Fleet cost & rate calculator
Add up what your trucks really cost, per vehicle and for the whole fleet, and see what you need to charge per km, per hour and per day to cover those costs and make the margin you want.
Some fields start with public figures (fuel price, employer costs, empty running), each marked with its source and date. Replace them with your own numbers for an exact answer.
Your fleet
Vehicle financing (per vehicle)
Fuel and road costs
Driver (per vehicle)
More costs (optional)
Margin and current rate
Fill in your costs to see the breakdown and rate card.
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 kilometres you can actually sell, and add your margin.
- Add the time-based costs per vehicle: depreciation and interest (or lease), insurance, road tax, permits, the driver's wage with employer costs, and a share of overhead.
- Add the distance-based costs: fuel (consumption × price), AdBlue, maintenance and tyres, and tolls.
- Divide the total by the loaded kilometres (all kilometres minus empty running), by the paid hours and by the working days. That is your break-even per km, per hour and per day.
- Divide break-even by (1 − margin) to get your rate: at a 10% margin, a break-even of 1.80 becomes 2.00.
- 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 the cost per km of a truck?
Add up everything one truck costs in a year (depreciation or lease, interest, insurance, tax, the driver with employer costs, fuel, maintenance, tolls and a share of overhead) and divide it by the kilometres it drives. Divide by loaded kilometres instead to get the rate that each paid kilometre has to earn.
What is the difference between fixed and variable costs in transport?
Fixed, or time-based, costs run whether the truck drives or not: financing, insurance, road tax, the driver's wage and overhead. Variable costs only arise when it drives: fuel, AdBlue, tyres, maintenance and tolls. The split tells you what an hour of waiting costs and what an extra kilometre costs.
Why does empty running matter for my rate?
Customers pay for loaded kilometres, but the truck also drives empty to the next load. All costs have to be earned on the loaded part, so with 20% empty running each loaded kilometre carries 1.25 times the cost of a kilometre 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 waiting time?
At least your time-based cost per hour plus margin: while a truck waits, the driver, financing, insurance and overhead keep running, but fuel and tolls do not. Agree the free time and the hourly waiting rate in the contract before the first 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 km, 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.
- EU Weekly Oil Bulletin · 02/11/2026
- Eurostat lc_lci_lev · 2025
- Eurostat road_go_ta_tott · 2025
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