Free tool
Cost per mile calculator
Enter one period of costs and the distance you ran in it. The tool splits fixed from variable, gives your cost per mile, and compares it with the rate you charge.
Use the same period as the costs below: one month, one quarter, or one year.
Your cost per mile
—
This is your break-even: every mile you run below this rate loses money, before any profit.
- Fixed, per mile
- —
- Variable, per mile
- —
No industry averages are built in on purpose. Every published average is someone else's fleet, with different vehicles, lanes, fuel prices and wages, and comparing your real number against a stranger's is how operators talk themselves into a bad rate.
Why fixed and variable are shown apart
Fixed costs do not care how far you run. Spread over more distance they fall per mile, which is why a busy quarter makes a fleet look cheap and a slow one makes the same fleet look expensive with nothing having changed.
Variable costs barely move per mile. Fuel, tires and maintenance rise with the distance, so running further does not make them cheaper, it only makes them bigger in total.
That is why the fixed figure is the one to watch when work dries up. A truck that sits still earns nothing and costs the fixed line every day, which is the number that decides whether to park it, sell it, or take cheap freight to cover it.
Getting the number right
Use one period and be consistent: a month of costs against a month of distance. Include empty miles, because you pay for them and nobody pays you for them, and leaving them out flatters the result by the exact amount that hurts most. Count the driver's full cost including payroll taxes and benefits, not the rate per mile you quote them. If you are an owner-operator, pay yourself a wage in the driver line rather than treating what is left as profit.
Cost per mile questions
- Should I include empty miles?
- Yes. Deadhead is distance you pay for and no customer pays you for, so excluding it understates your true cost per loaded mile. Count all distance run in the period, then compare that cost against what you charge for the loaded miles.
- What is a good cost per mile?
- There is no useful answer to that, which is why no average appears here. The figure depends on the vehicles, the lanes, fuel prices, wages and how much you run. Your own number from last quarter is the only benchmark worth comparing against.
- Monthly, quarterly or yearly?
- Quarterly suits most fleets. A month is short enough that one repair bill distorts it, and a year is long enough to hide a problem until it is expensive. Whichever you pick, use the same period for the costs and the distance.
- Where does profit come in?
- It does not, here. The figure this gives you is break-even: what the distance costs before you earn anything. Your target rate is that number plus the margin you intend to make, which is why the rate box reports the gap rather than calling it profit.
- How do I lower it?
- Usually by running the fixed costs over more paid distance rather than by cutting the variable ones, since fuel and maintenance are already close to the floor. Less deadhead, fewer idle hours and tighter routing move the number more than chasing a cheaper tire.