Five plain-English guides to understanding what your freight invoices actually mean — and what to do when something is wrong.
Accessorial charges are fees added to a freight invoice on top of the base linehaul rate. They cover services beyond point-to-point transportation — liftgates, detention time, residential deliveries, redelivery attempts, and a dozen other situations that arise between pickup and delivery.
The problem is not that these charges exist. The problem is that they are frequently added without prior disclosure, applied at rates higher than industry standard, or triggered by conditions the shipper had no opportunity to address before the load moved. Accessorials account for the majority of disputed freight charges — and in most cases, the dispute succeeds.
When a shipper books a load, the broker or carrier is required to disclose all applicable accessorial charges as part of the quote. This disclosure requirement exists in standard freight contracts and is supported by 49 CFR Part 374 (freight billing accuracy regulations). A charge that was not disclosed at booking is a charge that can be disputed.
In practice, brokers often quote a "base rate" and list accessorials as a separate line or not at all. The invoice arrives with $150 in liftgate charges, $75 for a residential delivery fee, and a $200 redelivery charge — none of which appeared in the original quote. The shipper pays it because the invoice looks official and they don't know they have the right to push back.
The baseline rule: If a charge did not appear in your original quote or shipping contract, you have grounds to dispute it. The burden is on the carrier or broker to show the charge was disclosed before the load moved.
| Charge | Typical range | What triggers it | Dispute rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liftgate — delivery | $75–$150 | No loading dock at destination | High — often not disclosed upfront |
| Liftgate — pickup | $75–$125 | No loading dock at origin | High |
| Residential delivery | $75–$150 | Delivery address is residential | Medium — address was known at booking |
| Detention — wait time | $50–$75/hr after 2 hrs free | Driver waits beyond free time at pickup or delivery | High — often inflated |
| Redelivery | $75–$175 per attempt | Consignee unavailable, refused, or incorrect address | Medium |
| Inside delivery | $50–$200 | Freight must be moved beyond the threshold | High — rarely disclosed |
| Limited access | $75–$200 | Construction sites, schools, churches, military bases | High — broad definition applied liberally |
| Overlength | $30–$200 per piece | Items over 8 feet (varies by carrier) | Medium |
| Notification / appointment | $50–$100 | Consignee requires advance call before delivery | High — often charged without request |
| Hazmat handling | $25–$75 per shipment | Regulated materials on the load | Low — typically legitimate |
| Address correction | $15–$50 | Carrier corrects an address in transit | Medium — often applied for minor differences |
| Sort and segregate | $50–$150 | Mixed freight sorted at terminal | High — typically undisclosed |
Liftgate charges deserve special attention because they are the most frequently disputed accessorial and the one most often added without prior disclosure. A liftgate is a hydraulic platform on the back of a truck that lowers freight to ground level. If your delivery location does not have a loading dock, a liftgate is operationally necessary. The carrier knows this before the load moves. The shipper's address is in the booking. There is no legitimate reason a liftgate charge should appear on an invoice without having been disclosed in the quote — but it happens on the majority of dock-free deliveries.
Recovery rates: Undisclosed liftgate and inside delivery disputes succeed at roughly 70–80% when properly documented. Detention disputes succeed at 40–60% depending on driver log availability. Residential delivery disputes succeed less often because the address was typically known at booking — the argument is about disclosure, not legitimacy.
A freight invoice is deliberately structured to be difficult to read. Carriers and brokers benefit from opacity — if you can't parse the line items, you can't dispute them. Understanding the structure of an LTL invoice is the first step to catching what's wrong with it.
This guide walks through a typical LTL invoice field by field.
The carrier's internal tracking number for this shipment. Every freight invoice has one. It's used to reference the shipment in disputes, claims, and correspondence with the carrier. If you're disputing a charge, always include the PRO number.
The BOL is the contract between the shipper and the carrier. It describes what was shipped, from where, to where, and under what terms. The BOL number appears on the invoice and ties the invoice back to the original shipping document. Discrepancies between the BOL and the invoice — different weight, different commodity description, different class — are grounds for dispute.
Used for detention and redelivery disputes. If detention is charged, the delivery date matters. If redelivery is charged, the dates document when attempts were made.
