Owner-Operator Guide
The Accessorials You're Owed and Never Billed
A short-paid settlement is the one everybody talks about. The quieter loss is the money that was never claimed at all — work you did, agreed to be paid for, and never put on an invoice because by the time the settlement came round the load was three weeks behind you.
I've been driving since 1999 — local now, brokered freight over the road before that. Nothing on this list is exotic. It's all ordinary work that happens on ordinary weeks, and it goes unbilled for one ordinary reason: the moment it happens, you're busy, and the moment you'd notice it's missing, you can't remember which load it was.
Eight that go missing
Detention
Time past your free time at a shipper or receiver.
Why it goes missing: Logged at the dock, never checked against the settlement that lands two weeks later.
Layover
An overnight you didn't plan on because they couldn't load or unload you.
Why it goes missing: Feels like bad luck rather than a billable event, so nobody raises it.
TONU — truck ordered not used
You were dispatched and committed, then the load came off.
Why it goes missing: There's no delivery at the end to remind you the load ever existed.
Extra stops
A stop added after the rate confirmation went out.
Why it goes missing: Agreed by phone, never written down, and the rate con still shows the original stop count.
Driver assist / lumper
You helped unload, or you paid a lumper out of pocket.
Why it goes missing: The receipt goes in the door pocket and never gets matched to a reimbursement.
Tarping
Flatbed work that takes real time and real effort.
Why it goes missing: Treated as part of the job rather than a line with its own rate.
Redelivery / reconsignment
They sent you somewhere else, or you had to come back.
Why it goes missing: Two trips get paid as one because only one delivery appears on the paperwork.
Detention on a drop and hook that turned into a live load
The load changed shape after you got there.
Why it goes missing: Nothing on the original paperwork reflects what actually happened.
The gap where they disappear
Almost every one of these is lost in the same place: the space between the load and the settlement. Accessorials often arrive a settlement or two behind the freight, so "it isn't on there yet" and "it's never going to be on there" look identical for about two weeks. After that the load is old news, and chasing it means reconstructing a Tuesday afternoon from memory.
Which is why the useful habit isn't remembering to claim things. It's having a list of what each load was supposed to pay, so that when the settlement lands you're comparing two documents instead of searching your memory.
Three things worth doing at the time
- Get the change in writing, even briefly. An extra stop agreed by phone becomes a text: "Confirming the added stop at Elizabeth — that's stop 3." Thirty seconds, and it exists.
- Keep the rate confirmation with the load. It's the document that says what this load was supposed to pay. Without it you're comparing a settlement against nothing.
- Note the time, not the feeling. "Sat a long while" is not a claim. "Arrived 08:10, checked in 08:40, released 13:05" is.
HaulProof keeps each load's pay next to the settlement that's supposed to cover it, so an accessorial that never showed up is visible as a gap rather than as a nagging feeling that something was missed. The detention timer records the times while you're still sitting there.
The whole thing in one line
The money you never claimed doesn't show up as a short-pay. It shows up as nothing at all. Keeping what each load was meant to pay next to what it actually paid turns that nothing into something you can see.
Common questions
What are accessorial charges in trucking?
Accessorials are the payments for work that isn't the line haul itself — detention, layover, truck ordered not used, extra stops, driver assist or lumper, tarping, redelivery, and so on. They're agreed load by load on the rate confirmation, or in your carrier's schedule. They are not automatic, and most of them only get paid if somebody claims them.
Which accessorials do drivers most often miss?
In my experience it's the ones that happen while you're busy doing something else: the second stop that got added by phone, the layover after a Friday afternoon cancellation, the hour of driver assist at a grocery warehouse, and detention that was logged but never followed up. None of them feel like paperwork at the time. All of them are money.
Do accessorials appear automatically on my settlement?
Usually not, and when they do appear they can arrive a settlement or two behind the load. That gap is where they go missing — by the time the money should have shown up, the load is three weeks back and nobody remembers which one it was.
What is TONU and when does it apply?
Truck ordered not used — you were dispatched, you committed the truck, and the load came off before you ran it. Whether it pays, and how much, depends on the rate confirmation and the broker's terms. It's one of the most commonly forgotten claims because there's no delivery at the end of it to remind you.
How long do I have to claim an accessorial?
That depends on the broker or carrier, and the windows can be shorter than people expect. It's worth knowing yours before you need it, not after — and it's another reason to raise them while the load is fresh rather than at the end of the month.
What proof do I need to claim an accessorial?
Whatever puts a time or a fact on the record: the rate confirmation showing what was agreed, times somebody other than you can back up, a signed BOL, a lumper receipt, and the message where the extra stop or the delay was discussed. The claim is easier when the record was made at the time rather than reconstructed afterwards.
This guide is general education for owner-operators and leased-on drivers — not legal, tax, or financial advice. Whether any particular accessorial is payable, and how much, is decided by your rate confirmation, your carrier's policy and your broker agreement — not by this page. Keeping a record helps you calculate and evidence what happened; it does not create an entitlement. When it matters, read your rate confirmation and talk to your carrier or your own advisor. Built by a driver, for drivers.