Cost Per Mile

I use $1.60 which includes amortization of the truck over 5 yrs because you still have to buy the truck if it’s a 1999 LOL.

I also figure $15,000 repairs and whatnot the first year of ownership and $10,000 after that. In reality, once you get it up to snuff, it cost LESS to maintain an older truck not more. I bet I spend less than half my $10,000 budget but that’s just saving for a rainy day......in frame.....deductible in the event of a accident..... legal fees to fight city hall etc.

Only thing that MIGHT cost more than a DPF/DEF Truck is fuel.

 

I plan at 35. And it's stood up to multiple challenges in many companies.

Companies plan at 50, I plan a little more conservative because it takes time to get loaded, get unloaded and so on. I can pretty much tell you right away within a few moments if a trip assignment is ontime or late due to that planning speed.

Sometimes I tell the dispatcher they took all day wasting time getting that load infromation to me and now there is no way to save the appt time. So I don't want it as a solo. They can rustle up a team and stick it on that.

I usually plan team loads in 500 mile blocks. Or 6 days between LA to NJ and return. (Round trip within 6 days and change with me and wife)

When you or someone says "Who the hell plans at 35mph as a challenge to me" I say to you try it. You will find that the load from the moment a dispatcher assigns it to you on the phone or satellite for the very first time WILL work out very close to a average of 35 mph overall from the moment you learn of a new load all the way through to the moment the Customer signs the Bills of Lading as delivered. However many hours are in between.

There are way too many trucking companies making a mountain out of a molehill with fleet average of 50 on trucks governed at 62 on state and federal routes signed for 75 to 85 mph in many areas. We are going 75 here in Arkansas and the trucks are not any faster. Creating more problems just like the old split speed limits did back in the 90's

If the companies will stop being so stupid in governing big trucks so slow, they will not have half the issues they have meeting JIT delivery, need teams or relaying loads from one driver to another as the ELD's run out. 75 and 85 is plenty you can make time. If everyone did that speed then I would plan at 50 mph, not 35 overall.

 

When I'm looking to book a load I figure it at 50 mph. I don't have problems making appointments and haven't for 20 years. If 35 mph planning works for you then great but I'll stick with what I know works for me. If I'm burning up my 70 hours in a week I better have ran a lot more than 2500 miles.

With that being said, I usually only run about 2500 miles a week by choice. I don't get paid by the mile so I don't want to run many miles and very rarely do I get close to using all my 70.

 

I was dumbfounded after I made the exact calculation for the first 2 QTRs of Tollway fees - by downloading reports from my IPass account.
This year, for the first 2 quarters I spent $5500 operating predominantly in IL, IN, OH, Upper State New York, Pa, VA, WV, MD 45000 miles: that's 12 c a mile!!! To compare, I spent $4500 for the whole year of 2017...going to different regions. I was expecting... maybe 3K.

 

The only real comparison is fuel and maint ....assume pd insurance is based on value but really everything else will be the same to YOU no matter what truck you buy....
I have run everything from an 01 century with a 12.7 to a cascadia with a dd15 ...my cat has been great once tuned but the moneymaker sir was that 12.7 Detroit #### thing was bullet proof and I put almost 800000 miles on it after buying it for 8000 and sold it for 6500 .
I put about 24000 into it the first year and every year after I think my maint cost we're under 10cpm everything else is relative

 

I haven't had a 2500 mile week in 5 or 6 years. Last week ran 900 miles. 5 days about 45 hours. I look for less miles and more money. I need a 1.50 to operate. After that its profit. Now I don't haul 1.50cpm freight, just saying that is what I need to support my old truck and 3 trailers all included. Work smart not hard.

 

Agreed. My DEF truck cost me $0.70 mile, including the payment.

This trip is 2300 miles. Spent $740 on fuel and DEF.

 

You get 10 mpg on that whole 2300 miles????

 

At 32 cpm i.m gonna guess 8.3?

 

So in other words an O/O would need to be making at least $2 per mile to get around .50 c per mile profit.