Glossary
Detention Time
Time a driver spends waiting at a shipper or receiver beyond the agreed free time, which often triggers a billable charge. A time-stamped GPS arrival/departure record makes detention claims defensible.
What Detention Time means in practice
Detention time is the time a driver waits at a shipper or receiver beyond the agreed free time, and it often triggers a billable charge. Most detention goes unbilled, and the reason is proof. When the only record is the driver's estimate, the receiver disputes the time and the carrier usually gives up. Meanwhile the cost is real: the hours-of-service clock keeps running at the dock, so a long wait can mean a missed delivery window, a late next load and a night out.
GPS fixes the evidence problem. A geofence around the customer's yard records when the truck entered and left, with the vehicle stationary in between, automatically for every stop and the same for every driver.
The routine that gets detention paid is short: put the free time and the rate in the contract or rate confirmation, set the geofences before the first load, run the detention report weekly, and invoice with arrival and departure times attached. Measuring detention by customer usually shows a small number of accounts causing most of it, which is a conversation for sales, not the driver.
Read the full explainer
The definition above is the short version. The page below explains Detention Time in depth, with the rules, numbers and examples behind it.
Freight & Trucking Dispatch SoftwareGuides that explain Detention Time
- Trucking Telematics: What Long-Haul Fleets and Operators Should Track
- How Does Trailer GPS Tracking Work, With or Without a Truck?
- GPS Fleet Tracking for Food and Beverage Distributors: Routes, Temperature and Delivery Windows
- Route Optimization: How It Works, With a Worked Example for a 40-Stop Day
- Trailer Tracking Software and Systems: Reports, Alerts and Integrations
- Timeline Map: Replaying a Trip Minute by Minute to Settle a Dispute
- Zone Visit Targets: Grading Drivers Against Time-on-Site Targets for an Objective Bonus
- Detention Time in Trucking: What It Costs and How to Bill Detention Pay With GPS
Detention Time: common questions
How do you prove detention time?
With a time-stamped arrival and departure record. A geofence drawn around the shipper's or receiver's yard logs the moment the truck entered and left, with the vehicle stationary in between, and the trip replay shows the same on a map. Attach those times to the invoice; it is far stronger than a driver's estimate when the customer disputes the charge.
Why does so much detention go unbilled?
Because the carrier often cannot prove the wait. Without a timestamped record, the shipper or receiver disputes the time, and the charge gets negotiated down or dropped. Automatic geofence records for every stop remove that problem, which is why fleets that adopt them start billing detention they never billed before and collect most of it.
How does detention time affect hours of service?
The driver's hours-of-service clock keeps running while the truck waits at the dock, so detention eats into the time left for driving. A long delay can push the next load late, cause a missed delivery window and force a night out. That indirect cost is often larger than the direct cost of the truck and driver sitting idle.