The check call exists because nobody wrote the time down.
Automating it with a voice agent is a real improvement and it is the answer every source gives. It is also a cheaper version of a workaround. The reason a dispatcher rings a driver to ask what time he arrived is that the arrival was never recorded anywhere a payer would accept, and a robot asking the same question produces the same kind of answer.
Below: what the contracts actually require, taken word for word, and why a logged phone call satisfies none of it.
How do I automate carrier check calls with AI?
With a voice agent that dials on a schedule, handles the phone menu, asks for status, extracts the answer and writes it into the TMS. Several vendors do this well and the hours it gives back to a dispatch team are real. We are not going to pretend otherwise, and if the phone is your bottleneck you should buy one.
- 01 / 04
The agent calls and logs a status
Location, ETA, loaded or empty, written back to the load record without anyone typing. The dispatcher stops spending the afternoon on hold, and the load record is current the next time anyone opens it.
- 02 / 04
Your visibility problem is solved
The customer asking where their shipment is gets an answer, and nobody spent an afternoon on hold to produce it. For visibility alone, that is the whole job, and the automation does it well.
- 03 / 04
Your billing problem is not
The status came from a person on a phone. No shipper or receiver signed it, and a signed or stamped time is what the accessorial clause in the contracts we read asks for, not a spoken one.
- 04 / 04
The gap shows up ninety days later
When the detention invoice is disputed, the question is not what the driver said. It is who recorded the time and whether the facility acknowledged it, and a call log cannot answer either one.
Does an automated check call help a detention claim?
No, on its own. Here is what the contracts we read actually condition payment on. Read the right-hand column: not one of them can be satisfied by a status update captured over the phone, however accurately it was transcribed.
| What the contract requires | Source | Satisfied by a check call? |
|---|---|---|
| “To be eligible for detention pay, drivers must obtain accurate in and out times that are stamped or written on the Bill of Lading (BOL) by the receiver or shipper.” | Leonard's Express, executed rate confirmation, order 2453170, page 2 | No |
| “To be eligible for detention pay, the Carrier's driver must obtain preapproval authorization by contacting the Broker […], and further in order to receive the detention pay Carrier must provide accurate “in and out times” stamped or written on the bill of lading by the receiver or the shipper.” | Leonard's Express, executed rate confirmation, order 2453170, page 5 | No |
| “Failure of driver to accept tracking will result in the denial of detention. Additionally, Leonard's Express will have the authority to deduct up to $150.00 from the contracted rate stated within this contract.” | Leonard's Express, executed rate confirmation, order 2453170, page 1 | No |
| “Carrier will not be entitled to detention charges when Carrier arrives at the location of loading or unloading after the scheduled appointment time.” | Campbell's, motor carrier accessorial exhibit, Exhibit 2, Accessorial Charges and Fuel Recovery, page 4 | No |
This is not an argument against voice agents. It is an argument about which problem you just solved. A brokerage that automates check calls and still writes off detention has bought back dispatcher hours, which is worth money, and has changed nothing about the invoice that keeps getting refused.
What should you capture instead of asking for it?
The same three facts the call is fishing for, recorded where the contract says they have to be. Arrival and departure as two separate times rather than one, each carrying its source, and the receiver’s acknowledgement on the document itself rather than in a call log.
- The two times, kept apart. Most proof of delivery forms leave the pair blank, and detention is the gap between them. catuh’s agents record both at the stop, so a missing departure time is noticed while the driver is still there.
- The source of each time. A gate log, an ELD ping and a hand entry carry different weight in a dispute, and a claim that says which is which survives questioning that an anonymous timestamp does not.
- The preapproval, at the dock. Not at invoicing. The contract above makes it a condition, and it is the one thing a driver can still fix while sitting there.
Before a detention line is invoiced, catuh’s agents check it against the document that supports it: the in and out times on the BOL and the preapproval. A claim the paperwork cannot support is held back for a person before anyone spends a week chasing it.
What counts as a valid proof of delivery if a customer disputes a shipment?
A proof of delivery that survives a dispute records arrival and departure as two separate times, acknowledged by the receiver or shipper. Most POD forms leave that pair blank, so the dispute turns on whatever else exists. Leonard’s Express, in its executed rate confirmation, requires times “stamped or written on the Bill of Lading (BOL) by the receiver or shipper” (page 2). A time the driver reports by phone is not that.
What evidence helps me win an accessorial charge dispute with a carrier?
The evidence that wins an accessorial charge dispute is whatever the contract names, recorded at the facility rather than reconstructed afterward. In the contracts we read, that is in and out times on the BOL from the receiver or shipper, preapproval from the broker, and arrival before the scheduled appointment. Add the source of each time: a gate log, an ELD ping and a hand entry carry different weight in a dispute.
How does proof of delivery affect when we can bill and get paid?
Proof of delivery sets the pace of billing because the paperwork has to arrive before the money can be requested. Leonard’s Express requires BOLs within 24 hours, or the next full business day for weekend deliveries, for detention to be requested, and denies it otherwise. It also applies a $100 rate reduction if all pages are not legible and submitted within 7 days. How long a payer takes to release payment after the POD arrives varies by contract, and the contracts we read set the carrier-side deadline rather than the payer-side one.
Frequently asked questions
How do I automate carrier check calls with AI?
With a voice agent that dials the carrier on a schedule, navigates the phone menu, asks for status, extracts the answer and writes it into your TMS, escalating anything unusual to a person. That pattern works and several vendors do it well. What it changes is how much time your team spends on the phone; what it does not change is whether the times it collects are worth anything when a payer disputes the charge.
Does an automated check call help a detention claim?
No, on its own. Every executed contract we read conditions detention on something other than a spoken status update. Leonard’s Express requires the in and out times to be stamped or written on the bill of lading by the receiver or shipper, and requires preapproval from the broker before the detention runs. A voice agent’s log saying the driver reported arriving at eight satisfies neither. The call tells you where the truck is. It does not create the record that gets the waiting paid for.
What is the best AI software for track and trace updates?
It depends whether your problem is visibility or billing, and those have different answers. If dispatchers are burning hours on the phone, a voice agent or a tracking platform pays for itself quickly. If the money is leaking on accessorials that get disputed, more status updates will not recover it, because the payer is not asking where the truck was. They are asking who wrote the time down and whether the receiver signed it.
Why do carriers refuse location tracking?
Usually because nothing on their side improves when they accept it, and it is one more app on a driver’s phone. It is worth knowing the cost: the Leonard’s Express rate confirmation we read in October 2026 denies detention outright if the driver does not accept tracking, and allows a deduction of up to $150 from the agreed rate on top. Tracking is not only the broker’s convenience; refusing it forfeits money the carrier has already earned.
References
Every figure and every quotation on this page traces to one of these. Each was retrieved and read rather than cited second hand.
Which problem are you actually buying for?
If it is dispatcher hours on the phone, buy a voice agent and we will tell you which ones sell to an operation your size. If it is accessorials you bill and never collect, that is a capture problem and it is what we do. Most operations have both and have only priced one.
And ask the question underneath both: does your answer change depending on which dispatcher took the load? If it does, that is the cost nobody has counted.