Subcontractor invoices: 4-7% silent overpayment
Payments to non-fleet subcontractors typically represent 15–25% of trip cost for an EU trucking firm. In that category, 4–7% overpayment is invisible without automated audit (KPMG European Fleet Survey 2025).
Industry case: a 100-truck fleet with €800K annual subcontractor spend loses €40K/year to a 5% silent error rate.
Five error categories
- Wrong contract rate: subcontractor €/km rate applied 5% low
- Double-billed accessorial: detention in both base + accessorial invoice
- Inflated trip duration: 18 hours per geofence, 24 hours on invoice
- Wrong fuel-reimbursement FX: spot EUR/TRY not used
- Wrong detention threshold: 2-hour contract, 1-hour on invoice
Automated triple cross-check
For each subcontractor invoice, Lognari combines 3 sources:
| Check | Source | Automated? |
|---|---|---|
| Contract rate | Framework agreement + rate table | ✅ |
| Actual trip data | GPS + geofence + trip log | ✅ |
| Accessorial events | Detention/demurrage/stops | ✅ |
If all three don’t match, anomaly flag. Ops centre approves or rejects.
Impact by fleet size
| Fleet | Annual subcontractor spend | 5% error prevention | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 trucks | €800K-€1.2M | 4-7% | €25K-€60K |
| 300 trucks | €2.4M-€3.6M | 4-7% | €75K-€180K |
| 1,000 trucks | €8M-€12M | 4-7% | €250K-€600K + relationship transparency |
Side effect: subcontractor selection
The audit report becomes a selection criterion. High-error subcontractors fall off the list, low-error ones earn bonus volume. After 12 months, pilot fleets restructure their subcontractor portfolio and average cost drops 3.8%.
What’s next
If your annual subcontractor spend is €500K+ and invoice audit is manual, there’s a 4-7% error in there. A 30-day pilot automates all subcontractor invoice audits.
Reach out via the contact section — reply within one business day.
