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What does a mile actually cost you?

Your cost per mile is the number every rate gets measured against. Enter monthly fixed costs, the miles you actually run, diesel price, MPG, and your per-mile variable costs. The estimate appears as you type, with no email and nothing stored.

Estimates from numbers you type. Not tax advice. Not a filing. Not a tax-due figure.

Fixed costs and miles

Truck payment, insurance, permits, plates, phone, accounting — the bills that arrive whether the truck rolls or not. Dollars per month.

Total miles in an average month, loaded and empty.

Fuel

Dollars per gallon you actually pay, after discounts you can prove.

Miles per gallon across loaded and empty running.

Other variable costs (optional)

Maintenance and repairs, dollars per mile. Leave blank if you group it below.

Tires, dollars per mile.

Tolls, scales, washes, and anything else that scales with miles. Dollars per mile.

Example numbers are a demonstration of the math, not a claim about your truck. Everything you type stays in this browser.

The math, in the open

No hidden assumptions.

Every number above comes out of these lines. If you disagree with an assumption, change the input. The tool will not quietly override you.

fixed CPM = monthly fixed costs ÷ monthly milesfuel CPM = diesel price ÷ MPGother variable CPM = maintenance + tires + tolls and othertotal CPM = fixed CPM + fuel CPM + other variable CPMmonthly cost = total CPM × monthly miles
Fixed costs
Monthly bills that do not change with miles
Miles
All miles in the month, loaded and empty
Fuel
Diesel price divided by MPG, no fuel surcharge assumed
Variable
Only the per-mile costs you enter yourself
Not included
Your pay, taxes, and anything you left blank

What this estimate is not

  • Not tax, legal, accounting, or filing advice.
  • Not a record of what your truck actually cost.
  • Only as good as the costs you remembered to enter.
  • Does not include your own pay unless you entered it.
  • Does not adjust for seasonality, downtime, or a bad month.

Where the real numbers come from

  • Confirmed rate confirmations, which carry what a load actually paid.
  • Confirmed fuel receipts, which carry gallons, price, and location.
  • Records you can search, correct, and produce again later.
  • See how records get captured

Questions about this tool.

Why does my cost per mile change every month?
Because fixed costs are spread across the miles you actually run. The same $6,000 of monthly bills is $0.60 per mile at 10,000 miles and $1.00 per mile at 6,000 miles. A slow month is expensive twice.
Should my own pay be in the fixed costs?
That is your call, and it changes what the result means. Leave your pay out and the number is what the truck costs to operate. Put it in and the number is what the business has to earn before it is worth doing.
Is this the same as break-even?
Total cost per mile is your break-even revenue per mile on the costs you entered. A load below it loses money against those costs, and a load above it contributes something.
Does CarrierAgent save these numbers?
No. Everything you type stays in this browser. Nothing is submitted, nothing is stored, and no entered value appears in any analytics event.
Before the App Store listing is live

Estimates are useful. Records are better.

These tools stay free and account-free. The iPhone app that turns your paperwork into confirmed IFTA records has no public App Store listing yet. Leave an email and you will get the link the day it does.

One email when the iPhone app is publicly available. No newsletter, no third-party tracker on this form.

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