A rate confirmation is not a friendly receipt; it is a contract. It is the document that, once signed and the freight picked up, governs how much the carrier is paid, when payment lands, what counts as accessorial pay, and what the broker can deduct. Most disputes between carriers and brokers do not come from bad faith — they come from a rate con signed without reading the small clauses, then a surprise at invoice time when something assumed covered is not. Reading a rate con line by line takes ten minutes the first few times and three minutes once the habit is built. Skipping it costs real money over a year.
The two parts of any rate con
Every broker's rate confirmation has two functional sections, even when the layout differs. The first is the load-specific information: origin, destination, dates, weights, pieces, commodity, references, broker contact. The second is the contractual terms: payment terms, accessorial rates, deductions, claims handling, broker-carrier agreement reference. New carriers often read the first section carefully and skim the second. The traps live in the second.
The load specifics matter for execution. The terms matter for getting paid. Both have to be checked.
Verifying who you're hauling for
Before reading the rate, verify the broker. The rate con will list the broker's MC number — pulled up on FMCSA's Licensing and Insurance system, the carrier should confirm:
- The broker's authority is active
- They carry the broker bond or trust fund required by FMCSA
- The contact information on the rate con matches the FMCSA record
A small but persistent fraction of "brokers" sending out rate cons either have no active authority or have bonds that do not pay out in dispute. Double brokers — companies that book a load with a carrier under one MC and then re-broker it through another — are also a real problem, especially for new carriers without direct shipper relationships. If the rate con comes from a sender whose MC does not match the email domain, or whose authority looks too new or too small to be handling the freight, that is worth a pause and a phone call.
The phone call to verify is part of the process. The number to call is the one on the FMCSA record, not the number on the rate con — those should match, and if the broker cannot be reached at the number on file, that is a problem.
The dollar number and what it includes
The line that says "Rate: $X" is the all-in linehaul number unless the rate con explicitly breaks it out into base and FSC (fuel surcharge). Both formats are normal:
- All-in: total only, no FSC line
- Base + FSC: linehaul base plus a fuel surcharge line that together total the same number
The total is the same; the structure matters because some operating cost models track FSC separately. For tax and accounting purposes either format works, as long as the carrier is consistent in how income is recorded.
What the rate number includes — and just as important, what it does not:
- It always includes the linehaul move.
- It may or may not include tarping, lumpers, scale charges, or pallet exchanges. Look for separate lines or notes.
- It does not include detention beyond the listed free time.
- It does not include layover, TONU, or recovery if the freight has issues.
If a load needs a lumper, the lumper either gets reimbursed (with a receipt) or comes out of the linehaul — and which one applies depends on the line in the rate con. Do not assume.
Detention, layover, and TONU clauses
These are the three accessorial categories that catch carriers the most.
Detention is what the broker pays when the truck is held at the shipper or receiver beyond the allowed free time. The rate con specifies:
- Free time (typically two hours each at pickup and delivery)
- The detention rate (hourly or by quarter-hour)
- The maximum payable (often capped at a set number of hours per stop)
- Documentation required (usually time-stamped check-in and check-out on the BOL, or driver-attested signed-off times)
Carriers regularly get into detention disputes because the times did not get documented at the stop. The rate con tells you exactly what documentation the broker requires. If a stamped BOL is required and only a phone photo of the dock clock is available, payment may not come. Read this clause first.
Layover is what the broker pays when the freight is not ready or cannot be delivered on the scheduled day, requiring the truck to wait overnight or longer. Layover rates are set per day, and the rate con usually requires the broker to authorize the layover in writing before it accrues. A truck sitting on a Friday afternoon at a closed receiver who waited through the weekend without broker authorization may find the layover claim disputed.
TONU (Truck Order, Not Used) is what the broker pays when the load cancels after the truck has been dispatched but before pickup. The amount depends on how far the truck traveled toward the pickup. Some rate cons specify TONU conditions — typically requiring that the truck actually arrived at or near the pickup before cancellation. A load cancelled by phone before the truck moved may not trigger TONU.
The rate con language for all three matters more than the industry-average numbers. Read what this broker is committing to.
Payment terms and deductions
Broker payment terms range from quick pay (a few days, with a discount applied) to standard (typically 15-30 days) to extended (45-60 days for some larger shippers). The rate con specifies which applies. New carriers without factoring sometimes do not realize that a "Net 30" rate con means thirty days from receipt of accepted invoice and documents — meaning if paperwork is submitted late or there is a kickback on the documents, the clock effectively restarts.
Deductions to watch for in the terms section:
- Late delivery penalties. Some brokers reserve the right to deduct an hourly amount for late delivery without specified detention or weather exceptions.
- OS&D (Over, Short and Damaged) holdback. If there is a cargo claim, the broker may hold all or part of the rate pending claim resolution.
- Misroute or unauthorized stop deductions. If the driver makes an unauthorized stop or routes against instructions, some rate cons authorize deductions for added cost.
- Lumper non-reimbursement clause. If the rate con says lumpers are not reimbursable, the carrier pays them out of the linehaul.
- Quick-pay fees if quick pay is elected.
Broker-carrier agreement reference
Most rate cons reference a master broker-carrier agreement signed during the carrier's setup with that broker. That master agreement contains the longer-form terms — indemnification, claims handling, governing law, attorney's fees provisions — that the rate con itself does not repeat. A master agreement signed six months ago and not kept on file is a contract that cannot currently be read.
Keep a copy of every broker-carrier agreement signed. The terms vary meaningfully between brokers, and disputes are resolved against the language of that document, not against industry norms or what felt fair.
Honest caveat: not every broker will negotiate rate con terms
In theory, a rate con is a negotiable offer until signed. In practice, many brokers send rate cons as take-it-or-leave-it documents and the only adjustment offered is on the dollar amount. Requests to modify the detention clause, the deductions language, or the payment terms on a spot load typically get the response "this is our standard rate con, we cannot modify it." On contract freight and for established carrier-broker relationships, terms become more negotiable. For a new carrier in the spot market, the practical choice is whether to take the load under the terms as written, or pass. Knowing the terms before signing at least makes the choice an informed one — including knowing which brokers consistently have terms not worth operating under, and avoiding their loads in the future.
A rate confirmation read carefully takes minutes; a rate confirmation read carelessly can cost a week of revenue when a claim or detention dispute lands wrong. Building the habit of reading the terms section before signing — every time, every broker, every load — is one of the cheapest investments a new carrier can make in the first year of operation.
Talk to dispatch
A carrier who would rather have a dispatcher reading rate cons, vetting brokers, and routing only clean documents back for signature can hand the front-end of this work to Dispatch Rail. Talk to dispatch.