Accessorial charges are fees a carrier bills for services beyond standard dock-to-dock pickup and delivery: a liftgate at a residence, a driver detained at the dock, a redelivery after a failed first attempt, a truck ordered but not used.
The taxonomy is worth knowing because the categories behave differently. Equipment and handling charges (liftgate, inside delivery) trace to the delivery location. Time charges (detention, layover) trace to how long the driver waited. Changed-plan charges (redelivery, reconsignment, TONU) trace to a decision someone made after booking. Correction charges (reweigh, reclassification) trace to the freight not matching its paperwork. In the support queue they all surface the same way: a "what is this line on my invoice" thread, usually after delivery, from a shipper whose quote showed only the linehaul rate.
The approach to reject is answering those threads by pointing the customer at the rate sheet or tariff PDF. The customer did not ask where the tariff lives; they asked why this shipment cost more than quoted. Unexplained accessorials convert directly into disputes, short-pays, and aging receivables. Explained charges, tied to the event that triggered them, get disputed far less.
Base rate vs accessorial charges at a glance
| Dimension | Base rate | Accessorial charges |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | linehaul from origin to destination | services beyond standard pickup and delivery |
| When it is known | at quote or tender | often only after the service occurs |
| Common examples | per-mile, per-hundredweight, or per-load rates | liftgate, detention, redelivery, TONU, reweigh |
| Dispute pattern | rare, agreed up front | frequent when undocumented or unexplained |
Aide, the agentic AI platform for customer experience, classifies billing threads by intent and answers each accessorial question with the trigger event in hand: which service occurred, when, on which shipment, and what the rate agreement says it costs. Its answers are rehearsed against the operation's real historical threads before they go live, and every automated reply is logged. For how explained charges play out across a whole freight inbox, see Aide for logistics and freight.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a TONU charge?
- Truck ordered, not used: a fee billed when a shipper books a truck and cancels after the carrier has committed the equipment, often with the driver already en route or on site. It compensates the carrier for the lost slot.
- Why do accessorial charges get disputed so often?
- Because they appear after the fact. The quote showed a linehaul rate; the invoice shows a liftgate fee and two hours of detention. Charges documented at the time of service and explained in plain language on the invoice thread get disputed far less.