Detention claim builder
The notice, and then the claim.
Two documents get detention paid, and they are sent at different times. This writes both from one set of details.
The stop
Send this while the truck is still there, before free time runs out. Most agreements make it a condition of collecting, and it is the only part of a claim you cannot produce later.
Nothing here is sent anywhere. This builds text for you to send from your own mailbox, and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Why the notice comes first
Broker-carrier agreements commonly require the carrier to advise at or before the charge is incurred, and treat failure to do so as forfeiting the right to collect. Not a set number of minutes’ warning — simply: tell them before the clock starts.
Four of the five documents behind a detention claim can be rebuilt after delivery. That one cannot. A carrier with perfect paperwork and no notice is in a worse position than one with an annotated, unsigned bill of lading who sent a message at the two-hour mark.
So the hard part of this was never the wording. It is that somebody has to notice the truck is still sitting, while it is still sitting, on every load. That is the part that does not scale by hand — which is the honest reason this tool exists and also the honest reason it is not enough.
Before you send it
What Documentation Do You Need to Get Detention Paid?
Five documents make a detention claim, and four can be rebuilt after the fact. Here’s what brokers accept, what gets denied, and the piece you can’t recover.
What to Do When a Broker Denies Your Detention Claim
A denied detention claim is usually administrative, not final. Here’s how to sort the denial, escalate past dispatch, and what leverage you actually have.
Check the arithmetic on its own
Work out what a single stop was worth — billable hours and the amount, with the arithmetic shown.
Doing this on every load is the part that breaks down.
DwellWatch catches the hold from the ELD you already run, tells the brokers you pick while the truck is still there, and has the packet built before anyone asks. Start with a free 30-day audit of what detention has already cost you.
No credit card. Takes about two minutes to connect.