Service · Freight audit & payment
Recover the dollars hiding inside invoices you're already paying.
CPC audits your freight invoices line by line — rates, accessorials, fuel surcharges, and minimum charges — recovers the overcharges, then renegotiates the terms that produced them. The audit costs nothing upfront. We're paid only from the savings we deliver.
$0 upfront · No savings, no fee · ROI guaranteed within six months or the fee is refunded.
Freight audit · illustrative
Based on CPC's 22% average net client savings — not a guarantee.
If the audit finds no savings, you owe nothing — and keep the analysis.
What gets audited
Every charge on the invoice, checked against your contract.
Freight audit and payment is where recurring overcharges live. We validate each line item against the tariff you negotiated — not against the carrier's preferred format.
The audit process
From raw invoices to savings that hold.
A structured, repeatable process — not a one-off review. Each step is designed to find recoverable dollars and then close the leak that let them out.
- 01
Data intake
We collect 6–12 months of freight invoices, carrier contracts, accessorial schedules, and fuel-surcharge tables. No spend data cleanup required to start.
- 02
Invoice normalization
Carrier formats vary wildly. We standardize every invoice into one auditable record so like charges can be compared like-for-like.
- 03
Validation engine
Each line item is checked against your contracted tariff — rate, base, discount, accessorial, fuel surcharge, and minimum-charge rules.
- 04
Variance & recovery
Overcharges, duplicate bills, reweighs, and misapplied minimums are flagged. Recoverable dollars are identified and pursued back to the carrier.
- 05
Benchmark & renegotiate
Validated charges are compared to market. We negotiate corrected terms — not just credits, but the structures that produced the leak.
- 06
Implementation & monitoring
Routing guides and TMS controls are updated, then re-audited quarterly so the savings hold instead of eroding back.
Carrier negotiation tactics
Recover the overcharge. Then fix the structure that caused it.
A credit for last quarter's overcharge is a start. CPC renegotiates the underlying terms so the same charge doesn't recur next quarter.
Rate-structure correction
Defective discount tables and floating base rates are rebuilt as transparent base-rate-plus models, so a 'discount' can no longer hide a higher net.
Accessorial control
Detention, liftgate, residential, and reweigh fees are capped, standardized, and matched to contract — the line items where invoices most often drift.
Fuel-surcharge audit
FSC is reconciled to published indexes and correct base dates. Floating bases that quietly inflate surcharges are identified and corrected.
Minimum-charge audit
Minimums applied above the actual contract rate are caught and recovered — a common, hard-to-spot source of repeated overcharge.
Mode & misclassification fix
Freight-class and density errors that inflate LTL are corrected at the source, preventing the same overcharge from recurring.
Negotiation with leverage
Market bids are brought to bear on corrected terms. Because CPC works exclusively for shippers — never carriers — your rates are never shopped against you.
Contingency fee structure
We only earn when your freight bill actually drops.
Most audit firms bill for processing volume whether or not they find anything. CPC is paid out of realized savings, so our incentive and yours point in exactly the same direction.
Average net client savings: 22%. Average project ROI: 7:1. These are averages across engagements, not a guarantee for any single program.
- $0 upfrontThe audit, the analysis, and the savings proposal cost you nothing. No retainers, no hourly billing, no obligation to proceed.
- Fee from realized savings onlyWhen the program takes effect, CPC's fee is carved out of the dollars we actually save you — funded by money you weren't keeping.
- No savings, no feeIf the audit doesn't uncover real, measurable savings, you walk away owing nothing. You keep the analysis either way.
- Six-month ROI guaranteeCPC guarantees a return on investment within six months — or refunds the entire fee. Combined with a savings-only fee, the downside is zero.
Send the invoices. Keep the recovery.
Six to twelve months of freight invoices is all it takes to find out what you're overpaying. The audit is free, the proposal is free, and if there are no savings, there is no fee.