Cost Per Mile Calculator

Cost per mile is the only number that turns a rate into a decision. This works it from one month of your own figures and separates the two halves that behave differently: the costs that arrive whether you drive or not, and the ones the miles create.

One month, one truck

Fixed costs are what the month costs whether the truck moves or not. Variable costs scale with the miles. Pre-filled with a plausible owner-operator month.

Miles

Fixed, per month

Variable

Fixed cost per mile
$0.47
Variable cost per mile
$1.49
Deadhead share
12.0%

Cost per total mile

$1.96

Break-even per loaded mile

$2.22

The right-hand figure is the one to quote against. A rate below it loses money on every mile of the load, however good the linehaul looks.

Low-poly render of an empty straight interstate
Every mile has a price. The question is whether you know it.

What it checks

Fixed costs divided by total miles; variable costs divided by total miles; both summed and divided again by loaded miles to give the break-even rate. That last division is the step most spreadsheets skip, and it is the reason a truck can be busy, legal, well-maintained and still losing money.

Deadhead is shown as a percentage because it moves the break-even rate faster than almost anything else. Twelve per cent empty against five per cent empty is worth more than a fuel-price swing.

Worked example

The default month runs 10,000 miles with 8,800 loaded — 12% deadhead. Fixed costs come to $4,680, which is $0.47 a mile before the truck turns a wheel. Fuel at 6.4 mpg and $3.85 a gallon adds about $0.60. Tyres, maintenance, tolls and driver pay bring the variable half to roughly $0.90.

That is about $1.37 per total mile — and about $1.55 per loaded mile, because 1,200 empty miles have to be paid for by the 8,800 paid ones. Quote against $1.37 and you are twelve per cent short every single load.

Where the numbers should come from

Your own last three months, not an industry average. The only default here worth replacing first is diesel: it is the biggest single variable line and it moves weekly. The EIA publishes the national and regional on-highway diesel average every Monday, which is a better input than the last price you happened to pay.

Maintenance per mile is the line owner-operators most often understate. A figure that excludes the tyres you have not bought yet and the overhaul you have not done yet is a cost per mile that will be wrong in exactly the year it matters.

Sources

Keep reading