Enter the freight, the distance and your truck's mileage, then diesel, tolls, the driver's pay and other costs, to see what the trip really earns, the break-even freight and the rate to quote for the margin you want.
How to use the truck trip profit calculator
- Choose how the freight is paid (for the trip, per tonne or per km) and enter it with the loaded distance.
- Choose whether the truck comes back empty, with a backload, or not at all, and enter the mileage loaded and empty.
- Enter the diesel price, tolls, the days the trip takes, the driver's pay and bhatta, loading and other expenses.
- Open "Tyres, maintenance, EMI and insurance" to add the costs that build up between trips, and enter your trips a month.
- Read the profit, the trip account line by line, the break-even freight and the freight to quote.
Worked example
A truck carries a load 1,000 km for ₹75,000 and comes back empty. At 4 km a litre loaded and 5 km a litre empty it burns 250 + 200 = 450 litres; at ₹90 a litre that's ₹40,500. Add ₹12,000 of tolls, five days of a ₹24,000-a-month driver (₹3,945), ₹500 a day of bhatta (₹2,500), ₹3,000 of hamali and ₹2,000 of other expenses, and the trip costs ₹63,945: ₹11,055 profit, a 14.7% margin. The break-even freight is ₹63,945, and a 15% margin needs ₹75,230. With a ₹35,000 backload the return burns 250 litres instead of 200, and the profit is ₹41,555. Ten tyres at ₹20,000 that last 1,00,000 km would add ₹2 a km, ₹4,000 over the 2,000 km.
The method
- Diesel = loaded km ÷ loaded mileage + return km ÷ (empty or loaded) mileage, × the price a litre
- Driver: a monthly salary × 12 ÷ 365 a day; bhatta and helper by the day
- Tyre wear = tyres × price of a tyre ÷ tyre life (km); tyres and maintenance by the km run, both ways
- EMI × 12 + yearly insurance, tax and permits, ÷ 365 a day, × the trip's days
- Commission = its share × all the freight; break-even freight = other costs ÷ (1 − commission); quote = other costs ÷ (1 − commission − margin)
Every rate is the one you enter: diesel prices, tolls and freight differ by state, route and season. Method: trip-wise costing as transport accountants use it. Everything runs in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate the profit on a truck trip?
Take the freight and subtract everything the trip costs: diesel, tolls, the driver's pay and bhatta, a helper, loading and unloading, other expenses like parking and permits, the broker's commission, tyre wear and maintenance for the kilometres run, and the trip's share of the EMI, insurance and road tax. For a ₹75,000 load over 1,000 km, back empty, the costs in the example below come to ₹63,945, leaving ₹11,055.
How much diesel will my truck use for a trip?
Divide the distance by the truck's mileage: 1,000 km at 4 km a litre is 250 litres. Count the loaded and empty legs separately, because an empty truck goes further on a litre; 1,000 km back empty at 5 km a litre is another 200 litres. Use your own truck's figures: mileage depends on the load, the road, the engine and the driver.
What freight rate should I quote?
First find the break-even freight, the rate at which the trip just pays its costs: the costs before commission divided by (1 − the commission share). Then add the profit you want: for a margin m of the freight, divide the costs by (1 − commission − m). With ₹63,945 of costs, no commission and a 15% margin, that's ₹63,945 ÷ 0.85 = ₹75,230.
Does an empty return trip make a loss?
It often decides it. In the example the empty return burns 200 litres, ₹18,000 of diesel, for no freight. A ₹35,000 backload on the way home costs another 50 litres of diesel (loaded mileage) but turns ₹11,055 of profit into ₹41,555.
Why count the EMI and insurance in a single trip?
Because they're paid whether the truck runs or stands. The calculator spreads the EMI, the yearly insurance, road tax and permits, and a monthly driver's salary over every day of the year, and charges the trip for the days it takes. Enter your trips a month to see the month as a whole: idle days still cost their share.
How do I find the toll for my route?
Your FASTag statement from the last run on the same route is the surest figure. Otherwise NHAI's Toll Information System lists the toll plazas between two places with the fee for each type of vehicle; trucks pay by the number of axles. Enter the total for both ways.
