Short answer
A rate confirmation is the load-level agreement between a broker and a carrier. Before dispatch, check 15 things: load number and version, carrier identity, rate, accessorials, detention and TONU terms, stops, appointment times, time zones, equipment, freight details, references, payment terms, special instructions, and a signature on the latest version.
Why the rate con deserves five minutes
The rate con is the document the carrier gets paid from and the one everyone pulls up when something goes wrong. If the delivery time is wrong on it, the driver shows up at the wrong time. If detention isn’t on it, you negotiate detention with a carrier who already has your freight. Our rate confirmation glossary entry covers the basic definition.
It’s also part of your record. Under 49 CFR 371.3, brokers must keep a record of each transaction for three years, including the carrier, the bill of lading number, the broker’s compensation and the freight charges paid to the carrier. Each party to a brokered transaction has the right to review that record.
The documents that feed a rate con are messier than most people expect. At Bronco Logistics, our design partner, the documents arrived in three unrelated formats, and a third of them carried no price. On one load, a revised rate con arrived 33 minutes after the first one, with a different rate. Anyone working from the first email would have booked the wrong number.
The 15-point rate confirmation checklist
Run this on every rate con before the carrier is dispatched, and again whenever a new version goes out.
| # | Check | What to confirm | Common miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Load number and version | Your load number, the rate con version and the date and time it was issued | Two versions in circulation with no way to tell which is current |
| 2 | Carrier identity | Legal name, MC and DOT numbers, and dispatcher contact match your carrier record and the carrier packet | A lookalike name or a new email address nobody verified |
| 3 | Rate | Linehaul amount, currency, and whether it’s all-in or plus fuel | Rate agreed on the phone differs from the document |
| 4 | Accessorials | Each accessorial listed with an amount or rule: stop-offs, driver assist, lumper handling | Accessorials left off, then billed after delivery |
| 5 | Detention and layover terms | Free time, when the clock starts, hourly rate, increment, cap, layover amount and notice rule | “Detention paid per customer” with no numbers |
| 6 | TONU terms | Amount and the cancellation cutoff that triggers it | No cutoff, so every cancellation becomes an argument |
| 7 | Stops and addresses | Facility name, full street address, dock or gate notes for every pickup and delivery, in order | A billing address used as the delivery address |
| 8 | Appointment times | Appointment, window or first-come-first-served for each stop, with the carrier’s times | Customer’s delivery window sent instead of the booked appointment |
| 9 | Time zones | The local time zone stated for every stop | A pickup in Central time and delivery in Mountain time, both written with no zone |
| 10 | Equipment | Trailer type and length, reefer temperature and run mode, tarps, straps or other requirements | Reefer setpoint missing or in the wrong unit |
| 11 | Freight details | Commodity, weight, piece or pallet count, and anything hazardous or high value | Declared value above the carrier’s cargo coverage |
| 12 | Reference numbers | PO, pickup, delivery and BOL numbers the facilities and customer will ask for | Driver turned away at the gate for a missing pickup number |
| 13 | Payment terms | Pay terms, quick pay option and fee, required documents for payment, invoice address, factoring instructions | Carrier invoices without the POD and waits for payment |
| 14 | Special instructions | Tracking requirement, no re-brokering clause, driver PPE, seal rules, check-in steps | Tracking required but never written down |
| 15 | Signatures | Carrier signature and date on the latest version, and the signed copy saved to the load | Signed copy of an earlier version, or a signature on file for a different carrier |
Adapt the list to your broker-carrier agreement. Terms in that agreement may apply even when the rate con is silent.
Versions: the rate con that changed after it was signed
Rate cons change. The shipper adds a stop, the appointment moves, the carrier asks for more money after a long wait at pickup. Each change should produce a new version, and the old version stays as it was.
Three rules keep versions under control:
- One current version. Number every version and mark older ones as superseded. Never have two “final” PDFs in the same email thread.
- A new signature for a new version. A signature on version 1 doesn’t cover the rate on version 2. Don’t dispatch until the latest version is signed.
- A carrier swap voids the old rate con. If the carrier falls off, the new carrier gets its own rate con, and the old one is kept, marked void, with the reason.
