Free tool
Fleet cost per km calculator
Add up the fixed and running costs of one truck, enter the kilometres it covers and see what every kilometre really costs, plus the rate you need to charge to keep your margin.
Your results
Calculated from the example figures.
Cost per kilometre
R19.86
Fixed R7.96 + variable R11.90 per km. This is your break-even rate.
Cost per month
R198,650
R2,383,800 per year
Rate for 15% margin
R23.37/km
R233,706 revenue, R35,056 profit a month
Fuel: 4,000 litres a month. Fixed costs are 40% of the total, so every extra kilometre on the same vehicle lowers the cost per km.
Where the money goes (per month)
- Fuel (variable)R88,000
- Finance or instalment (fixed)R45,000
- Driver wages and allowances (fixed)R18,000
- Maintenance and repairs (variable)R16,000
- Insurance (fixed)R9,000
- Tyres (variable)R9,000
- Admin overhead allocation (fixed)R6,000
- Tolls (variable)R6,000
- Licensing and permits (fixed)R1,000
- Tracking and software (fixed)R650
How to work out your cost per kilometre
Cost per kilometre is the total cost of running a vehicle for a period divided by the kilometres it covered in that period. It is the most useful single number in road transport because it lets you compare vehicles, check whether a load is worth taking and set rates that cover every cost, not just diesel.
Work it out for one vehicle at a time, over a normal month. The sum has three parts:
- Fixed costs per month. Finance or depreciation, insurance, licensing and permits, driver wages and allowances, tracking and software, and a fair share of office and yard overheads. These do not change if the truck stands still.
- Variable costs per month. Fuel, tyres, maintenance and repairs, tolls and anything else that rises with distance.
- Kilometres per month. Every kilometre driven, loaded and empty, from odometer readings or telematics.
Add fixed and variable costs together and divide by the kilometres. That is your cost per km, and it is also your break-even rate.
Fuel: km per litre or litres per 100 km
Fuel is usually the largest variable cost, so measure it properly. Take the litres you put in over a full month and the kilometres driven in that month. Kilometres divided by litres gives km per litre (km/L); litres divided by kilometres, times 100, gives litres per 100 km. The calculator accepts either and converts between them: 2.5 km/L is the same as 40 L/100 km.
Tyres and maintenance per kilometre
Tyre and workshop spend arrives in lumps, so a single month can mislead. Take the total over six or twelve months and divide by the kilometres for the same period to get a steady rand-per-kilometre figure. If you run a job card system, pull the figure per vehicle rather than for the whole fleet.
From cost to rate
Once you know the cost per km, the rate per km is the cost divided by one minus your target margin. A cost of R20.00/km with a 15% margin needs a rate of about R23.53/km. Remember that this is margin on revenue, not a mark-up on cost. If your quotes are per load, multiply the rate by the full round-trip distance, including the empty leg.
Costs operators often leave out
- Night-out and meal allowances, overtime and employer contributions on driver pay.
- Empty return kilometres that are driven but not billed.
- Downtime: a vehicle in the workshop still carries its full fixed cost.
- Admin and yard costs, which belong to the vehicles even if they sit in a head office account.
- Replacement: if the vehicle is paid off, use depreciation instead of a zero instalment, or you will under-price until the next truck arrives.
Using the result
Compare cost per km across vehicles of the same type. A vehicle that is consistently more expensive than its peers usually points to a fuel, tyre or maintenance problem, or to low utilisation. Recalculate whenever diesel, finance or wages change, and check your rates against the new figure. The free calculator gives you an estimate from monthly totals; an ERP that records every fill-up, job card and trip gives you the same figure per vehicle without the spreadsheet.
Worked example
One truck, one month, using the example figures
These are the calculator defaults. They are illustrative only, chosen so the arithmetic is easy to follow.
The truck covers 10,000 km in the month at 2.5 km/L, so it uses 4,000 litres. At R22.00 a litre that is R88,000 of fuel.
| Fixed costs (finance, insurance, licensing / 12, wages, tracking, overhead) | R79,650 |
|---|---|
| Variable costs (fuel, tyres, maintenance, tolls) | R119,000 |
| Total cost for the month | R198,650 |
| Divided by 10,000 km: cost per km | R19.86 |
| Rate for a 15% margin (cost / 0.85) | R23.37/km |
Fixed costs make up 40% of the total in this example. If the same truck drove 20% more kilometres, the fixed part of every kilometre would fall by a sixth while fuel, tyres and maintenance per kilometre stayed the same, which is why utilisation matters so much.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is a good cost per km for a truck in South Africa?
There is no single right number. Cost per kilometre depends on the vehicle, its finance, the route, the load, fuel consumption and how many kilometres it covers each month. A truck that is idle half the month has a much higher cost per km than the same truck working full time. Work out your own figure from your own records rather than relying on a published average.
What is the difference between cost per km and rate per km?
Cost per km is what it costs you to run the vehicle for one kilometre, including fixed costs spread over the distance. Rate per km is what you charge the customer. If your rate equals your cost, you break even. The calculator shows the rate needed to keep a chosen margin on revenue.
Should I use margin or mark-up when setting rates?
Both work if you are consistent, but they give different answers. A 15% mark-up adds 15% to cost. A 15% margin means 15% of the price is profit, so the price is cost divided by 0.85. This calculator uses margin on revenue, which is how most income statements show profitability.
Why does cost per km fall when the truck drives more?
Fixed costs such as finance, insurance and wages stay the same each month. Spreading them over more kilometres lowers the fixed part of every kilometre. Variable costs such as fuel and tyres stay roughly the same per kilometre, so utilisation is one of the biggest levers on cost per km.
Should empty kilometres be included?
Yes. Use every kilometre the vehicle drives, loaded and empty. If you price loads on loaded kilometres only, include the empty return leg in your rate, otherwise it becomes an unpaid cost.
Are the default figures in the calculator real benchmarks?
No. They are example figures chosen to make the arithmetic easy to follow. They are not market averages, quotes or recommendations. Replace every field with your own numbers.
Sources
- Method: standard cost accounting (fixed plus variable cost per unit, price = cost / (1 - margin))No external figures are used. All default inputs are labelled examples, not benchmarks.
- Official fuel prices: Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources (checked 29 October 2026)Use the diesel price you actually pay; official prices change from month to month.
- N3 toll tariffs effective 1 March 2026: SANRAL toll tariff posterUsed by the companion toll cost calculator.
Want these numbers worked out for every vehicle, every month?
T-ERP captures fuel, tolls, maintenance, tyres and trips as they happen, so cost per kilometre and profit per vehicle come from real records, not estimates. A 30-minute consultation shows you how.