New L/P operator with questions about minimizing costs

What truck. Year make model. Engine make, HP rating, and what kind of trailer do you pull?

 

Drive it like your on ice year round. Your not driving a race car, why wind it up just getting out of a parking lot?

Learn where your truck likes to ride mph/rpm wise.

 

Eliminate idling ...it will not only save you on fuel but prolong yr engine life

 

...i believe someone mentioned earlier every 1 mph after 55 or 60 deduct 0.1mpg ... When i slowed down from 70-72 to 62-63 i have seen over 0.5mpg gain , also weight of the load , terrain .. some people say even tires

 

Start by going here, Let's Truck Store, Look under the Services tab. Get signed up for fuel gauges and keep track of your fuel economy. Its free and very helpful in keeping track of not just MPG but also cost per mile and maintenance costs. For fuel economy in general the slower the better, depending on the transmission and rear end setup I wouldn't push much over 68. My 2350 ISX loves to cruise about 66 at 1350 RPM. I have a 10 speed with 336 rears. There won't be a lot you can do to that truck since you don't actually own it. I would suggest air tabs but not sure your lease company would allow them.

 

Okay here we go with my novel LOL.

So for every 1/10 of a mile per gallon you will save .006 cpm. So you save $600 per 1/10 mpg for every 100,000 miles you drive.

On the other side of the equation for every .01 per gallon saved when purchasing fuel you will save $147.06 for every 100,000 miles driven.

There are so many variables in increasing your fuel mileage that you just have to try what you can think of and figure out what meet your goals and you're happy with. Here is a list of things I have tried myself with varying results.

1 use cruise control as much as possible

2 don't use cruise control at all and drive by the boost gauge keeping it under 20 lb of boost as much as possible.

3. Try driving at different speeds. Started out at 65 went as low as 58.

4 when getting to the top of a hill not increasing my speed and letting the downhill do it for me without any throttle.

5. Try to not pass other vehicles as much as possible. Staying consistent on the throttle we'll always get better mpg.

6. Avoid traffic as much as possible. Basically speeding up and slowing down a lot is what eats gas. If I have the time to stop and pull over for 30 minutes to an hour so the traffic can get better I do it.

Basically it's really just the driver. Just try these things for at least a week at a time per suggestion. Calculate what your fuel mileage is and what you as a driver can put up with doing then go from there. I myself have figured out that I can deal with being on cruise control as much as possible at 60 miles an hour and not trying to pass every one on the freeway and still make good time. I went from 6.3 mpg over the span of a month to 6.8 miles per gallon consistently over the last year. Even though I can get an extra 3/10 of mpg driving by the boost gauge with no cruise control I hate driving like that so I don't do it.

So now let's discuss purchasing fuel. This to is up to what the driver wants to deal with. You will fall into one of two mentalities. You will either account for the IFTA tax when calculating the fuel price or you wont and here's why.

If you take the ifta tax into account when calculating fuel cost was that means is that you are still paying the higher price for the fuel at that point in time but saving on your quarterly IFTA payment. This means you would spend more money now to save money later.

On the other hand if you are like me and don't account for the ifta tax and are just buying the cheaper fuel based on the pump price then you are spending less money now but we'll have a higher IFTA quarterly payment. Once again it is just up to the driver. I myself don't mind spending a few hundred dollars every 3 months rather than spending significantly more than that to save some every 3 months.

So when purchasing fuel find out what fuel stations you get a discount at from your carrier or fuel card. If the fuel card has an app that will give you the pump price definitely use it. If not there are plenty of apps out there that will give you the current fuel price pretty much everywhere.

As far as other ways to save money I could talk your ear off for a few hours. But I'll give you a few pointers.

1 shop around for someone to do your maintenance on your truck. Let me put it this way i save $150 - $250 / per PM service by using the dealer of my truck rather than a truck stop.

2. Do as much of the work on your truck yourself as you can. But also remember your time is worth something. So definitely shop around to see if you're actually saving anything by doing it yourself.

3 definitely get a good accountant that is experienced in this industry. My accountant has saved me thousands on my taxes. The original accountant I had was not well versed in the trucking industry and told me my first quarterly payment was $6,500 the accountant I ended up with did my whole year and I only paid $7250.

Well this is long enough so I'm cutting it off now hope some of this information helps.