The same discipline applies to documents you receive. When a revised tender or rate con arrives on a load you already booked, compare it with what’s on the load before anyone rebooks. The 33-minute revision above is exactly the kind of change that creates a double booking.
Time zones and appointment times
A lane from Chicago to Denver crosses from Central to Mountain time. If the rate con says pickup 07:00 and delivery 06:00 with no zones, the driver, the dispatcher and your team can each read it differently. Write every time in the stop’s local time and label the zone.
Check the appointment type too. An appointment, a delivery window and first-come-first-served aren’t interchangeable, and a carrier planning a tight appointment needs the real one. Keep the carrier’s appointment separate from the customer’s window when they differ. The carrier needs the time it’s being held to.
Then sanity-check the timing against hours of service. A property-carrying driver may drive 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty. A delivery time that only works if the driver never stops will be missed.
Detention, TONU and payment terms that hold up
Vague accessorial language causes most rate con disputes. “Detention paid per customer” doesn’t tell the carrier anything. Write the free time, when the clock starts, the hourly rate, the billing increment, the cap and how the carrier must notify you. Do the same for TONU: the amount and the cancellation cutoff. Our accessorial charges guide walks through the math.
Payment terms should say how many days, what quick pay costs, and exactly which documents the carrier must send to get paid: signed POD, BOL, lumper receipts, invoice. If the carrier factors its invoices, make sure the payee on file matches the factoring company’s notice of assignment.
Carrier identity checks before you send
The rate con is also where freight fraud shows up. Before sending, confirm the carrier’s operating status on FMCSA’s SAFER company snapshot and check that the MC number, legal name and contact details match your carrier packet. A new email domain or a changed phone number on a known carrier deserves a call to the number you already have on file.
Add a clause that prohibits re-brokering. Brokering requires registration and financial security under 49 U.S.C. 14916, and a carrier that hands your load to someone else puts your freight in the hands of a company you never vetted. See our double brokering glossary entry for the warning signs.
A rate confirmation template, section by section
If you’re building or fixing your rate confirmation template, lay it out in this order so the carrier finds each item where they expect it.
Header
Your company letterhead, MC number, load number, version number, and issue date and time.
Parties
Broker contact for this load, carrier legal name, MC and DOT numbers, dispatcher name, phone and email, and driver name and phone once known.
Equipment and freight
Trailer type and length, temperature settings, securement, commodity, weight, count and any hazmat or high-value notes.
Stops
One block per stop in order: facility, address, local time with zone, appointment type, reference numbers and stop instructions.
Rates and accessorials
Linehaul, fuel if separate, each agreed accessorial and the total. Then detention, layover and TONU rules in numbers.
Terms
Payment terms and required documents, tracking requirement, no re-brokering, and a reference to your broker-carrier agreement.
Signature block
Carrier signer’s name, title, signature and date, with a line stating that this version replaces all earlier versions.
Don't dispatch on an unsigned or outdated rate con
A verbal yes on the phone isn’t a signed rate con. If pickup is close and the latest version isn’t signed, hold dispatch and call the carrier. An hour spent chasing a signature is cheaper than a rate dispute on a load that already delivered.
How FreightVero handles rate cons
These are live today in the FreightVero broker TMS. Rate confirmations are generated in your company’s format, with your letterhead and terms, carrying the carrier’s times. Changing terms creates a new version, and versions can’t be edited or deleted. Dispatch requires the latest version signed, with the signed copy uploaded to the load (there’s no e-signature today). That rule is one of the checkpoints enforced in the database. A carrier swap voids the old rate con and keeps the history. Stop time zones come from the address, and an alert fires when pickup is near and the rate con isn’t signed.
AI intake is in development. It’s designed to read incoming rate cons and air-freight delivery orders, draft a load with the source text next to each field, flag revised rates and re-sent documents, and wait for a person to confirm. The review screen hasn’t shipped yet. See AI load entry for status.
Related terms and guides
See the dispatch checkpoint
See how FreightVero holds dispatch until the latest rate con version is signed and uploaded.
