How long does a carrier have to respond to a freight claim?
Under 49 CFR 378.8, a carrier must pay, decline, or settle a written overcharge claim within 60 days of receiving it. If the carrier declines or settles for less than requested, it must explain why in writing and cite the tariff or rate authority it relied on. The only exception is a written extension both sides agree to.
LanePilot is the LTL TMS for small shippers, not a freight broker TMS like the discontinued LoadPilot. This guide walks through the statutory deadlines that TMS is built to track.
That deadline is not a courtesy the carrier's claims department extends to you. It is a federal regulation, and it applies the same way regardless of which carrier you shipped with. What most shippers do not know is that the 60-day response clock is only one piece of a longer statutory timeline that starts well before the claim is filed and can run well past it. This guide covers the whole thing: the filing window, the 60-day response deadline, what a valid denial has to look like, and what recourse actually exists if a carrier goes quiet.
What starts the 60-day clock
The clock in 49 CFR 378.8 starts on receipt of a written claim, not on the invoice date and not on a phone call to a claims rep. A claim that never gets written down never starts the clock, which is why disputing an overcharge over the phone accomplishes nothing on the record. 49 CFR 378.4 sets the documentation baseline: the claim has to be accompanied by the freight bill and enough detail (the rate, classification, weight, or tariff authority in dispute) for the carrier to actually investigate it. A one-line email that says "this invoice looks wrong" is not a claim in the regulatory sense; a letter that names the PRO number, the disputed charge, the correct figure, and the supporting documents is. If you have not written that letter yet, our LTL freight dispute letter template covers the exact structure to use.
What the carrier has to do within 60 days
Once the claim is received, the carrier has exactly three options inside the 60-day window: pay it, decline it, or settle it for some other amount. There is no fourth option where the claim simply sits open past day 60 with no action, at least not lawfully. Two details in the regulation matter in practice:
- A denial has to be explained. If the carrier declines the claim, or settles for less than you asked, it has to notify you in writing of the reason, citing the tariff authority or the specific facts its investigation turned up. A form-letter "claim denied" with no explanation does not satisfy the regulation.
- Extensions require your written agreement. A carrier cannot unilaterally decide it needs more time. The only way the 60-day deadline moves is if you and the carrier agree in writing to a specific extension, for a stated reason. If a claims rep tells you it will "just take longer" with no written agreement from you, the 60-day deadline has not actually moved.
Why claims commonly take the full 60 days
In practice, most carrier claims departments use most of the window, even on claims that turn out to be straightforward. A few structural reasons show up across the industry generally: the claim has to route from intake to the specific terminal or region that handled the shipment, someone has to pull the original tariff or rate agreement and the terminal's reweigh or accessorial records, and claims departments process disputes from every shipper they bill, not just yours, so volume affects turnaround. None of that is a defense for a carrier that blows past day 60 with no written extension, but it explains why a claim rarely resolves in week one and why following up in writing partway through the window, rather than waiting silently until day 61, keeps a paper trail on your side.
A different clock for loss and damage claims
The 60-day deadline in 378.8 applies specifically to overcharge, duplicate payment, and overcollection claims, billing errors, not cargo loss or damage. If your claim is about freight that arrived short or damaged rather than an invoice that is wrong, a separate regulation applies: 49 CFR 370.9 gives a carrier 120 days, not 60, to pay, decline, or make a firm settlement offer on a loss or damage claim. It is worth knowing the two are different, because a shipper tracking a 60-day mental deadline on a damage claim will think the carrier is late two months before it actually is.
What happens if the carrier misses the deadline
Missing the 60-day deadline does not make the claim self-approve, and it does not automatically entitle you to the money. What it does is give you a documented regulatory violation to escalate with. The practical steps:
- Confirm the date the carrier received your written claim, so you know exactly when day 60 falls.
- Follow up in writing at day 60, noting the deadline in 49 CFR 378.8 and asking for immediate disposition.