The NMFC class assigned to your shipment (50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 77.5, 85, 92.5, 100, 110, 125, 150, 175, 200, 250, 300, 400, or 500). This determines what base rate tier you're billed on. An incorrect class is often the largest single overcharge on an invoice. See Guide 3 for how class is determined.
The billable weight of your shipment. This should match what you declared on the BOL. If the carrier reweighed the shipment and billed on a different weight, the invoice should show both the original weight and the inspected weight. A reweigh you weren't notified about is disputable.
The core per-hundred-weight (CWT) rate for moving your freight from origin to destination. This is calculated using your freight class, your weight, and the carrier's applicable tariff. For contract shippers, this rate is determined by the tariff discount applied to a base rate schedule (usually CzarLite or the carrier's own tariff).
Most LTL pricing uses a named tariff (CzarLite is the most common) with a discount applied. Your contract specifies the discount percentage. The invoice should show both the tariff rate and the discount so you can verify the math. If neither appears, or if the discount applied doesn't match your contract, you have an overcharge.
The fuel surcharge is calculated as a percentage of the base linehaul charge. It fluctuates weekly based on a fuel price index — usually the Department of Energy's weekly On-Highway Diesel Price index or the carrier's own published index. The FSC percentage for any given week should be published on the carrier's website. If the percentage applied to your invoice doesn't match what was published for that week, it's disputable.
Common FSC error: Some carriers calculate FSC on the gross invoice total (including accessorials) rather than on the base linehaul only. This inflates the surcharge and is not standard practice under most tariff agreements.
Every carrier has an absolute minimum charge (AMC) — the floor below which they will not invoice a shipment regardless of how small or light it is. If your calculated linehaul comes in below the minimum, the AMC is applied. This is legitimate — but the AMC should not be applied to a shipment where the calculated rate already exceeds it. If AMC appears on a shipment with a normal billable weight, verify that the calculated rate actually fell below the minimum.
Each accessorial charge should appear as a separate line item with a description and dollar amount. Common items and what to check:
Add base linehaul + FSC + each accessorial. That should equal the invoice total. If it doesn't, there's a math error — which happens more often than you'd expect and is always disputable.
The National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system assigns every commodity shipped via LTL a freight class number between 50 and 500. That number determines what base rate tier your freight is billed on. Lower class means lower cost — Class 50 freight costs significantly less to ship per pound than Class 500 freight.
Most SMB shippers accept whatever class the carrier assigns without question. Carriers have a financial incentive to assign the highest defensible class. The result is systematic overcharging that compounds across every shipment.
| Class | Density range (lbs/cu ft) | Typical commodities |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | 50+ | Durable freight, steel, sand, stone |
| 55 | 35–50 | Bricks, cement, hardwood flooring |
| 60 | 30–35 | Steel castings, car parts (bulk) |
| 65 | 22.5–30 | Books, bottled beverages, car parts |
| 70 | 15–22.5 | Auto engines, food products, machinery |
| 77.5 | 13.5–15 | Tires, bathroom fixtures |
| 85 | 12–13.5 | Crated machinery, cast iron |
| 92.5 | 10.5–12 | Computers, monitors, refrigerators |
| 100 | 9–10.5 | Fabricated metal, wine cases, furniture |
| 110 | 8–9 | Cabinets, framed art |
| 125 | 6–8 | Small appliances, display cases |
| 150 | 4–6 | Auto sheet metal, printed matter |
| 175 | 2–4 | Clothing, couches |
| 200 | 1–2 | Sheet metal, aircraft parts (packaged) |
| 250 | 0.5–1 | Bamboo furniture, mattresses |
| 300 | 0.25–0.5 | Wood cabinets (low density), kayaks |
| 400 | Less than 0.25 | Deer antlers, hammocks |
| 500 | Less than 0.25 (fragile) | Ping pong balls, gold dust |
NMFC class is based on four factors, weighted by commodity type:
Printing and wide-format materials. Rolled prints, banners, and wide-format substrates are among the most frequently misclassified commodities in LTL. Carriers often default to Class 150 or 175 for "printed matter." The correct class, based on density, is frequently Class 100 or lower. The annual overcharge for a mid-volume print shop can exceed $10,000.
