Freight Accessorial Charges Explained: How to Avoid Hidden Fees on Your Truckload Invoices

You negotiated a solid rate. The load moved. Then the invoice landed — and it was $400 higher than expected.

If that sounds familiar, you've been hit by accessorial charges. They're one of the most common sources of friction between shippers and carriers, and they catch even experienced logistics managers off guard. The problem usually isn't bad faith — it's a lack of clarity upfront about what triggers additional fees and who's responsible for them.

This guide breaks down the most common accessorial charges on truckload shipments, explains what causes them, and gives you concrete steps to reduce or eliminate them from your freight program.

What Are Accessorial Charges?

Accessorial charges are fees added to a base freight rate to cover services, delays, or conditions that go beyond a standard point-to-point pickup and delivery. The base rate covers the truck, the driver, and the miles. Accessorials cover everything else.

They're not arbitrary. Most accessorial charges exist because a carrier or driver incurred a real cost — waiting time, extra labor, special equipment, or an unplanned stop — that wasn't priced into the original quote. The issue is that shippers often don't know a charge is possible until it shows up on the invoice.

The Most Common Truckload Accessorial Charges

Detention

Detention is the most frequently disputed accessorial charge in truckload freight.

It's triggered when a driver arrives at a pickup or delivery location and cannot complete loading or unloading within the agreed-upon free time — typically two hours from the scheduled appointment. After that window closes, detention fees begin accruing, often at $50–$100 per hour depending on the carrier and lane.

Detention isn't just a billing issue. It throws off a driver's hours of service clock, disrupts downstream deliveries, and costs carriers real money in lost productivity. Carriers take it seriously, and so should shippers.

Common causes of detention:

• Dock congestion or understaffing
• Shipment not ready at pickup time
• Paperwork delays at the gate
• Early or late carrier arrivals that aren't coordinated with the facility

Layover

A layover charge applies when a driver arrives for a pickup or delivery appointment and cannot complete the load within the same business day — typically because the facility is closed, the freight isn't ready, or an appointment was rescheduled at the last minute. Layover fees can range from $200 to $500 or more per occurrence and may include hotel and per diem reimbursement for the driver.

Truck Ordered Not Used (TONU)

If a carrier dispatches a truck to your facility and the load is canceled after the driver is already en route or on-site, a TONU charge applies. This fee compensates the carrier for the empty miles, driver time, and lost opportunity cost. TONU fees typically range from $150 to $400 and are justified — the carrier committed real resources to your shipment.

Lumper / Load Assist

When a driver is expected to hand-bomb freight (manually load or unload) and that expectation wasn't established in the original agreement, a lumper charge covers the cost of hired loading labor or compensates the driver for time and effort beyond the scope of standard service.

For flatbed freight specifically, tarping, strapping, and securement labor may generate similar fees if they weren't accounted for in the quote.

Fuel Surcharge

Fuel surcharges (FSC) aren't hidden — they're standard — but they confuse shippers who receive quotes without them included. Most carriers publish fuel surcharge tables tied to the Department of Energy's weekly retail diesel index. The surcharge adjusts weekly and is added to the linehaul rate. Always confirm whether a quoted rate is all-in or linehaul-only before comparing carriers.

Driver Assist / Inside Delivery

If your delivery requires the driver to move freight beyond the trailer tailgate — into a warehouse, up a loading dock that isn't level, or into a facility without a forklift — a driver assist charge will apply. This is especially common in construction and building materials deliveries where job site conditions vary widely.

Redelivery

If a driver attempts delivery at the scheduled time and cannot complete it — because the facility is closed, no one is available to sign, or access is restricted — a redelivery fee covers the cost of the second attempt.

Accessorial Charges at a Glance

How to Reduce Accessorial Charges on Your Freight Program

1. Communicate Facility Requirements Upfront

Before the truck ever rolls, your carrier needs to know exactly what to expect at your origin and destination. That means:

• Dock vs. drop yard vs. live unload
• Appointment windows and hard cutoff times
• Forklift availability and weight limits
• Lumper expectations — who pays, who arranges
• Tarp or securement requirements for flatbed loads
• Gate hours, access restrictions, and security check-in procedures

Carriers like MDX Line use transportation management systems — specifically Alvys TMS — to capture load-level instructions and push them directly to dispatch and drivers before departure. That kind of structured data flow reduces the chance a driver shows up unprepared for what's waiting on the other end.

2. Protect Your Appointment Windows

Detention and layover charges almost always trace back to appointment management failures. Build internal accountability around:

• Staging freight before the truck arrives, not after
• Staffing the dock for the full appointment window
• Communicating early if a load will be delayed or canceled — not an hour before the truck is due

Carriers using real-time GPS telematics — MDX Line runs Samsara across its entire fleet — can give shippers accurate ETAs well in advance of arrival. Use that visibility. If you know a driver is 45 minutes out and your dock isn't ready, you have time to fix it.

3. Build Accessorials Into Your Freight Budget

Some charges aren't preventable — fuel surcharges, for example, fluctuate every week. Others, like layovers in markets with limited appointment availability, happen occasionally no matter how well you plan. Build a realistic accessorial budget line into your freight program rather than treating every charge as a billing error.

Track which facilities, lanes, or carriers generate the most accessorial charges over time. That data tells you where your operational gaps are — and where to focus process improvement.

4. Put Accessorial Rates in Writing Before You Ship

Never let accessorial rates be an afterthought. Before confirming a load, ask your carrier for their published accessorial schedule and get agreement on rates in writing — in the rate confirmation, the contract, or the load tender. Disputes are much easier to avoid when both parties agreed to the numbers before the truck moved.

5. Audit Your Invoices Systematically

Invoice auditing is one of the fastest ways to catch billing errors and identify patterns in accessorial spend. If you're managing freight at volume, consider building a quarterly accessorial review into your carrier scorecard process. Look at:

• Which charges are recurring on the same lanes or facilities
• Whether detention is always at the same dock — that's a facility problem, not a carrier problem
• Whether TONU charges cluster around a specific scheduling process that needs to be tightened

The Bottom Line

Accessorial charges don't have to be a source of constant friction between shippers and carriers. Most of them are preventable with better communication, tighter facility operations, and proactive planning. The ones that aren't preventable are manageable — if you know what to expect and budget for them properly.

The carriers worth working with are the ones who will tell you about accessorial policies before the truck moves, not explain them after the invoice is disputed.

At MDX Line, we believe in transparent pricing and upfront communication about what's included — and what isn't — in every load. Our team runs 24/7 dispatch supported by Alvys TMS, Samsara GPS, and our proprietary Centrix AI platform, which gives both our team and our shipping partners real-time visibility into load status, appointment adherence, and potential issues before they become accessorial charges. If you're tired of invoice surprises, let's talk about what a better carrier relationship looks like. Call us at (888) 249-8984, email main@mdxline.com, or visit mdxline.com to get started.