Freight accessorials explained: liftgate, reweigh, re-class and detention

An accessorial is any charge on a freight invoice beyond the basic linehaul: special equipment, extra services at pickup or delivery, inspection corrections and time. They are legitimate when the shipment needed the service. They leak money when they are billed by default, triggered by bad shipment data, or charged at a rate your agreement discounts or waives.

Which accessorials come from the delivery location?

Liftgate. A truck with a hydraulic lift, used when the pickup or delivery site has no dock or forklift. If your site has a dock door, a liftgate charge is worth questioning. Check that the bill of lading didn’t request one by default.

Residential delivery. Charged when the address is classified as residential. Business addresses in mixed-use areas get flagged by mistake. Ask the carrier to reverse the charge and correct the address in its system so it doesn’t repeat.

Limited access. Charged for locations such as construction sites, schools, churches, military bases, storage facilities and some rural sites. Carrier tariffs define the list; read the definition before accepting the charge.

Inside delivery or pickup. Moving freight beyond the dock or the truck’s tailgate. It should be on the bill of lading if you asked for it.

Appointment or notify. The carrier calls ahead or delivers at a set time. Useful when the consignee needs it; a quiet recurring cost when it is set as a default on every shipment.

What are reweigh and re-class charges?

LTL carriers inspect freight at terminals and correct the weight or class declared on the bill of lading. The correction changes the rate, and some carriers add an inspection fee on top. With NMFC Docket 2025-1, which took effect on July 19, 2025, the National Motor Freight Traffic Association moved many commodities to density-based classes (NMFTA’s summary). That makes the dimensions you record as important as the weight.

For every correction, ask for the inspection certificate or reweigh ticket, with photos and the measurements taken. Compare them with your own records. If your dock measures and weighs pallets before pickup, you can contest corrections with evidence; if it doesn’t, that is the fix.

What is detention?

Detention is billed when a driver waits beyond the free time at pickup or delivery. Your agreement or the carrier’s tariff sets the free time and the hourly rate. The evidence is arrival and departure times. Dock appointment logs, gate records or check-in times settle most disputes.

What about redelivery, storage and address correction?

These usually trace back to missing or wrong data: no appointment, wrong address, consignee closed. One charge is an event; the same charge every month is a process problem upstream, often in how orders are entered.

Is fuel charged on accessorials too?

Sometimes. Some tariffs and agreements apply the fuel surcharge percentage only to linehaul; others apply it to some accessorials. Read your agreement, then check a few invoices. Fuel applied to a liftgate charge when the agreement says linehaul only is a small, repeating overcharge.

How do I audit accessorials without a software system?

1. Pull three months of invoices and list every accessorial by type, count and total.
2. For the largest three types, pull ten examples each and check them against the bill of lading and your dock profile.
3. Sort the findings into billing errors (credit them), avoidable charges (fix the data or the default), and legitimate services (negotiate the rate at your next rebid).

The invoice check flags accessorial lines on a single invoice and writes the question to ask for each.