Packaged food and beverage. Density-based class for most packaged food falls between Class 65 and Class 85. Carriers sometimes apply Class 100 or 110 using a broad "food products" classification rather than calculating actual density. The difference matters: a 5,000-lb shipment at Class 85 versus Class 110 represents roughly $180–$300 in linehaul cost on a mid-length lane.
Building materials. Many building materials qualify for Class 50 or 55 based on density. Carriers applying Class 70 or 85 to dense materials like cement board, tile, or masonry are misclassifying — and the shipper pays the difference on every load.
When a carrier inspects your shipment and assigns a higher class than you declared, they issue an inspection report. You have the right to challenge this. The process:
Your freight lane is the specific origin-destination pair you ship on regularly. A "fair market rate" is what that lane actually costs when capacity and demand are in balance — not what your broker quoted six months ago, not what appears in a national average, and not what the carrier's published tariff says before discounts.
The gap between what you're paying and what the market rate is can persist for 12 to 24 months without anyone flagging it, because brokers have no incentive to tell you rates have dropped and carriers have every incentive to keep billing what you've agreed to pay.
There are two market rate structures in US domestic freight:
The contract rate problem: When freight markets soften (as they did significantly in 2023 and 2024), spot rates fall faster than contract rates. Shippers whose contracts were negotiated during tight capacity periods continue paying above-market rates for months or years after the market has moved. Renegotiation rarely happens proactively — it requires the shipper to initiate.
DAT Solutions is the primary rate benchmarking database for US domestic freight. DAT publishes lane-specific rate data derived from actual loads posted and booked through their network of over 1 million load postings per day.
For LTL, the relevant metric is the linehaul rate per hundred weight (CWT) for your specific class and lane. DAT data shows:
Lane balance significantly affects pricing. A carrier running a balanced lane — similar freight volume in both directions — has lower operational cost because their trucks aren't deadheading back empty. Balanced lanes command lower rates. Imbalanced lanes, where the carrier frequently returns empty, carry a premium to compensate for the empty miles.
If your primary lane is balanced and you're paying an imbalanced-lane premium, that's a negotiation point. Your broker knows this — but bringing it up explicitly changes the dynamic.
When you have DAT or comparable lane-specific data showing your contracted rate is above market, the conversation changes. Instead of asking your broker for a better rate (which puts you in a supplicant position), you're presenting data and asking them to explain the gap. Most brokers will not argue with current market data. The negotiation becomes about how quickly the correction takes effect and whether it applies retroactively.
Specificity matters here. "My rates seem high" gets a different response than "Our Chicago-to-Atlanta Class 85 lane is 22% above the current DAT average for that corridor. I'd like to understand the contract basis for that gap before our renewal."
Most freight disputes fail not because the shipper was wrong, but because the dispute letter was vague, missing documentation, or sent to the wrong person. Carriers receive a high volume of informal complaints that go nowhere. A formal, documented dispute letter citing the specific charge, the regulatory or contractual basis for the dispute, and requesting a specific resolution is a different thing entirely.
Time limit: Under 49 CFR Part 378, carriers must acknowledge overcharge claims within 30 days and resolve them within 60 days of receiving the claim. The window for filing a claim is typically 180 days from the invoice date under standard carrier tariffs — though some contracts extend this to 12 months. File within 180 days of the invoice date unless your contract specifies otherwise.
What you can dispute:
Do not send a dispute letter to your account rep or the salesperson who booked your freight. Send it to the carrier's Claims Department directly, via certified mail with return receipt, or via email to a documented claims address. For broker disputes, send to the broker's accounts receivable or billing department and CC their legal or compliance contact if available.
Keep a paper trail. Every email, every confirmation of receipt, every response.
Escalation path: If the carrier denies a well-documented dispute, you can escalate to NMFTA arbitration (for class disputes) or file a complaint with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The threat of formal escalation resolves most disputes without actual arbitration.
Common terms you'll encounter on freight invoices and in carrier correspondence.
Send us two or three invoices and we'll show you exactly what's wrong with them.
Get your free audit