Recourse windows
Non-recourse rarely means what carriers think. Most agreements shift the invoice back to you if the broker does not pay within a defined window — often 60 or 90 days. Know the window before you sign.
Reserve holdbacks
A 3% rate with a 10% reserve is not a 3% rate until the reserve is released. Ask when reserves release, under what conditions, and what happens to them at termination.
Minimum volume penalties
Monthly minimums penalize you exactly when business is slow — the moment cash matters most. If your volume is seasonal, a minimum can quietly cost more than the rate itself.
Termination notice and tail periods
Some contracts require 60 to 90 days notice, auto-renew annually, and continue taking a fee on invoices for a tail period after termination. This is the clause carriers regret most.
Fees beneath the rate
ACH and wire fees, invoice-processing fees, credit-check fees, monthly minimums and same-day funding surcharges. Model the effective rate on a realistic month of your own volume — not the headline number.
This is the thinking behind factoring assistance and billing & invoicing — the same analysis, run for you every week instead of read about once.
It applies hardest to box truck freight and power only freight, where the margin is thin enough that the arithmetic decides the week.
Want this applied to your trucks instead of read about? Our dispatchers run this analysis on every account, every week. Book a free audit and we will run it on your last ten loads.