Glossary

Accessorial charges

Accessorial charges are the fees a carrier bills on top of the base line-haul rate for work beyond a straightforward pickup and delivery. They cover the things that make one load more costly to run than another.

Common examples

The usual accessorials include detention for time held at a dock, layover when a driver is stuck overnight, a lumper fee when a third party is paid to load or unload, deadhead miles driven empty to reach a pickup, extra-stop charges for multi-stop loads, and fees for services like liftgate, inside delivery, or a truck-order-not-used when a booked load falls through. Which ones apply, and at what rate, are set on the rate confirmation and the broker-carrier agreement, not by any federal schedule.

Why they matter

Accessorials are where a quoted rate and a final invoice diverge, so they are a frequent source of payment disputes and a place where documentation carries the argument. Timestamps, signed paperwork, and receipts for third-party charges are what substantiate them. They are purely commercial terms between the parties to a load and do not appear on a carrier's federal record.

Where disputes start

Because accessorials are agreed rather than fixed by rule, they are the line items most often contested. A carrier bills two hours of detention and a lumper receipt; the broker's records show a different arrival time or no authorization for the lumper. The disagreement is usually not about whether the work happened but about what was documented and pre-approved.

A concrete case

A load quoted at a flat line-haul rate comes back with an invoice adding detention, a lumper fee, and an extra-stop charge, lifting the total by several hundred dollars. Whether those additions are payable comes down to the terms on the rate confirmation and the agreement, and to the timestamps and receipts behind each one. Accessorials are commercial terms between the parties to a load and do not appear on a carrier's federal record.

Related terms