What accessorial charges can you dispute on a freight invoice?
Last reviewed 2026-07-02
Accessorials are the extra fees carriers add on top of the base rate: detention, fuel surcharge, reweigh and reclass, liftgate, residential and limited-access, and address correction. Each is disputable when it was applied without meeting its condition, billed at the wrong rate, or duplicated. They are the single largest source of freight overcharges.
- Accessorials are the add-on fees, not the base line-haul rate.
- Detention, reweigh, and fuel surcharge are the most commonly miscbilled.
- Each is disputable when its condition was not met or its rate is wrong.
- Verify every accessorial against your contract and the shipment record.
The accessorials worth checking
Detention and demurrage for time held, fuel surcharges tied to an index, reweigh and reclass adjustments, liftgate and inside delivery, residential or limited-access fees, and address corrections. Any one can be applied in error or at a rate above your agreement.
When a charge is disputable
When the triggering condition never happened (a residential fee on a commercial delivery), when the rate exceeds your contract (a fuel surcharge above the indexed percentage), when it duplicates another line, or when a reweigh does not match the actual weight and dimensions.
How to check them
Match each accessorial on the invoice to the contracted rate and the shipment record. A charge with no supporting event, or one above the agreed rate, is documented and disputed against the carrier's own data.
Common questions
Which accessorial is overbilled most often?
Detention and reweigh, because both depend on carrier-recorded conditions that are easy to apply loosely, and fuel surcharges, which drift above the indexed rate.
Can I dispute a fuel surcharge?
Yes, when it exceeds the percentage tied to your contract's fuel index. Recomputing it against the index is what surfaces the overcharge.
Do these add up to real money?
Accessorial errors are a leading category within the 1% to 5% of transportation spend that freight audits typically recover (SupplyChainBrain, Transportation Insight).
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