Detention Engine: Automated Proof of Detention From Arrival to Claim

Detention costs the U.S. trucking industry an estimated $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion annually, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Most of it goes unrecovered because drivers lack the documentation to prove how long they waited. Guardian Visibility's Detention Engine automates the entire process — from arrival detection to claim submission.

The system uses GPS-based geofencing to detect when a trailer arrives at a facility, calculates exact dwell time, and generates timestamped proof reports. No manual check-in calls, no paper logs, no estimating how long you sat at a dock.

Here's how it works: every facility in our database has a geofence — a virtual boundary defined by GPS coordinates and radius. When a trailer's GPS signal crosses that boundary, the system logs the arrival with timestamp, coordinates, and facility identification. When the trailer departs, it calculates total dwell time and determines whether the stop exceeded the facility's free time allowance.

Detention proof reports include arrival and departure timestamps with GPS verification, facility identification, total dwell time, and any driver-captured evidence such as photos of dock conditions, appointment confirmation screenshots, or BOL timestamps. Reports are generated as professional documents suitable for broker submission.

The engine supports the full detention lifecycle. Events move through defined stages: arrival detected, free time started, detention threshold crossed, departure logged, report generated, claim submitted, claim in review, and claim resolved. Staff can configure free time windows, detention rate schedules, and auto-escalation rules per broker or facility.

For carriers in the Guardian Visibility network, detention stops being money left on the table and becomes a documented, recoverable cost.