retail and grocery loads.
• Dump truck: wait time at pits and job sites, usually billed by the hour.
• Flatbed: tarp pay, detention while loading, and driver assist with securement.
• Hazmat and tanker: wash-out and wait time, with terms set out in detail on the rate con.
• Hotshot: TONU and layover on time-critical loads, plus detention when a site isn't ready.
• Oversize: layover while permits, escorts or travel windows line up, and wait time at the site.
• Power only: wait time when a preloaded trailer isn't ready, and TONU when it never is.
• Reefer: detention, pre-cool, lumper fees and fuel for the unit while waiting.
• Step deck: tarp pay, detention while loading, and stop-offs on multi-pick loads.

A worked example

These are EXAMPLE amounts. Your rate con sets the real ones.

Why accessorials go unpaid

When an accessorial claim fails, the reason is usually one of these:

1. No term. The rate con didn't include it, so there's nothing to enforce.
2. No notice. The broker learned about detention after the fact, with no chance to act.
3. No proof. The times aren't on a record the broker accepts, or the receipt is missing.
4. Late claim. The claim arrived weeks after delivery, past the broker's deadline.
5. Waiting on the shipper. Some brokers pay only after the shipper or receiver agrees.

The first four are in the carrier's hands. The fifth is a reason to check a broker's payment history before you book with them.

How an accessorial gets on the rate con

Every accessorial is easier to collect when it's written down before the truck rolls. On brokered freight, that means the rate confirmation. On direct freight, it's the carrier's contract or published tariff. When you negotiate a load, ask about each of these in the same call as the rate:

1. Free time at pickup and delivery, and when the clock starts.
2. Detention rate per hour, and any cap.
3. Layover amount per day.
4. TONU amount, and when it applies.
5. Lumper reimbursement and the receipt deadline.
6. Stop pay per extra stop.
7. Any service charges the load needs: tarp, liftgate, driver assist.

Then read the rate con before you sign it. If a term you agreed on the phone isn't written there, ask for a corrected rate con. That's also the moment to decide whether the load is worth it; at our desk, the carrier approves every load after seeing the full rate con.

What proves each accessorial

Proof is what turns a request into a claim. The best record is the one the broker already trusts: a gate slip, the receiver's check-in system, the in and out times written on the signed BOL or POD. Your ELD helps too. Message the broker when free time is running out, and keep that message. For each accessorial, attach the proof to the invoice in the same send.

Accessorials and the dispatch fee

Accessorial pay is earnings, so dispatch services often charge their percentage on it. Ours does, on accessorial pay actually collected, because getting it paid takes work: setting the terms, sending notices, filing claims and following up. Pass-through money never counts: lumper reimbursements, tolls and scale tickets are your own money coming back. If a dispatcher charges on reimbursements, that's a fee on your own cash.

Accessorials on the invoice

A clean invoice lists each accessorial as its own line, matching the rate con's wording, with reimbursements grouped apart and proof attached. Send it soon after delivery. Many brokers want accessorial claims within a set number of days, and details are easier to confirm while the load is fresh. Keep a copy of everything you send, with the date. If a broker short-pays, a dated packet showing the term, the times, the notice and the receipt is what you reply with, and it usually settles the question without an argument. If it doesn't, the same packet is what a factoring company or a payment dispute needs.

Freight accessorial charges from the shipper's side

Shippers see the same charges on their bills, and most of them can be avoided. Loading and unloading quickly, keeping appointments, telling the carrier about liftgate or residential needs before pickup, and having freight ready when the truck arrives all cut accessorials at the source. A shipper that does this gets better service and often better rates, because carriers price in the waiting they expect. We dispatch carriers and don't ship freight or quote rates, but the carriers we work with notice which docks run well.

How our desk handles accessorials

Accessorials are where carriers lose the most money without noticing. Our owner-operator dispatch desk asks for every term before you book, tracks free time while you're at the dock, sends the notices and files the claims with proof. You keep the decisions. Send an application to see how it works on your lanes.