What To Say · A HaulProof Pocket Guide
How To File a Detention Claim
Filing a detention claim is a different job from sitting at the dock. The hard part starts once you are past whatever free time the rate confirmation gave you, your messages are going unanswered, and you have to decide who to bother next and how to word it. This is that part — the escalation, and the paper trail that has to survive until the settlement lands weeks later.
Jump to the eight messages. Still inside your free time? Start with the dock messages instead.
A record and a claim are not the same thing
I did the first half right for years. Log the arrival, send the heads-up before free time runs out, text dispatch every hour. Then the load closes out, all of it sits in a phone unassembled, and nothing ever gets submitted to anybody.
A record is what happened. A claim is a request, made to a named person, by a specific date, with the record attached. Back when I was running brokered freight I lost more to that gap than to the docks themselves. Once you are past free time you have two jobs running at once: keep the clock on the record, and start building the thing you are going to hand somebody.
What makes a time hard to argue with
Not all timestamps carry the same weight. Roughly in order:
- A time somebody else wrote down. In and out times noted on the BOL by the clerk. A gate ticket. A stamped check-in sheet. Their document, their handwriting.
- A time a system recorded. ELD, GPS, the dock's scheduling software. Nobody typed it, so nobody can say you typed it wrong.
- A message that got a reply. Your text at 10:15 plus a "got it" coming back is two-sided, and two-sided is harder to wave off.
- A message that got no reply. Still useful — it proves you raised it at the time, which is the thing that gets doubted later.
- Your memory. Worth very little three weeks out, no matter how sure you are.
Climb that list while you are sitting, not afterward. Which is why message one below happens at the window, with a pen in your hand.
The escalation ladder, one rung at a time
When your first contact goes quiet, the instinct is to get louder at the same person. Do the opposite: stay flat, and change who you are talking to.
For leased-on drivers the ladder runs inside your own company: dispatcher, then the after-hours or night line, then operations. Owner-operators under their own authority have the broker's number on the rate confirmation and can use it. Check your agreement before you skip a rung — going around your carrier can put you crossways with the people who pay you.
The receiver is almost never the right target; the clerk at the window did not set your free time and cannot pay you. And every time you move up a rung, say in the message that you tried the rung below and when. That sentence turns escalation from a complaint into a record.
The eight messages
Fill in the brackets and send. The first four happen while you are still sitting. The last four come after — that night, the next morning, and when the settlement lands.
1 · Getting the facility to write the times down
Before I sign — can you note my in time of [arrival time] and my out time of [release time] on the BOL? I just need the times on the paperwork.
Say it at the window, before the pen leaves your hand. Their handwriting on their document is corroboration you cannot make yourself.
2 · When the facility refuses to note the times
Load [number]: asked [facility] at [current time] to note my in and out times on the BOL and was told they do not do that. Noting the refusal for the file. In [arrival time], out [release time].
Goes to dispatch, not the clerk. You are not fighting the refusal — you are dating it and putting it on the record.
3 · Nobody answered — moving up a rung
Load [number]: messaged [contact] at [time] and [time] about detention at [facility], no response yet. Going past free time by [X] hours. Trying this line so somebody has it. Current time [current time], still not released.
Escalation done right is boring. No accusation. Just the times you tried, and the fact that you are still sitting.
4 · Asking what they want you to do
Load [number]: [X] hours past free time at [facility] with no ETA from the receiver. My hours are at [remaining]. Do you want me to keep waiting, or leave and reschedule? I will do either — I just need it from you in writing.
This is the one you want in the thread when the decision goes badly. Whatever they answer, the answer is theirs, in writing.
5 · The end-of-day recap
End of day, [date]. Load [number], [facility]. Arrived [arrival time], checked in [check-in time], free time ended [free time end], released [release time]. Total on site [X hr Y min], [X] hours past free time. BOL [signed with times / signed without times]. Requesting detention per the rate confirmation. Photos on file.
Sent the same night, it turns a scattered day into one clean paragraph. Weeks later this is the thing you can actually find.
6 · Submitting the claim
Detention request — load [number], [date], [facility]. In [arrival time], out [release time]. Free time per rate confirmation ended [free time end]. Detention time [X hr Y min]. Attached: signed BOL, gate ticket, dock photos, and the message thread from that day. Please confirm receipt and let me know if you need anything else.
