L/O Fuel Summaries

It might help a little fueling at the Troutdale terminal as I have spot checked it last night it was about $0.20 cents cheaper than truckstops in the area. Otherwise I just load up on fuel in California and Washington to overpay them for their road tax to offset Oregon's charges. An example-- if you drove 1000 miles in Oregon during the month, they will charge you approximately $130 bucks. Let's say you delivered in Portland the whole time, but ran up to just inside the Washington border for fuel, say 300 gallons during that same month but never ventured more into Washington, say a total of 10 miles for the whole month. So you've paid for Washington's roads to the tune of about $110 bucks for the month so you end up with a net 'owing' of $20 bucks for those 2 states. What I mean is you paid fuel taxes in Washington but did not use their roads very much during the month, so they credit back to you the taxes that you paid.

Some drivers have a strategy to buy fuel in every state they are in others only buy in the cheapest states and pay the fuel taxes later in the month and still others only buy in the most expensive tax states to mitigate what they owe or even score a refund monthly. No matter how you cut it up, you still end up having to pay the tax one way or the other.

I understand JCT pays the fuel taxes of its lease operators so for them it is wise to only fuel in the cheapest states and let JCT sort it out.

 

No, OR charges road taxes whether you buy fuel or not. Because Swift has a PUC permit you get to pay the low price at the pump, but there are NO IFTA taxes on OR fuel. The only saving grace is that Swift pays part of the road tax. Overall it' $.16+ a miles, Swift pays about $.03 and you're stuck with the other $.13. Not exact figures, but you get the drift.

And THAT'S why I turned down a 40,000 lb load going from NorCal to Sumner 2 weeks ago.

 

wow, very enlightening forsure.

Before now, I just hated the fact that no matter how slow you go, nothing is going help with your mpg because of the grades/hills/climbs, etc. Now I have even more reasons not to go.

thank you everyone for the info

 

I travle through OR And WA a lot, because I live north west of Tacoma, acrossed the Narrows Bridge, about 20 miles. Kinda been thinking about the lease thing, but... Not so sure because I still enjoy driving the NorthWet

 

So, in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter where you fuel cuz in the end, uncle sam is still gonna get his cut. It's just a matter of when. Correct?

 

Don't let a little thing like money or taxes hold you back from living your dream. I am serious! What if you only made the trip home once a month, thats in and out, all the rest of the time you'll travel all across the country.

Consider a 'buy out' truck too. It can be hit or miss when it comes down to it. you may luck out and get something really great or else something that isn't.

 

Yes, buts its game playing, trying to save pennies whenever and where ever possible, in the hope that they will add up to dollars.

 

No,fueling matters a great deal as you want to always,always get the lowest raw fuel costs(fuel costs before they add state and federal taxes)....but the taxes will take care of themselves...just depends on if you want to pay them at the pump everytime you fuel or more at one time on your 3rd statement each month....

 

I wanted to add too that Oregon being a western state qualifies the lease operator for $0.04 more cents per gallon of fuel surcharge. Plus being a 55 mile per hour state (great fuel economy) and the fact my strategy is to buy higher taxed California and Washington fuel or the lower priced discounted Troutdale Oregon fuel, running in Oregon is not too bad just not quite as tax equitable as other states. To be fair, in my opinion Oregon does have a higher percentage of higher quality roads which also calculates into reduced wear and tear on equipment, which should also be considered in a business decision whether to haul freight to or through Oregon.

 

Scotty, the flaw in you plan is that the west coast fuel rebate is currently only $.01, yes 1 cent a mile, has been for the last month or so.

I'll run in OR, I just wouldn't take a heavy load north bound through the Cascades.