Reading a rate confirmation

A rate confirmation (the rate con) is the written contract for one load. Once you sign and send it back, you've agreed to everything on the page, including the parts you skimmed. It's the last checkpoint before you're committed.

Five minutes of reading catches most of the problems that turn into disputes later: a rate that doesn't match the phone call, a window you can't legally run, accessorial terms that quietly don't exist. Here's what to check, section by section.

The rate and the lane

Confirm the dollar amount matches what was quoted, and whether it's all-in or line-haul plus a fuel surcharge. Then read the addresses, not just the cities. A receiver 40 miles past the city you priced changes your math, and 'Chicago' can mean a dock an hour outside the loop.

Divide the rate by total miles, loaded plus deadhead, before you sign rather than after. The free rate calculator runs the math in a few seconds.

Appointments you can legally make

Check whether each stop is first-come-first-served or a hard appointment, and whether the window fits your hours. FMCSA's hours-of-service rules cap you at 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour on-duty window, followed by 10 consecutive hours off. A window that ignores those numbers is the rate con's problem to fix, not yours to absorb.

Raise an impossible window before you sign, while you still have leverage. After you sign, a missed appointment is on you — and some rate cons attach late fees to it.

Accessorials: silence means you pay

Detention free time and the hourly rate after it, lumper reimbursement, stop pay for extra stops, and truck-ordered-not-used should all be printed on the rate con or in an attached email. A verbal 'we always take care of our carriers' collects exactly nothing. Detention and accessorial pay covers each charge and the paper trail behind it.

Payment terms and the broker's identity

Find the payment terms in days and any quick-pay discount. Thirty days after paperwork is a common arrangement; if the rate con says 45 or 60, that's a real cost to price in. Slow pay works out the same as a rate cut when you're covering fuel out of pocket in the meantime.

Confirm the company name and MC number on the rate con match the broker you actually talked to and what FMCSA has on file. A mismatch is a classic double-brokering tell. More verification steps are in spotting broker red flags.

Fine print worth reading twice

Look for a clause saying the rate con supersedes all prior agreements — it erases every promise made on the phone. Look for chargebacks, late fees, and paperwork deadlines like 'POD within 48 hours.' None of it is unusual; all of it is binding once you sign.

One caveat: this is education, not legal advice. If a broker's contract terms confuse you, having a transportation attorney read them once is cheaper than learning what a clause means the hard way.