Fleet
Fleet empty miles profitability
Expose unpaid mileage effect on required billable-mile rate.
Your inputs
Complete the fields for your selected method. Zero means intentionally zero, not unknown. Currency selection labels amounts; it does not convert exchange rates.
How this calculation works
required rate=total trip cost/paid miles/(1-margin).
Gross margin is profit divided by selling price. Enter all costs on the same time basis. Rates and productivity are your assumptions, not industry averages. Total trip costs must already include empty distance. Empty kilometres are not added as a second expense.
What information do I need?
Use records for the same job, equipment or accounting period. Only the fields for your selected entry method are required. An unknown amount is not zero.
Input definitions and where to find them
- All trip costs including empty travel: One row per distinct all trip costs including empty travel, on the stated row and period basis. Do not enter both components and their total.
- Cost amount (selected currency): Matching invoice, quote, statement, bookkeeping record or explicit budget amount for cost amount. Use the stated period and exclude amounts already counted in another field. Zero means intentionally excluded/not incurred, not unknown.
- Paid trip distance (mi): Customer-paid distance for this trip period.
- Empty trip distance (mi): UNPAID pickup/return/repositioning distance in the same period; its cost is already in total costs.
- Target gross margin (%): Owner-selected gross profit as a percentage of SELLING PRICE, not markup on cost.
Use the Where to find this value controls beside the inputs for available work-it-out helpers. Estimates remain your assumptions; a helper does not verify the source figures.
Worked example
Example amounts use US dollars (USD).
Example answer: Required rate per paid kilometre is $1.25 for the illustrative inputs below.
Example inputs
- All trip costs including empty travel
- Cost amount: $800.00
- Cost amount: $200.00
- Paid trip distance: 621.371192237334 mi
- Empty trip distance: 124.274238447467 mi
- Target gross margin: 20.00 %
- Required rate per paid mile
- $2.01
- Required rate per paid kilometre
- $1.25
- Empty share of total distance
- 16.67 %
- Trip revenue needed
- $1,250.00
These illustrative values are not recommended rates or industry averages. Replace every example input with your own figures.
Use the result well
Expose unpaid mileage effect on required billable-mile rate.
Keep inputs on the same scope and time basis. Calculations retain precision internally; displayed values generally round to two decimal places, with extra precision for very small values and whole-unit rounding where required. Economic comparisons describe your supplied assumptions and do not guarantee future results.
This tool provides business arithmetic. It does not approve engineering designs, establish legal or tax treatment, select equipment or certify safe operating conditions.