How to audit LTL accessorial charges
An accessorial is a charge for something beyond dock-to-dock transportation. Some you request. Others are added after delivery because of what the driver found. The second kind is where invoices drift away from quotes, and each one can be checked against a specific document.
The rule for all of them
For any accessorial on an invoice, ask two questions. Was it requested on the BOL? If not, what record shows it was actually performed or required? The delivery receipt answers most of these. Ask the carrier for a copy if you do not have one.
Charge by charge
| Charge | Triggered when | Check against |
|---|---|---|
| Liftgate | No dock or forklift at pickup or delivery | Delivery receipt notation. Whether the consignee has a dock. Charged at both ends when only one needed it? |
| Residential | Carrier classifies the address as a residence | The address itself. Businesses run from mixed-use or rural addresses get flagged by address databases. |
| Limited access | Schools, churches, job sites, farms, military bases, storage units, and similar | The carrier's tariff definition, which varies. Whether the location really fits it. |
| Inside delivery | Driver moves freight beyond the dock or threshold | Delivery receipt. Consignee confirmation of what the driver did. |
| Appointment or notify | Carrier must call ahead or schedule | Whether the BOL asked for it. Some consignees require it regardless, and the carrier knows which. |
| Redelivery | First delivery attempt failed | Date and time of the attempt against the consignee's receiving hours. Was an appointment set and kept? |
| Detention | Driver held past the free time | Arrival and departure times on the delivery receipt, and the free time in the tariff. |
| Reconsignment | Destination changed in transit | Who asked for the change and when. |
| Over length | A piece exceeds the carrier's length threshold | Your dimensions, and the threshold in the tariff. Thresholds differ by carrier. |
| Inspection or correction fee | A reweigh or reclass was applied | If the underlying correction is reversed, this fee should be reversed with it. Ask explicitly. |
Patterns worth looking for
- The same accessorial on every shipment to one consignee. Either it is real and should be in your quotes so customers are charged correctly, or the address is misclassified and one correction with the carrier fixes all future invoices.
- Liftgate and inside delivery to a warehouse. A consignee with a dock and a forklift rarely needs either.
- Residential on a commercial address. Send the carrier the business name, signage photo or a link to the business listing, and ask for the address to be recoded.
- Redelivery where the receiver was open. Ask for the time of the first attempt. If it was outside the hours on the BOL, that is the carrier's miss.
- Duplicates. The same PRO invoiced twice, or an accessorial that appears on both the original and the corrected invoice.
Charges that are usually correct
Fuel surcharge follows a published table tied to the weekly diesel index, and it is rarely miscalculated, though it is worth confirming it was applied to the right base. Appointment charges for consignees known to require appointments are generally legitimate even if you did not request one. Disputing these wastes the goodwill you need for the ones that matter.
How to dispute an accessorial
Same channel and deadline as any billing dispute, covered in the dispute guide and the deadlines guide. State the charge, the PRO, and the specific fact that contradicts it: the consignee has a dock, the address is a business, the receiver was open at the time of the attempt. Attach the delivery receipt or a statement from the consignee. One fact and one document is enough.
Then fix the quote
Accessorials that are real belong in the quote. If a customer needs a liftgate, request it on the BOL so the charge is known before the freight moves and can be passed through. Surprise accessorials are a quoting problem at least as often as a billing one.
Got a corrected invoice in hand?
Run it through the checker in about a minute, or send us the batch and we will tell you which ones are worth disputing. The audit is free.