⏱️ Detention Transparency Calculator

How to read your detention transparency estimate

Detention is one of the most disputed line items in freight. A driver sits for hours, the shipper is invoiced one rate, and the carrier is paid another — and the gap is often invisible to everyone except the broker in the middle. This calculator puts those two numbers side by side so the difference is at least visible and documentable.

Free time (commonly the first two hours) is subtracted from total detention hours first, because that is how most contracts bill detention. The remaining billable hours are multiplied by each rate to estimate what the shipper is billed and what the carrier is paid. The difference is shown as an estimated margin — but only if these rates are accurate.

What the margin does and does not mean

A positive margin is normal and often legitimate: brokers carry the credit risk of collecting detention, absorb disputes, and may have negotiated terms that retain a share. The estimate becomes useful when you have verified documentation — a signed rate confirmation showing the carrier rate and an invoice or accessorial schedule showing the shipper rate. Until then, this is an estimate only, and you should not claim the broker kept money based on it.

Use it to ask better questions: confirm the free-time policy, confirm both detention rates in writing, and keep the estimate with your paperwork so the conversation is grounded in numbers rather than assumptions.

Estimates only. This tool does not provide legal, financial, tax, compliance, or insurance advice, and it cannot prove that a broker, shipper, or any party kept detention money. Results hold only if the rates entered are accurate. Verify against signed rate confirmations and invoices before acting on them.