Rate confirmation (rate con)
A rate confirmation, or "rate con", is the short contract a freight broker sends a carrier for one load. It sets the price, the stops and the rules you agree to when you sign it.
What a rate con is
When a broker books your truck, the price you agree on the phone is only a starting point. The broker then emails a rate confirmation. Once you sign and return it, that document is what both sides point to when there is a dispute about pay, waiting time, fines or a damaged load. Many brokers also have a longer broker-carrier agreement you signed when you set up with them; the rate con usually adds load-specific terms on top of it, and it can say that its own terms win where the two conflict.
Under federal rules a broker is a person who, for compensation, arranges or offers to arrange truck transportation by an authorized motor carrier (49 CFR 371.2). The broker is not the shipper and is not your customer's agent in the same way a dispatcher is. That is why the paperwork between you matters: it is the only place your pay terms are written.
What a complete rate con usually shows
- Who: broker legal name, MC and USDOT numbers, a phone number and an email address you can verify.
- The load: load or reference number, commodity, weight, equipment type, and for a reefer the temperature setting.
- Where and when: each pickup and delivery address with a set appointment or first-come, first-served window.
- Money: line haul, fuel (separate or all-in), and the accessorials: detention, layover, TONU, lumper, extra stops, driver assist.
- Payment: how many days after paperwork you get paid, what paperwork is needed, and any quick-pay fee.
- Fine print: fines or deductions, tracking requirements, claims handling, setoff, indemnity and where disputes are decided.
The signed paper beats the phone call
The most common surprise is simple: the total on the rate con is lower than the number you agreed by phone, or an accessorial you discussed is missing. Read the total line before anything else. If it is wrong, ask for a corrected copy before you sign; a promise to "fix it on the back end" is not in writing.
Federal rules also give you a record to check after the fact. A broker must keep a record of each brokered shipment for three years, including the compensation it received and the freight charges it collected, and each party to the transaction has the right to review that record (49 CFR 371.3).
How the Rate Con Checker reads a rate con
The checker runs 20 rules over the text you paste. It looks for the total rate and compares it with the rate you agreed (if you type it in), checks detention, TONU, layover and lumper language, finds fines and their dollar amounts, flags setoff and claims deductions, and reads payment terms. Each finding is marked red flag, flag, not found, OK or note. The score starts at 100 and drops 15 points per red flag, 6 per flag and 4 per item not found; 90 and up is an A. The grade is a quick reading aid, not a judgment of the broker.
The pages in this glossary explain each term the checker looks for, what the wording usually means, and what you can ask the broker to change.