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Fleet cost & rate calculator

Add up what your trucks really cost, per truck and for the whole fleet, and see what you need to charge per mile, per hour and per day to cover those costs and make the margin you want.

Some fields start with public figures (diesel price, fuel economy, miles per truck, driver pay and benefits, deadhead, tolls), each marked with its source and date. Replace them with your own numbers for an exact answer.

Your fleet

mi
Everything one truck runs in a year, loaded and empty. Starting value: FHWA Highway Statistics VM-1, 2024.
%
Share of that distance driven without a load. Starting value: ATRI 2026 Update, 2025.

Truck payments (per truck)

$
Truck and trailer together, if you lease both. ATRI average $0.404 per mile: about $1,861 a month at your miles.

Fuel and road costs

mpg
Your fleet average from fuel-card data. Starting value: FHWA Highway Statistics VM-1, 2024.
$/gal
Retail diesel price per gallon, taxes included. Fuel-card discount? Enter your net price. Starting value: U.S. EIA, 11/02/2026.
$/mi
Diesel exhaust fluid. Leave empty if you count it in fuel.
$/mi
Your yearly toll bill divided by all distance driven, not the rate on a toll road. Starting value: ATRI 2026 Update, 2025.

Driver (per truck)

$/h
Hourly pay before benefits and payroll taxes. Paid by the mile? Divide pay per mile × miles per day by hours per day. Starting value: BLS OEWS, May 2025.
%
Health insurance, retirement, paid leave and payroll taxes as a share of pay. Starting value: BLS ECEC, June 2026.
h
Driving plus loading, waiting and other work.
For example 52 weeks × 5 days, minus holidays and PTO.
$
Per diem paid per working day, if you pay it on top of wages.

More costs (optional)

Margin and current rate

%
Profit as a share of the rate (not a mark-up on cost).
$
Optional: compare it with your costs.

Cost per truck per year

$51,362
Whole fleet: $51,362 a year
$0 · 0%Fixed (time-based)
$51,362 · 100%Variable (distance-based)
Fixed (time-based)
Variable (distance-based)
Fuel$48,985
Tolls$2,377
Per mi driven
$0.93
Per loaded mi
$1.11
Per hour
—
Per day
—

Still needed for every rate: hours per day, working days

What to charge

Rates per truck at a 0% margin. Break-even is the floor: below it every load costs you money.

Break-evenYour rate
Per loaded mi$1.11$1.11
Hourly rate——
Day rate——
Detention—/h
Time-based costs only, plus margin: a truck that waits burns no fuel or tolls. Bill waiting time with the detention calculator →
Hour + mi rate—/h + $1.11/mi
Time costs per hour plus running costs per loaded mi: fair for both short and long jobs.
Fuel share of cost95.4%
Use this as the fuel share for a fuel surcharge: when diesel rises 10%, raise the rate by 9.5%.

How to calculate what to charge

Every rate starts from the cost of one vehicle for one year. Split it into what runs on time and what runs on distance, divide by the hours, days and loaded miles you can actually sell, and add your margin.

  1. Add the time-based costs per truck: depreciation and interest (or truck payments), insurance, HVUT and registration, permits, driver pay with benefits, and a share of overhead.
  2. Add the distance-based costs: fuel (price ÷ mpg), DEF, repair and maintenance, tires, and tolls.
  3. Divide the total by loaded miles (all miles minus deadhead), by paid hours and by working days. That is your break-even per mile, per hour and per day.
  4. Divide break-even by (1 − margin) to get your rate: at a 10% margin, a break-even of 1.80 becomes 2.00.
  5. Bill waiting time at the time-based cost per hour plus margin, and tie the fuel share of your cost to a diesel index in a fuel-surcharge clause.

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate a truck's cost per mile for a whole fleet?

Add up everything one truck costs in a year (truck payments or depreciation, interest, insurance, HVUT, driver pay with benefits, fuel, maintenance, tolls and a share of overhead) and divide it by the miles it runs. Divide by loaded miles instead to get the rate each paid mile has to earn.

What is the difference between fixed and variable costs in transport?

Fixed, or time-based, costs run whether the truck rolls or not: truck payments, insurance, HVUT, driver pay and overhead. Variable costs only arise when it runs: fuel, DEF, tires, maintenance and tolls. The split tells you what an hour of detention costs and what an extra mile costs.

Why does deadhead matter for my rate?

Shippers pay for loaded miles, but the truck also runs empty to the next load. All costs have to be earned on the loaded part, so with 20% deadhead each loaded mile carries 1.25 times the cost of a mile driven.

Should I add my margin on cost or on the rate?

This calculator treats margin as a share of the rate: rate = cost ÷ (1 − margin). A 10% margin on a cost of 1.80 gives 2.00, and 0.20 of every 2.00 billed is profit. A 10% mark-up on cost would give 1.98 and only a 9.1% margin.

What should I charge for detention?

At least your time-based cost per hour plus margin: while a truck waits, the driver, truck payments, insurance and overhead keep running, but fuel and tolls do not. Agree the free time (often two hours) and the hourly detention rate in the rate confirmation before the load.

How does a fuel-surcharge clause work?

You agree a base diesel price and the share of fuel in your cost. When the index price moves, the rate moves by that share times the price change: with a 30% fuel share, a 10% diesel increase raises the rate by 3%. The calculator gives you the fuel share from your own costs.

How do I ask a customer for a rate increase?

Show your numbers: the cost per mile, hour or day, how it is built up, and what changed (diesel, wages, tolls). Ask for the gap between your current rate and your target rate, and propose a fuel clause so fuel no longer needs a separate negotiation.

Where the starting values come from

Starting values are public statistics for your region, not benchmarks for your company. Only fields with a published source are pre-filled; the rest are left for your own numbers.

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