Detention Pay: How Owner-Operators Actually Get It

5 min read · Free guide from Southeast Freight Dispatch

Detention is the most stolen money in trucking. The facility wastes your day, the broker shrugs, and you eat it. Here's the system that actually gets detention paid.

Step 1: Know what you're owed

Your rate confirmation is the contract. Read the detention terms before pickup: how much free time (usually 2 hours), what the hourly rate is, and whether layover is separate. No terms on the con? Negotiate them before you accept the load — after is too late.

Step 2: Document like a lawyer

• Arrival timestamp: check-call log, ELD/GPS ping, or a timestamped photo at the gate.
• In/out times: have the guard or clerk write times on the BOL. Ask politely, every time.
• Photos: the facility, the dock door, the signed BOL with times.

Step 3: Ask the same day

Email the broker the day it happens with the evidence attached: arrival time, departure time, BOL, and the rate-con clause. Same-day claims get paid. Week-old claims get "we'll look into it."

Step 4: Escalate calmly

Polite email → broker's AP manager → your factoring company's collections help → formal demand with a deadline. Keep everything in writing. Phone promises don't exist.

Step 5: Remember

Log the facility's real wait time. Next time that facility comes up, the wait gets priced into the rate — or you pass. Facilities that burn drivers don't deserve cheap trucks.

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