- Escalate past the claims desk to the carrier's regional claims manager or billing management if the follow-up gets no response.
- Consider a Surface Transportation Board complaint if the underlying dispute is about whether the billed rate itself was reasonable; the STB has jurisdiction over that question under 49 U.S.C. 13710.
- Preserve your civil action deadline regardless of how the carrier responds, covered next.
The full statutory timeline, start to finish
Three separate deadlines govern an LTL billing dispute, and they run on different clocks:
- Up to 180 days from receipt of the bill to file the claim at all, under 49 U.S.C. 13710(a)(3)(B). Miss this and the carrier has a statutory basis to refuse the dispute outright. We cover this filing window in more depth in our guide to 49 U.S.C. 13710.
- 60 days from the carrier's receipt of your written claim for the carrier to pay, decline, or settle, under 49 CFR 378.8, the deadline this article covers.
- 18 months from delivery or tender of delivery as the outer statute of limitations to file a civil action, under 49 U.S.C. 14705(b) and (g). If the carrier sends a written notice disallowing your claim, that deadline extends 6 months from the date of the notice, under 14705(d). If you pursue the dispute through an STB or Secretary complaint rather than a civil action, the outer limit extends to 3 years.
Read together: file within 180 days, expect a response within 60 days of filing, and treat the 18-month mark as the legal backstop you should never actually need, because a well-documented claim resolves through the carrier's claims process long before litigation becomes relevant.
What LanePilot does
LanePilot is the LTL TMS for small shippers, not a freight broker TMS like the discontinued LoadPilot. It audits every invoice against your original quote as soon as the bill arrives, flags the overcharge, and drafts a dispute letter citing the correct statute and documentation, so the claim goes out inside the 180-day window instead of getting lost in a backlog. LanePilot also tracks the 60-day response clock once the claim is filed, so a carrier that goes quiet gets flagged instead of forgotten. LanePilot does not file, send, or negotiate the claim with the carrier on your behalf; you remain the party of record throughout the process. You can see how invoice audit and claim tracking work firsthand with a free audit, or read more about how LanePilot works.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a carrier have to respond to a freight claim?
Under 49 CFR 378.8, a carrier must pay, decline, or settle a written overcharge, duplicate payment, or overcollection claim within 60 days of receiving it, unless both sides agree in writing to extend that deadline for extenuating circumstances.
What happens if a carrier misses the 60-day deadline?
The regulation does not pay the claim for you automatically. A missed deadline is a documented violation: put the missed date in writing to the carrier, escalate to claims management, and if it stays unresolved, a Surface Transportation Board complaint or a civil action under 49 U.S.C. 14705 are the next steps.
Does the 60-day response deadline apply to loss and damage claims too?
No, a different clock applies. Loss and damage claims filed under 49 CFR 370.9 give a carrier 120 days to pay, decline, or make a firm settlement offer. Billing claims (overcharge, duplicate payment, overcollection) under 49 CFR 378.8 get the shorter 60-day deadline.
How long do I have to file the claim in the first place?
180 days from receipt of the bill to contest an overcharge, under 49 U.S.C. 13710(a)(3)(B). Separately, 49 U.S.C. 14705(b) sets an outer 18-month statute of limitations to file a civil action, running from delivery, extendable 6 months if the carrier issues a written notice of disallowance.
Can LanePilot respond to the carrier's claims department for me?
No. LanePilot is the LTL TMS for small shippers, not a freight broker TMS like the discontinued LoadPilot, and it holds no brokerage license. It tracks the deadline and drafts the claim; you remain the party of record who files it and receives the carrier's response.
The bottom line
A freight claim's timeline is not a mystery and it is not up to the carrier's discretion: 180 days to file, 60 days for the carrier to respond once you have, and an 18-month backstop if it ever needs to go to court. The part that actually costs shippers money is rarely the deadline itself, it is not knowing it exists, filing late, or letting a carrier's silence past day 60 go unchallenged because nobody was tracking the date.