Add up your truck’s fixed and variable costs and see what each mile, trip and ton costs, the freight rate with margin and when your own truck beats hiring a carrier.
Pre-sizing and estimating tool: results do not replace design, calculations or reports signed by a licensed professional, nor verification against the applicable codes and standards.
Each item as cost per mile at the mileage entered, largest first; fixed costs in orange, variable in blue.
With more miles per month, fixed cost is spread thinner. The dashed line is the carrier rate turned into cost per mile of the trip.
Monthly values, per mile and share of total cost at the mileage entered.
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The calculation report gathers this page's inputs, results, equations, assumptions and references, with fields for project, engineer and revision. The full report also includes the charts and interpretations, in color. In the print dialog, choose Save as PDF.
It builds a truck’s cost sheet: monthly fixed costs (depreciation, return on capital, driver, insurance, registration, tracking and overhead) and per-mile variable costs (diesel, DEF, tires, repairs, washing and tolls). From that it works out cost per mile, per trip, per ton and per ton-mile, the freight rate with margin and a comparison with hiring a carrier.
The example tractor-trailer has $12,688 of fixed cost a month and $0.90 per mile of variable cost. At 9,000 miles a month, each mile costs $2.31 before tolls. A 300-mile run with an empty return (600 miles driven) costs $1,426 including $40 of tolls: $64.83 per ton for 22 tons.
The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) publishes an annual analysis of the operational costs of trucking with the average marginal cost per mile of U.S. carriers, which in recent editions has been a little over $2 per mile including driver pay. The example’s $2.31 is in that range. Use it only as a reference: your lanes, equipment and pay scale set your own number.
When the truck runs enough miles to spread its fixed cost. In the example the carrier charges $1,500 per trip and the private truck costs $1,426, saving about $1,108 a month. Break-even is 8,277 miles a month: below that, hiring is cheaper. The margin is thin, so a slow season can flip the answer.
Expenses and margin are percentages of the price, not of cost, so they go in "built in": rate = cost ÷ (1 − sum of percentages). In the example, 5% expenses plus 10% margin give a $1,678 rate, cost times 1.18. Adding 15% to cost would give only $1,640 and a smaller real margin than planned.
Divide what each tire costs over its life by the miles it runs: (new price + retreads × retread price) ÷ (new life + retreads × retread life), times the number of tires. In the example, 18 tires at $550 with 100,000 miles plus one $200 retread with 60,000 miles cost about $0.08 per mile. Use the life measured in your own fleet.
Depreciation is straight-line and capital is charged on the truck’s average value; tax depreciation and actual loan interest may differ. Detention and layover time are not in the cost per mile, but they cut monthly miles and raise fixed cost per mile. Defaults are illustrative: use your own fleet’s numbers.
Important notice: Indus Metrics tools produce estimates and pre-sizing results from the data you enter and from published engineering methods. They do not replace design, calculations or reports signed by a licensed professional engineer (PE), nor verification against the applicable codes, standards and regulations, such as OSHA rules and the ASME codes. Material and fuel properties vary: check manufacturer data or your own process analyses before deciding. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use.
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