Submit it with the paperwork, not later. "Please confirm receipt" is the part people skip — it puts a dated reply on their side of the conversation.
7 · The settlement follow-up
Following up on the detention request for load [number], [date] at [facility], submitted [submission date]. I did not see it on the settlement dated [settlement date]. Can you tell me the status, or which settlement it is expected on?
Short, dated, no temperature to it. You are asking a scheduling question, not making an accusation.
8 · The second follow-up — closing it out
Second follow-up on load [number] detention, submitted [submission date], followed up [follow-up date]. Still not showing. If it has been declined, can you tell me the reason so I have it for the file? If it is still open, an expected date would help me close my books.
A declined claim with a written reason is still useful — it tells you what they want to see next time.
Assembling the packet
Message six needs attachments. Build the packet the same night, while you still remember which photo is which:
- The signed BOL or delivery receipt, with the in and out times on it if you got them.
- The gate ticket, check-in slip, or lumper receipt — anything the facility handed you.
- Photos from the lot: a dash clock, the gate sign, the door number.
- The message thread, screenshotted, timestamps visible.
- The rate confirmation clause setting free time and detention terms.
Then find the submission deadline. It lives on the rate confirmation or in your carrier agreement, it changes from load to load, and missing it is a clean reason to be turned down.
The follow-up nobody does
Messages seven and eight get skipped, and that is how submitted claims quietly die. Detention does not always land on the same settlement as the load it belongs to — sometimes a cycle later, sometimes under a description you would not recognize while skimming. So the follow-up is not nagging. It is closing a loop you opened.
Want the other 74?
These eight are from What To Say, a HaulProof Pocket Guide — 82 ready-to-send messages for the rest of the job. Running late, breakdowns, wrong gate, paperwork that doesn't match. $19 on its own, or free with a HaulProof subscription.
Where it ends up: the settlement
All eight messages point at one moment — the day the settlement lands and somebody checks whether what you documented made it onto the page. That check is bookkeeping, and it is why HaulProof exists. It keeps the books for owner-operators and leased-on drivers: settlements read line by line so accessorials can be matched against the loads you ran, receipts from a photo, IFTA miles by state, and a P&L your CPA can work from.
Keep reading
- How Detention Pay Works
- What To Say When a Settlement Comes Up Short
- What To Say When You're Sitting at a Dock
- How To Read a Broker Settlement Statement
- How To Calculate Your Cost Per Mile
Common questions
How do I file a detention claim?
You submit it to whoever pays you. Leased on, that is your carrier or dispatcher. Under your own authority, it goes to the broker with your invoice. Either way it is three things: the load number, the in and out times with the free time end marked, and documents that back the times up. Send it in writing and ask for confirmation it was received.
What documents do I need for a detention claim?
Whatever your rate confirmation and carrier agreement say, plus anything with a time on it and somebody else's name attached: a signed BOL with in and out times noted, a gate ticket, your timestamped messages, photos taken on site. Some brokers accept ELD or GPS records. Ask what yours wants before you need it.
How long do I have to submit a detention claim?
There is no one deadline that covers every load. The window is set by your rate confirmation, your carrier agreement, or the broker's terms, and it varies. Some want it with the original paperwork; some allow a set number of days. Find the clause on the load in front of you and work to that date, and if the wording is not clear, ask before you assume.
What do I say when dispatch stops answering while I am sitting?
Keep sending, and change who you send to rather than how loud you send it. An unanswered message is still a record that you flagged it at the time. Then move up one rung: the after-hours line, the night dispatcher, the operations number on the rate confirmation.
Can I contact the broker directly about detention if I am leased on?
Usually not, but it depends on what you signed. Leased-on drivers normally escalate inside their own company first; owner-operators running under their own authority deal with the broker directly. Read your own agreement before you skip a rung — the chain of command is in there, and it is the only version that applies to you.
These templates help you communicate, escalate, and document. They do not decide whether you are owed detention, and they are not a promise a claim will be paid — your contract, your company policy, and your broker agreement decide that. Deadlines and required documents vary by load. General education for owner-operators and leased-on drivers, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Built by a driver, for drivers.