Lease Purchase Fuel Management Strategies

If your carrier is picking up the IFTA tax, then you're buying strategy devolves to finding the lowest pump price (minus discounts) that you can. If you're paying the IFTA tax, you want to subtract the state IFTA tax rate from the pump price (minus discounts) and buy the cheapest base price fuel you can find in-route. I'll buy 50 gallons to get me down the road to that cheaper fuel stop if I have to. Otherwise I always fill the tank. That's the long-term strategy, and it will result in the lowest fuel cost over time.

If you have to delay fuel purchases to increase your cash flow, try to do it only on an isolated basis. If you need the money to cover current outlays you have to do it. Over the long run, it will decrease your potential profit quite substantially.

The other side of it is maintaining the highest fuel economy you can possible achieve. If you're burning less, obviously you don't have to buy as much fuel. Keep a pen and paper log, split your trips up into legs, record your fuel burn on the leg, miles and anything else that you can think of to educate yourself on how your truck operates. Keep a column for the overall fuel burn on the trip. Experiment, and see what works. Over time, you will educate yourself on how to drive your truck more efficiently. There's a doohickey called a "Scan Gage" out there that hooks into your trucks ECM port that you can read real-time information on how your truck is performing. It's a great tool for tuning your driving performance.

Finally, keep track of your numbers. Take your settlements and put the information into a profit/loss sheet format, and run your operation as a business. Don't be guessing about any of this... you have to know your numbers to make good business decisions. Taking your quarterly numbers, you can determine what your fixed costs are to the penny, what your variable costs are to the penny... and use this information to decide what loads to accept, and what to reject.

Good luck driver.

 

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