# Detention Time: What It Is, What It Costs, and How to Bill It With GPS Evidence

Detention is the time a driver waits at a shipper or receiver beyond the free time the contract allows, and it is the most under-billed charge in trucking because nobody can prove it. Here's how detention works, what it costs a fleet, and how geofenced arrival and departure times turn it into an invoice that gets paid.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/detention-time-how-to-bill-it-with-gps
By Israel Margulies, CEO & Founder — published 2026-09-18, updated 2026-09-18

## What Detention Is

A freight contract gives the shipper or receiver a window of free time to load or unload — two hours is common — and beyond it the carrier is entitled to a detention charge, typically an hourly rate per truck. The driver waits at the dock, the hours-of-service clock runs, the next load is late, and the truck earns nothing unless the detention is billed. Surveys of carriers consistently find that most detention goes unbilled, and that what is billed is often disputed, because the record is the driver's word against the receiver's.

## What It Costs

The direct cost is the truck's hourly operating cost while it sits, plus the driver's time. The indirect cost is worse: the hours lost come out of the driver's daily limit, so a two-hour delay at a dock can mean a missed delivery window and a night out, and a receiver that habitually holds trucks reshapes the whole schedule around it. Fleets that measure detention by customer routinely find a small number of accounts responsible for most of it.

## The Evidence

A geofence drawn around the customer's yard in the telematics platform records the moment the truck entered and the moment it left, with the vehicle stationary between them; the trip replay shows the same on a map with a timestamp. That is the record: arrival 8:02, departure 10:47, free time two hours, detention 45 minutes. It is produced automatically for every stop, it is the same for every driver, and it is the kind of evidence a receiver's own dock log cannot contradict. Detention reports by customer, over a month, are the basis for the conversation with the account or the decision to reprice it.

## Billing It

Put the free time and the rate in the contract or the rate confirmation. Set the geofences before the first load. Run the detention report weekly and invoice with the arrival and departure times attached. Escalate the chronic accounts to the sales side rather than the driver. Fleets that follow that routine bill detention they never billed before and collect most of it. High Point GPS configures customer geofences and detention reporting for carriers in Quebec, Ontario and the northeastern US.

## FAQ

### What is detention time in trucking?

Time a driver waits at a shipper or receiver beyond the contract's free time, usually two hours, for which the carrier can charge an hourly detention fee.

### Why does detention go unbilled?

Because the carrier cannot prove the wait. Without a timestamped record, the receiver disputes it and the carrier gives up.

### How does GPS prove detention?

A geofence at the customer records the truck's arrival and departure times, with the vehicle stationary between them, automatically for every stop.

### What is a typical detention rate?

An hourly rate per truck set in the contract or rate confirmation, after the free time; rates vary by market and lane.

### How do I reduce detention?

Measure it by customer, invoice it with evidence, and take the chronic accounts to the sales side for repricing or scheduling changes.

## Sources

- [FMCSA: Detention Time Studies](https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/)
- [Geotab: Route Optimization](https://www.geotab.com/fleet-management-solutions/route-optimization/)