Need some advice: calculating how much fuel is needed

are you in a lease -op deal or did you buy thr truck?

don't be the guy who passed me the other day while I eased along at 60, he cam roaring by, and 6 miles later he was on the side, out of fuel, 5 miles from the truckstop exit.

 

Say its 80 cents a mile. I know that's high but it won't disappoint you when you do better mpg.

 

I hope you are not calculating your fuel usage to full capacity or even 75% capacity of the tanks because fuel is used as a coolant and is recycled back to tanks after cooling the injectors that heats up the remaining fuel in the tanks. The lower you run the fuel in those tanks the higher the fuel temperature which hurts fuel mileage and power.

I don`t like my tanks to get much lower than 1/2 full so I can keep the fuel cooler on the run.

Also $0.80/mile fuel cost is horrible. Mine is around $0.40/mile with my fuel cost to gross revenue less than 24% that anything less than 30% is real good and below 25% great.

Good Luck and God Bless!

 

I learnt a few years ago never to run with fuel on a budget or load to load.

The best way to buy your fuel is the most cost effective way, cheapest pump price after fuel tax taken out.
Just because fuel is cheaper in 1 state does not mean after fuel tax is calculated that its still the cheapest fuel.

Fuel right the way up its it's the cheapest fuel on route even if it might leave you with 3/4 tank at the end of the load.
It also helps to know where you are running to next in case that state is even cheaper.

 

Figuring out your cost is not about adapting to changing situations. It's basic math skills that translate to business skills. Owning a truck is owning a business. To have any chance to succeed you need to have those basic business skills BEFORE starting a business, not after. So I will repeat, if you do not know how to figure out your largest business expense, you are not ready to be a business owner.

 

at 16 driving my SS396 getting 8 mpg @ $.32/gas
I could figure out $1.00 wasn't going to get me to far
this isn't rocket science
your truck avg 6 mpg you drive 600 miles
pay $4.00 you just spent $400

now in Iowa only $375
in Mass $429

my 8 year old grand kid helped me with the bigger numbers

 

Wonderful advice in the perfect world but not trucking.I started with 25K available and went through another 10K before the checks started coming in.The next thing I was factoring and then taking advances.Too much inconsistency with brokers concerning pay to make it without some deep pockets. I.E. How much is enough?

 

Don't forget to factor in tolls too where applicable

 

Everyone is assuming short fills == running on a shoestring. Sometimes I'll plan my trip to arrive at a shipper with less than 1/2 tanks to give me an extra 1,000 lbs or so to play with on scaling a known to be heavy load. I also usually plan so that I don't park with full tanks, especially at the home terminal. I've not had a fuel theft yet, but don't exactly feel like gambling close to a thousand bucks to test my luck.

With all that in mind, I usually figure on 0.5 mpg less than I think I'll get to my next lowest cost fuel stop on route, considering load and terrain, then add about another 20 gal for a fudge factor if not filling to the top.

 

I was teaming with a buddy of mine who was a lease op for central well he bailed and I got stuck with the lease. Which is why I am trying to figure everything out. Ive been filling up when its cheapest and in states like ny, Pa, In, IL i will buy enough to get me through but I try not to let the truck drop below 3/4 of the tank. My tolles are paid for by central and swift though. I pay 35 a month to rent the ez pass , k tag, and the oklohoma toll pass. I am determined to make it through this though. Which is why I am asking for advice too see if i can do better. I also thanks to the new contracts to swift have the option of buying the truck outright to get away from the lease. I could finance it no problem. I just want to make sure i know what I am doing. I have kept a log of all of my expenses so far.