Trucking cost per mile calculator

How the calculator works

Every cost of running a truck falls into one of two groups.

Fixed costs arrive every month whether the wheels turn or not: truck and trailer payments, insurance, plates and permits, your ELD and phone, accounting, parking. The calculator adds them and divides by your monthly miles.

Running costs grow with every mile: fuel, maintenance, tires, tolls. Fuel per mile is the diesel price divided by your miles per gallon. Maintenance and tires go in as cents per mile, because they wear with distance. Tolls and other running costs are entered per month and spread over your miles.

Cost per mile = fixed costs / miles + fuel + maintenance + tires + (tolls + other) / miles.

Use total miles, loaded and empty. Your truck burns fuel and wears tires on both, and the payment doesn't care which miles were paid.

A worked example

An owner-operator runs 9,000 miles a month. The truck payment is $2,200, insurance $1,300, and other fixed costs add up to $520. Diesel is $3.90 a gallon at 6.5 mpg, maintenance is set aside at 18 cents a mile and tires at 4 cents, plus $350 a month in tolls and other running costs.

Fixed ($4,020 / 9,000 mi)

$0.45

Fuel ($3.90 / 6.5 mpg)

$0.60

Maintenance and tires

$0.22

Tolls and other ($350 / 9,000 mi)

$0.04

Cost per mile

$1.31

The month costs about $11,750 to run, before the owner's own pay.

At $1.31 a mile, a 2,500-mile week needs about $3,260 in gross just to break even. Any load that pays less than $1.31 for every mile it takes, empty miles included, loses money.

Reading your result

Your cost per mile is your floor. Every rate you accept should sit above it once empty miles are counted, and the gap is what pays you and builds a repair fund. To test a real offer against it, use the load profitability calculator. To turn your cost and target margin into the number to ask a broker for, use the counter-offer target rate calculator.

Look at the chart too. If fuel is the biggest slice, mpg and route choices are where savings hide. If fixed costs are the biggest slice, more miles each month will lower your cost faster than anything else.

Costs people forget

• Maintenance set-asides. Oil changes are easy to remember. The brake job, the clutch and the DPF cleaning are not. Put money aside per mile so they don't arrive as surprises.
• Tires. Steer and drive tires are expensive, and they wear by the mile.
• Down days. A week in the shop still has a truck payment. Fixed costs spread over fewer miles push your cost per mile up.
• Your own pay. If the business only breaks even when you work for free, it isn't breaking even.
• Taxes. Set money aside each quarter. Our quarterly estimated tax calculator gives a rough figure.

If you're still deciding whether to buy, the semi truck down payment guide shows how the purchase price turns into a monthly payment, the biggest fixed cost for most owner-operators. Our guide to roadside assistance for semi trucks covers what to plan for when the truck stops on the road.

Planning for a big repair

The calculator assumes your maintenance set-aside covers what breaks. A major failure, like an engine or transmission, can cost far more than a few cents a mile will save in a year. Some owners build a separate repair fund; others look at breakdown protection plans. Whatever you choose, know the number before it happens.

New authority?

Costs hit hardest in the first months, when broker setups take time and the truck may sit between loads. Our page on dispatch for new authorities explains how we help new carriers keep the truck moving. Keep this number handy: it's your floor when a broker quotes a rate.