Accessorial
An accessorial is a charge on top of the linehaul rate for extra work or extra time, such as detention, a layover, a lumper, or a reweigh.
Last updated 11 October 2026.
The linehaul is the price to move the freight under the terms you quoted. An accessorial is everything those terms said would cost more: waiting, unloading labor, a truck ordered and not used, a driver held overnight. If the customer only sees the linehaul, and the carrier bills the extras, the margin you thought you had was never the margin.
Put them on the rate confirmation before the truck moves. Free time, who pays the lumper, and what a cancellation costs should be readable by the carrier and by billing. An extra invented after delivery, because the invoice looks thin, is not an accessorial. It is a dispute.
Match each one to paper. Detention wants in and out times. A lumper wants a receipt. A TONU wants the cancellation and the term you agreed. A charge with no paper sits until a person can defend it or take it off. Paying every line a carrier types, and billing every line to the shipper, is how both relationships get worse.
FreightScout does not invent an accessorial amount. The POD, the receipt, and the rate confirmation are matched to the load, and you approve what gets billed. The figure is the figure already on the paperwork. How FreightScout bills accessorials on the load.
Questions people actually ask
Where should an accessorial be agreed?
On the rate confirmation, before the truck rolls. A line that appears for the first time on the invoice is a dispute unless the agreement already allowed it and the paper supports it.
What paper does an accessorial need before it is paid?
Detention needs in and out times. A lumper needs a receipt. A TONU needs the cancellation and the term you agreed. FreightScout does not invent the amount. A person approves a charge the documents support.