Truck cost per kilometre: what to count
If you do not know what each kilometre costs you, you cannot know whether a rate is good. Most owners count fuel and stop there. Here is the full list, and a simple way to turn it into one number you can quote against.
Two kinds of cost
Running costs rise with every kilometre driven. Fixed costs arrive every month whether the truck moves or not. Both have to be paid out of the rate.
Running costs (per kilometre)
- Fuel — litres per 100 km × your pump price. Measure it from your own fill-ups, not the manufacturer's figure.
- Tyres — cost of a full set ÷ the kilometres a set lasts you.
- Service and repairs — a year's workshop bills ÷ a year's kilometres.
- Driver's allowance — per trip, spread over the trip's kilometres.
- Tolls, weighbridge, parking on the route.
Fixed costs (per month)
- Insurance
- Loan or lease repayment
- Licences, inspection and permits
- Driver's basic salary
- Tracker subscription, parking yard, office share
Putting it together — an example
Every figure below is an example; replace it with your own.
| Fuel: 35 litres per 100 km × KES 182 | KES 63.70 / km |
| Tyres: KES 480,000 a set ÷ 120,000 km | 4.00 / km |
| Service and repairs: KES 600,000 ÷ 100,000 km a year | 6.00 / km |
| Allowances and route costs | 5.00 / km |
| Running cost | KES 78.70 / km |
| Fixed costs: KES 250,000 a month ÷ 8,000 km a month | + 31.25 / km |
| Full cost per kilometre | KES 109.95 / km |
A round trip of 1,000 km at this cost is about KES 110,000 before any profit. Quote below that and every trip loses money, however busy the truck looks.
Why idle days matter so much
Fixed costs are spread over the kilometres you actually drive. In the example, if the truck drives 5,000 km in a month instead of 8,000, the fixed cost per kilometre jumps from KES 31 to KES 50. A truck waiting at the port or in the yard is expensive even when it burns no fuel.
Keep it current
Fuel prices change monthly and tyres wear out. Re-work the figure at least every month, from real trips — not from last year's spreadsheet.
Let Managix do this sum for every job
Managix works out the profit on every container and trip as you enter it — fleet, cargo and clearing in one system, from USD 19 a month.
Questions
What is included in a truck's cost per kilometre?
Running costs that rise with distance (fuel, tyres, service and repairs, allowances, tolls) plus fixed monthly costs (insurance, loan, licences, salary, tracker, parking) divided by the kilometres driven.
Why does my cost per kilometre go up when the truck is idle?
Fixed costs are paid every month whether the truck moves or not. Fewer kilometres means each kilometre carries more of the fixed cost.