Why Detention Pay Often Goes Uncollected

Detention and accessorial pay often goes uncollected for small carriers. A common contributor is that documenting detention time at each stop is a manual burden dispatchers and drivers don't have time for. ChargeGuard is designed to help you organize that documentation and prepare a claim.

Published 2026-09-02, corrected 2026-09-07

The Manual Burden of Detention Claims

Detention pay is often left uncollected because the process of documenting it is manual and time-consuming. Drivers and dispatchers are already stretched thin, making it easy to skip this step. Without immediate documentation, the evidence needed to file a claim is often lost or forgotten.

The Cost of Missing Detention Pay

While 94.5% of fleets charge detention fees, they're paid on fewer than 50% of those invoices, according to the American Transportation Research Institute's September 2024 report on truck driver detention. This means small carriers are leaving real money on the table—money that could be reinvested into the business or used to cover operational costs.

How ChargeGuard Changes the Game

ChargeGuard automates much of the manual work of detention claims. Drivers capture a photo of the rate confirmation, tap Start/Arrived in the app, and ChargeGuard automatically applies the broker’s or shipper’s terms to generate a documented claim. No more reconstructing detention time after the fact—just a documented claim, ready to send.

Recover What You’re Owed

ChargeGuard helps you document every minute of detention time so a claim doesn't go missing simply because no one had time to write it up. By automating the paperwork, you can focus on running your trucks while ChargeGuard prepares the claim for you to send to the broker or shipper.