Owner-Operator Profit Calculator

An owner-operator runs their own truck as a business, so the money left after fuel, the truck payment, insurance, maintenance and fees is an operating cash estimate. This calculator takes a month of loaded and empty miles, your rate per loaded mile and your costs, and shows operating cash surplus, cost and surplus per mile, the cash expense ratio and the break-even rate you need on every loaded mile.

How to use this tool

1. Enter loaded and deadhead miles for a typical month and your average all-in rate per loaded mile.
2. Enter fuel economy and the diesel price.
3. Add the monthly truck payment, insurance, tolls and other fixed costs.
4. Add per-mile maintenance and tires, and any dispatch or factoring percentage.

Formula

Revenue = loaded miles × rate per loaded mile

Costs = all miles ÷ mpg × diesel + all miles × (maintenance + tires) + fixed costs + revenue × fee %

Break-even rate = (costs − fees) ÷ (loaded miles × (1 − fee %))

Deadhead miles burn fuel and wear the truck but earn nothing, which is why cost per mile uses all miles. Cash surplus is before owner pay and taxes. Loan payments include principal here, while depreciation is absent, so this is not accounting or taxable profit.

Example

9,000 loaded and 1,200 empty miles at $2.30 a loaded mile bring in $20,700. At 6.5 mpg and $3.75 diesel, fuel costs $5,884.62. Maintenance at $0.18 and tires at $0.04 a mile add $2,244, fixed costs (truck $2,400, insurance $1,100, tolls $300, other $400) add $4,200, and a 3% factoring fee takes $621. Costs total $12,949.62, leaving $7,750.38 cash surplus, a cash expense ratio of 62.6%. The break-even rate is $1.41 per loaded mile.