Per mile operating cost?

if i was to pay my self a pm wage it would all figure to about $1.80 a mile

 

I don't want to argue whether you should figure paying yourself or not, that's been beat to death. There's good reasons to do it. But if i straight up answer your question $2.20/mile and that includes paying myself $1/mile or I say $1.45/mile and that includes paying myself 0.25/mile you can see how it is difficult.

So while I agree there is good reason to think about what you're paying yourself it is also important to know your expenses seperate from paying yourself as well. For me, I figure $1.25/loaded mile and $0.90/empty mile NOT including paying myself. I figure as the driver I should be paid $0.40/mile, and as the investor/load planner/book keeper/buck stops here guy I better get at least $0.20/mile.

Now that is for stepdeck work which does include some additional expenses for equipment vs. van or something. I also can see where if I make wise decisions and a little luck I think I can get that first number down to as little as $1.00/mile over time.

 

You'll get answers all over the place. Equipment and business type matter. Maybe if you post up what you're planning to use for equipment and whether you're leasing on or under own authority, you'll get more useful answers from folks running a similar business.

 

$20K for a truck? You're not planning on keeping that a while of going into California with that I hope. $20k is kinda like buying a car at the "bargain lot" inside the used car center. You know the ones I'm talking about. Cigarette burns in the seats, reeks of piss and alcohol, dead hooker still possibly in the trunk....

 

At 6.7 MPG average YTD, and $3.91 per gallon average YTD, mine is $0.59 CPM FOR FUEL ONLY. Assuming your truck gets exactly the same fuel mileage, that will be the only factor that will be even close to the same. The rest will be determined by how good of shape the truck was in when you bought it. Then your maintenance practices will be a controlling factor. Are you going to work on it yourself or pay some one to do it for you? The answer to that is very important ($100.00 per hour shop time drives cpm up a bunch). You can ask 10 different O/O's and you will get 10 different answers. My YTD cost per mile varies from year to year, but this year is $2.01 per mile, no truck payment and no drivers wage. But you have to understand that I bought 10 tires, and 6 pairs of brake shoes, and 6 drums, and paid someone to mount/install them while I was off from neck surgery. Technically those expenses should be spread out over a couple of years, to give you a more realistic AVERAGE, but in my world nothing is ever average and usually never goes according to plan. My book keeper says my average cost per mile is $1.48 cpm over the last 10 years. That includes the original cost of the truck (paid cash) but still no driver wages. That figure is all inclusive, ANYTHING remotely related to the operation/maintenance of the truck is in that number.( My wife keeps impeccable records and can tell you within $0.05 how much it costs us each month to plug in the block heater) I should also point out that I no longer run under my own authority, I am now a power only lease operator leased to a fairly large tanker company.

 

I have spoken to 1,000's of truck owners of the years and the biggest mistakes I see many make when creating a business plan (and I am being generous with that term) is that they make the numbers work rather than use conservative numbers and if they don't work then walk away. I have had more than one person tell me they budget running over 3,000 miles per week but rarely get that many miles. And when I suggest they reduce the average to something like 2,500 miles I get a response some like "I can't make money at those miles" but those are real miles and 3,000 is just paper miles.

Point is, don't start increasing income and decreasing expenses to make it work. Should be the other way around. Figure out what are the numbers that will break you and see how close your plan is to that.

 

one problem i see. along with bills thoughts. are that no 2 tanks of fuel will give you the same mileage.

trailer type, load weight, and terrain will also influence that mileage number.

i had 1 tank give me 4.5 on the flat land. but the next tank gave me 6.2 in the mountains. the load was small and weighed 1500 pounds. on a flatbed.
another problem would be breakdowns. NO ONE can forsee when your going to be donating money to the shop.

as for truck prices. carb compliance has prices all over the place. you won't be going into cali with a 20G truck. not that most of us care anyways.