WaitPaid

Idea

An accessorial billing copilot that gets small trucking carriers actually paid for detention, TONU, and layover time instead of just tracking it. WaitPaid reads a driver's rate confirmation with AI to pull out the detention and accessorial terms before the load even rolls, times the wait, turns it into a broker-ready itemized invoice, and chases the unpaid ones on a set schedule so the driver does not have to.

Market gap

The apps that exist today for this problem stop at the stopwatch. Detention Source and DMRG Detention Pay auto-log arrival and departure time with GPS and send a notification, but neither one generates an invoice, checks whether the rate confirmation even has an enforceable detention clause, or follows up once a broker goes quiet. DockClaim covers the category with a detention calculator, a claim form template, and buyer's guides, but it is content and tools, not an automated product. The work of turning a logged wait into a paid invoice still lands entirely on the driver.

The timing favors closing that gap now. FMCSA's Broker and Freight Forwarder Financial Responsibility final rule took effect January 16, 2026, raising the bar on broker bonding and giving carriers firmer ground to press unpaid claims. OOIDA has spent over a decade pushing FMCSA to mandate broker-paid detention, and the debate is still live. A tool that turns that new leverage into an actual invoice and a real follow-up process, not just a log of wait time, is landing at the right moment.

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

Bottom-up, with assumptions stated:

• Active US motor carriers (FMCSA, 2025): approximately 2.1 million total, per a 2025 compilation of FMCSA registration data (maxdispatchservice.com).
• Share operating 10 or fewer trucks: 91.5%, per the American Trucking Associations' 2025 American Trucking Trends report (cited via FleetOwner's Trucking By the Numbers 2025). That is roughly 1.92 million small carriers.
• Assumption: that figure includes private fleets and intrastate-only operators who rarely deal with broker rate confirmations. We estimate for-hire interstate carriers who regularly book brokered freight, the group actually exposed to accessorial disputes, at roughly 25% of the small-carrier population, a conservative split given private fleets make up a large share of DOT-registered small operations. That is approximately 480,000 for-hire small carriers.
• SAM: of those, we estimate 40% run spot-market or mixed-freight lanes rather than fixed dedicated contracts with pre-negotiated detention terms, the segment most exposed to accessorial disputes. That is approximately 192,000 carriers.
• ACV: blended $300 a year, based on a mix of the $29/mo Starter plan (single-truck operators, who are 66.2% of all carriers per atob.com's 2026 owner-operator statistics) and the $19/truck/mo Fleet plan.
• TAM = 192,000 x $300 = $57.6M a year in subscription revenue, before recovery success fees.
• SOM (year 3, realistic): capture 2% of SAM, about 3,840 trucks, at $300 ACV = $1.15M ARR in subscriptions, plus recovery fees layered on top with no added acquisition cost.

Monetization strategy

Per-truck subscription for the core product (rate-con parsing, time logging, invoice generation, reminders), plus a success fee that only fires when the automated escalation actually recovers money the broker was sitting on. The subscription pays for the tool being used every load. The success fee aligns WaitPaid's incentive with the driver's: get paid, not just logged.

Pricing strategy

• Starter: $29/mo flat, one truck. The entry point, sized for the 66% of carriers running a single truck.
• Fleet: $19/truck/mo, 2 to 10 trucks. The anchor plan, with a shared dashboard across all trucks.
• Recovery add-on, either tier: 15% success fee, charged only on dollars collected through the automated escalation and follow-up flow. Invoices the broker pays on the first ask cost nothing extra.

Lead magnet

A free, no-signup Rate Confirmation Detention Clause Checker. Upload a photo or PDF of the rate confirmation and get an instant read on whether it carries an enforceable detention or accessorial clause, plus a ready-to-send message asking the broker to add one before the driver accepts the load. This mirrors the exact advice drivers already give each other in trucking forums: get it in writing before you roll, or the invoice just gets delayed.

Social proof that the problem exists

1. A TruckersReport forum thread where drivers describe brokers refusing to pay detention and warn each other that "if it's not in writing (rate sheet), the best thing you will accomplish by adding something to the invoice will be a delayed payment." https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/providing-motivation-to-get-detention-pay.147840/
2. Fleetworks.ai reports that while 94.5% of fleets charge detention fees, fewer than 50% actually collect, with poor documentation and disputed arrival times as the leading reasons claims get denied. https://www.fleetworks.ai/resources/detention-fees-trucking
3. FreightWaves covers OOIDA's decade-long push for FMCSA to mandate broker-paid detention, including proposed rates of $100/hr to the driver after a two-hour free window. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/truckers-push-fmcsa-to-make-brokers-pay-for-detention-time
4. CDLLife reports FMCSA's Broker and Freight Forwarder Financial Responsibility final rule took effect January 16, 2026, tightening the regulatory environment around brokers who withhold payment from carriers. https://cdllife.com/2026/fmcsa-rule-to-crack-down-on-freight-brokers-who-dont-pay-truckers-now-in-effect/
5. DMRG Detention Pay has real installs and 5.0-star ratings on the App Store, with a user review noting "detention collected increased by double in one month," evidence that drivers will already pay for a tool that only tracks and notifies. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/detention-pay-dmrg/id6502769929

Competitors

• Detention Source: a patent-pending mobile app that auto-logs arrival and departure time by GPS, includes a pay calculator and in-app claim submission. No invoice generation, no dispute escalation, no factoring integration. Pricing is not published.
• DMRG Detention Pay: free app with a $9.99/mo add-on for reminders and export. Tracks detention automatically by geolocation and lets drivers attach a BOL, but per an independent review has no GPS-verified proof beyond the app itself, no invoicing, and no payment tracking. It logs the event; it does not turn the event into something the broker has to act on.
• DockClaim: a detention calculator, claim form template, and buyer's guide comparing the category. Content and tools, not an automated invoicing or follow-up product.
• Truckstop.com, eCapital, and OTR Solutions: publish educational content on detention pay and offer factoring or load-board services, but none ship a rate-con-to-invoice-to-follow-up workflow.

What competitors offer now

Geofence timers, arrival and departure logs, static pay calculators, in-app claim forms, and educational content. Nothing in the category reads the rate confirmation before the load to check whether the detention clause even exists, nothing auto-generates the actual invoice the broker has to pay, and nothing runs a scheduled follow-up once that invoice goes unanswered. Every product in this space ends at "here is your logged wait time." The driver still has to do the paperwork and the chasing.

What can be done differently to attract customers

Start before the wait happens, not after. Reading the rate confirmation up front and flagging a missing detention clause turns the app into something a driver checks before accepting a load, not just after getting stuck at a dock, which builds a habit loop the tracking-only apps do not have. Then close the loop the trackers leave open: turn the logged time into an actual invoice citing the actual clause, and keep following up on it automatically. Pricing the follow-up piece as a success fee, not a flat add-on, means WaitPaid only gets paid when the driver does, which is a distribution story trackers charging flat monthly fees for a stopwatch cannot tell.