Rate confirmation terms checker
What does your detention clause actually say?
Detention is decided by the contract, not the evidence. Paste the accessorial language and see what is stated, what is missing, and which clause is the one that stops you collecting.
Paste the accessorial section
Just the detention and accessorial language — you do not need the whole document, and it is better if you do not paste rates or customer names you would rather not have on screen.
This runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you paste is sent anywhere, stored, or seen by us — close the tab and it is gone.
What it says
Paste a clause and the terms that decide whether detention is collectable appear here.
This matches wording, not meaning. It will miss a clause phrased a way it doesn’t recognise, and a master agreement can carry terms your rate confirmation is silent on. Treat it as a checklist for reading the document, not a replacement for reading it — and it is not legal advice.
The terms that decide whether you get paid
There are not many, and they are the same every time. Reading a rate confirmation for these specific things is a ten-minute job the first time and the thing nobody does on load two hundred.
- The notice requirement. The one that kills most claims. Agreements commonly require the broker to be told at or before the charge is incurred and treat silence as forfeiting it — and it cannot be given retroactively.
- When the clock starts. Arrival, gate, check-in and dock assignment can be hours apart. Where it is unnamed, expect the latest to be applied.
- The cap. Not the rate. Published schedules cap at about six hours, which is also the layover day rate, so the cap decides what a long day is worth.
- “At broker discretion” and shipper-contingent payment. Either one means there was never an enforceable claim. Worth catching before you accept the load rather than after you have sat for six hours.
Read next
Free Time by Freight Type and Region
Standard free time by freight type and region, with clock start triggers, billing increments and caps. Your rate confirmation overrides every convention here.
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.
Once the terms are right, write the notice
Turn the times and the terms into the two documents that get detention paid — the notice you send during the wait, and the claim you send after.
Good terms only pay if somebody notices the truck is sitting.
DwellWatch reads the ELD you already run and catches the hold as it happens, so the notice goes out inside the window the clause requires. Start with a free 30-day audit of what detention has already cost you.