Rate Confirmation: What to Check Before You Sign
A five minute check for every load: who the rate con is from, what it pays, the stops and freight, the payment terms and the penalties.
The call went well. The broker said the rate, the pickup window and “detention after two hours,” and the rate confirmation landed in your inbox a minute later. You signed it from the cab and rolled. At the receiver you find out the delivery was by appointment, not first come first served, and when you invoice, there is no detention on the paper at all. Nothing the broker said on the phone was on the page you signed.
This guide is a check you can run on every rate confirmation in about five minutes, before you sign it. Everything below is general practice for a box truck or cargo van owner-operator running under their own MC. Every broker writes these documents differently, so the point is not what a rate confirmation usually says, but what yours says.
What is a rate confirmation?
A rate confirmation, or rate con, is the written agreement for one load between you and the broker. It sets the rate, the stops, the times, the freight and the terms you get paid on. It usually sits on top of the broker-carrier agreement you signed once when you set up with that broker, and it often says that agreement applies to every load.
Once you sign, the rate con is what both sides will point to if anything goes wrong. A promise made on the phone is worth what you can prove. The rate con is what you can prove.
If it is not on the rate con, it is not in the deal.
The rate con check at a glance
Here is the whole check on one screen. Each row is a section most rate confirmations have, and a question to answer before you sign.
| Section | The question to answer | If it is wrong or missing |
|---|---|---|
| Broker and carrier details | Is this the broker you vetted, and is it your MC on the page? | Stop. Do not sign until the names and numbers match. |
| Rate | Does the total match what you agreed, and is fuel inside it or separate? | Ask for a corrected rate con, not a promise to fix it on the invoice. |
| Accessorials | Are detention, layover, truck order not used and lumper handling written down? | Assume anything not written will not be paid. |
| Stops and times | Are addresses, appointment times or windows and the reference numbers right? | Fix it now. A wrong window costs you the load or the next one. |
| Freight and equipment | Do the commodity, weight, pieces and handling fit your truck? | Turn it down or get it changed. Overweight is your ticket. |
| Payment terms | How many days, from what event, which documents, and where to send them? | Get it in writing before the load, not after delivery. |
| Fines and deductions | Which penalties can come off your pay, and for what? | Negotiate or price them in. Unread penalties are the most expensive line. |
Who are you actually agreeing with?
Start at the top of the page, not at the rate. Check that the broker’s legal name and MC number on the rate con are the ones you looked up and set up with, that the phone number and email domain match that broker, and that your own company name and MC are printed correctly. A rate con from a company name you did not expect is the moment to stop and call the broker on a number you found yourself.
This matters because of double brokering, where a load passes from one party to another without the shipper or the real broker knowing, and the truck that hauls it may never be paid. Federal rules define a broker as anyone who, for compensation, arranges the transportation of property by an authorized motor carrier. A motor carrier is outside that definition only for shipments it is authorized to transport and has “accepted and legally bound” itself to transport (49 CFR 371.2). When you sign a rate con under your MC, you are that carrier: the load is yours to haul, not to hand on. Most rate confirmations say so in a no re-brokering clause.
Does the money on paper match the money you agreed?
- The total. The line haul and the total are the numbers from the call. If fuel was quoted separately, it is on the page separately.
- Detention. Free time, the hourly rate, when the clock starts and how to claim it.
- Layover and truck order not used. What you get if the load is held overnight or cancelled after you were dispatched, and what proof is needed.
- Lumper and unloading. Who pays for unloading help, whether you are expected to advance it, and how you get it back.
- Extra stops. If the load has more than one pickup or delivery, every stop is listed, with the pay for each.
- Anything that comes off. Fees for quick pay, for tracking, for paperwork, or for anything else that reduces the number you agreed.
Have your own MC and need steady freight?
Vic’s partners with cargo van, Sprinter, box truck and straight truck owner-operators who run under their own MC. Nationwide, time-sensitive freight and weekly direct deposits. We review your MC and truck info within one business day.
Apply to drive with Vic’s →Are the stops, times and freight what you were told?
Most rate con problems at the dock come from this section, because it is the one people skim. Read every stop as if you were already driving to it:
- Addresses. Full street address for each stop, not just a city. If the rate con says one city and the shipper’s address is in another, ask which is right.
- Times. A firm appointment, a window, or first come first served, at each end. Note the time zone if the load crosses one.
- Reference numbers. Pickup number, delivery number, purchase order. Without them, some facilities will not let you in the gate.
- Commodity and weight. What the freight is and how much it weighs, against what your truck can legally carry. A load that fits on paper and not on your axles is still your ticket.
- Pieces and handling. Pallet or piece count, whether it is stackable, whether a lift gate or a pallet jack is needed at either end, and whether you are expected to load or unload.
- Special requirements. Hazmat, temperature, team, straps, blankets. If it needs anything you do not have, the answer is no before you sign, not at the dock.
What should the payment terms say?
A rate is only as good as the terms it gets paid on. Look for four things. How many days the broker takes to pay, and what starts that clock, which is usually receipt of the invoice and a signed proof of delivery. Which documents they need, and whether they want originals by mail. Where to send the invoice. And, if you offer it, what quick pay costs and how fast it really is.
If you factor your invoices, check that the rate con and the broker’s records show where payment goes, so the money does not land in the wrong account.
Which clauses deserve a second read?
- Fines and late penalties. A fixed charge per hour late, or for a missed check call, can cost more than detention earns. Know the number before you sign.
- Tracking requirements. Some rate cons require a tracking app for the whole load, with a deduction if it is off. Decide if you accept that.
- Cargo claims. Any stated liability amount for the freight, compared with what your cargo insurance actually covers.
- No contact with the customer. Many rate cons forbid you from soliciting the shipper directly. If you are building your own customer list, read this one closely.
- The governing agreement. A line saying the broker-carrier agreement applies to this load means its terms count too. If you have not read it, the rate con is only half the deal.
What if something on it is wrong?
Do not sign it and do not take a promise to fix it later. Ask for a corrected rate con, read the new one in full, and sign that. The same rule holds once you are rolling: if the broker adds a stop, changes the delivery or agrees to pay something extra, ask for a revised rate con before you do the extra work. A text that says “we will take care of it” is better than nothing. A revised rate con is better than a text.
Keep every signed version with the load paperwork. If pay is disputed later, federal rules give each party to a brokered transaction the right to review the broker’s record of it, which includes what the broker was paid and when it paid the carrier (49 CFR 371.3). Your signed rate con is your half of that record.
Where to start
On your next load, read the rate con top to bottom before you sign: who it is from, what it pays and for what, every stop, the freight, the payment terms and the penalties. Five minutes in the cab is the cheapest negotiation you will ever do. When you compare carriers to work with, the same habit applies to the bigger agreement. If you run your own van or truck, you can apply to drive with Vic’s.