Rate confirmation
Also: Rate con · Load confirmation · Carrier confirmation
A rate confirmation is the document a freight broker sends a carrier to confirm one load: the pickup and delivery stops with dates and appointment windows, the equipment, the commodity and weight, the agreed rate and accessorial terms, and the reference numbers; signed by the carrier, it is the contract for that load under the broker-carrier agreement.
The rate confirmation is the most-read document in a brokerage: ops writes it, the carrier reads it and signs it, the driver works from it, AP audits the invoice against it, and everyone consults it when something goes wrong. It is one page, sometimes two, and it should contain everything the carrier needs to do the job without a phone call.
What is on it:
| Section | What it settles |
|---|---|
| Parties | Broker and carrier, with MC numbers and contacts |
| References | Broker’s load number, shipper’s PO or reference, sometimes the BOL number |
| Stops | Pickup and delivery addresses, dates, appointment windows, contact names, live or drop |
| Freight | Commodity, weight, pieces or pallets, equipment type, temperature if reefer, hazmat if any |
| Rate | Linehaul, fuel included or separate, total |
| Accessorials | Detention terms (free time, hourly rate), TONU, layover, lumper handling |
| Instructions | Check-call expectations, tracking requirements, POD requirements, seal rules |
| Terms | Reference to the carrier agreement, no re-brokering, payment terms, penalties |
Increasingly the instructions section also carries the consent language for automated status texts and calls to the driver, because under US law those require the carrier’s prior express consent and the rate confirmation is the document the carrier signs on every load.
The fields on a rate confirmation are also the fields a brokerage keys into its TMS, and, when it receives rate confirmations from other brokers or from a shipper’s system, keys again. Reading them automatically is one of the clearest wins in freight document processing because the document is short, structured and consequential.
Related terms
Guides that use this term
- 10DLC for freight brokers: registering to text drivers, step by step
- Carrier identity theft: when the MC is clean and the truck is not theirs
- Detention claims that get paid: the packet, the timing, the arithmetic
- Double brokering: how to spot it, prevent it, and report it
- Freight audit and payment: what it is, what it checks, in-house or outsourced
- How to audit a carrier invoice against the rate confirmation
- Load boards for freight brokers: posting, covering, and not getting burned
- Rate confirmation vs. bill of lading: what each one does
- Every field on a rate confirmation, and the ones that start disputes
- Texting truck drivers legally: consent, TCPA, 10DLC, STOP and quiet hours
Updated September 11, 2026 · All terms