Rate Confirmation Explained: What to Check Before You Book

The rate con is the one piece of paper that decides whether a load makes you money or costs you. Here's what it is and the lines you should never sign without reading.

What a rate confirmation is

A rate confirmation — "rate con" for short — is the document a broker sends once you agree to a load. It lays out the agreed price and every detail of the job: where it picks up and delivers, when, what you're hauling, and how you'll get paid. Once you sign and send it back, it's the load-specific agreement that sits on top of the broker-carrier contract you signed when you got set up. In other words, it's binding — so read it before it's signed, not after.

The lines to check every time

• Total rate & how it breaks down — confirm the linehaul plus any fuel surcharge add up to the number you agreed to on the phone. Brokers make mistakes; a $200 gap is real money.
• Pickup & delivery appointments — exact dates, times, and whether they're appointment or first-come-first-served. A "must deliver by" you can't physically make is a problem to catch now.
• Commodity, weight & equipment — make sure the weight is legal for your setup and the trailer type matches. Overweight surprises are yours to eat at the scale.
• Reference / PO / BOL numbers — these have to match your paperwork or your invoice gets kicked back.
• Accessorials — detention, layover, TONU (truck ordered not used), and lumper reimbursement. If it isn't written here, it's hard to collect. See our guide on getting paid detention.
• Payment terms — how many days to pay, and whether quick pay or factoring is allowed.
• Special instructions — driver check-in steps, lumper policy, required apps, fines for late check calls or missed appointments.

Why the details matter

Most of the money carriers lose isn't on the linehaul — it's on the stuff buried in the rate con. A detention clause that requires you to notify the broker within an hour, a chargeback for a missed delivery window, a lumper you weren't told you'd pay: all of it is on the page if you look. Catching it before you book is the difference between a profitable lane and a break-even one.

How TruckSpot Dispatch handles rate cons

TruckSpot Dispatch reads incoming rate cons automatically — pulling the rate, stops, appointment times, weight and reference numbers straight into the load so nothing gets retyped or missed. It flags accessorial terms and tracks them through to the invoice, so the detention and lumper money you're owed actually gets billed. It's part of a full dispatch, settlements, IFTA and driver-app platform — and it's ELD-agnostic with a free 14-day trial.

Stop missing rate-con money — free 14-day trial →

Frequently asked questions