How to Invoice a Broker for Detention Pay

Most detention money is lost after the waiting is over — in invoices that never get sent, get sent late, or get sent without the evidence that makes denial harder than payment. Brokers process hundreds of accessorial requests; the claims that pay are the ones that arrive complete, on time, and impossible to poke holes in.

This is the invoicing sequence from the moment you roll out of the gate to the money hitting your account, with a packet checklist you can reuse on every claim.

Step zero: confirm the claim is actually valid

Before building the invoice, re-read the detention terms on the rate confirmation and check your claim against them. Ten minutes here prevents the deflating experience of a technically-correct denial.

Detention terms exist in writing — a rate, free time, and ideally an increment. If the rate con is silent, your first move is a conversation with the broker, not an invoice.
You arrived on time for the scheduled appointment, or the facility was first-come-first-served and your agreement covers that case.
Notice was given the way the agreement requires — many rate cons require notifying the broker before or as free time expires. If you sent that message, it's now Exhibit A.
You're inside the claim submission window. Detention terms commonly include a deadline (sometimes measured in days from delivery); past it, merit may not matter.
Your times are backed by something dated that you didn't write after the fact: BOL in/out entries, timestamped messages, gate tickets, photos.

Building the invoice line

A detention invoice should read like a receipt, not an argument. Show the inputs and the arithmetic so the payer's AP clerk can verify it in thirty seconds without calling anyone.

Reference the load precisely: load/PRO number, rate confirmation number, pickup and delivery dates, and the facility where detention occurred.
State the timeline: check-in time, release time, total time at the facility.
Subtract the free time from the agreement and state the detention time that remains.
Apply the agreed billing increment — exact minutes, 15/30-minute blocks, or whole hours — and show the rounded figure you're billing.
Multiply by the contracted hourly rate and state the total, e.g. 'Detention: 3.5 hrs x $65/hr = $227.50.'
Add it as a separate line item (or a separate invoice, if the broker's process requires) — never bury it inside the linehaul number.

Tip Match the agreement's increment exactly. Billing 3 hours 10 minutes as '3.25 hours' under a 30-minute-block agreement gives AP a legitimate reason to reject the whole invoice and restart your clock.

The evidence packet

Attach the proof to the invoice the first time. An invoice that arrives with its evidence gets processed; one that triggers a 'please provide documentation' email gets aged.

Signed BOL or delivery receipt with in and out times written on it — the anchor document.
Screenshots of your timestamped messages: arrival notification, the detention-starting notice at free-time expiry, and the departure message.
Photos from the facility: sign-in sheet, gate or lumper ticket, check-in kiosk screen — anything with a time you didn't write yourself.
The rate confirmation page showing the detention terms you're billing under, highlighted.
ELD or GPS log excerpt as corroboration if the timeline is likely to be disputed — backup evidence, not the headline.

Combine everything into one PDF in a sensible order: invoice first, rate con terms second, timeline evidence after. One attachment, one story, no loose ends.

Submitting, following up, and escalating

Send to the right inbox: many brokers route accessorials through a carrier portal or a specific AP address, not your rep. Ask where detention claims go and use that channel — submitting to the wrong place doesn't stop the claim window.
Submit promptly — same day or next day after delivery beats the deadline and beats memory decay at the broker's end too.
Calendar a follow-up at 7 days if unacknowledged, then weekly, in writing, referencing the original submission date.
If denied, ask for the specific reason in writing. Denials citing a missing document are fixable; denials contradicting your evidence are worth a polite, evidence-quoting rebuttal to your rep and their manager.
If a valid documented claim goes unpaid, weigh the relationship against the amount: options carriers commonly use include involving their factoring company's collections process, disputing through the broker's carrier portal, or — as a last resort for unpaid amounts generally — pursuing the broker's surety bond. Processes and eligibility vary; for significant sums, get professional advice rather than winging it.

Tip Track outcomes per broker and per facility. A broker who denies clean claims twice is telling you how to price — or whether to haul — their next load.

Detention invoice packet (reuse every claim)

Rate con detention terms confirmed: rate, free time, increment, notice, deadline
Invoice line: load #, facility, in/out times, free time deducted, increment applied, math shown
Signed BOL with in/out times attached
Arrival message + detention notice + departure message screenshots
Facility photo evidence (sign-in, gate ticket, kiosk)
Rate con page with detention terms attached
Single combined PDF, sent to the broker's designated claims channel
Submission date logged + follow-up reminder set for day 7

Print this page or save it to your phone — the checklist works on paper.

Common questions

How long do brokers take to pay detention?

Commonly it rides the same terms as the load invoice — often 30 days, faster with quick-pay programs, and factoring changes the mechanics entirely. What reliably slows it down is an incomplete packet, so completeness is the lever you control.

Should I invoice the broker or the shipper?

Whoever contracted your truck — on a brokered load, that's the broker, under the rate confirmation's terms. The broker's recovery from the shipper is their problem, not a precondition for paying you, unless your agreement explicitly says otherwise (read for 'paid when paid' style language).

Separate invoice or a line on the load invoice?

Follow the broker's process — some want accessorials on the original invoice, others require a separate submission through a portal. When you have the choice, a separate clearly-labeled line item on the load invoice keeps everything tied to one payment.

The broker says the shipper disputes my times. Now what?

Ask what specific time the shipper claims and what their record is, then put your dated evidence against it: BOL entries, contemporaneous messages, photos, ELD data. A timeline you documented in the moment beats a facility's recollection in most disputes — which is exactly why the documentation habit exists.