How do you calculate your cost per mile to do business, what costs of your total operation do you include? Then how do you go about calculating and arriving at the final amount it costs you to roll down the road? I would guess there will be many differant approaches, share if you would, and if you don't mind include what your cost per mile is. Thanks!

Costs I believe one would use, unless your carier provides at no cost:
License Plates
Qualcomm
Permits
Tolls
PrePass
Maintenance / Repair
Fuel
Bobtail / Tractor Insurance
Truck Payment (oh ya!THX! Rev. Vassago& G-Man & added w/EDIT))
accounting fees
Taxes-Fuel
Taxes-Heavy Duty Road
Tire Expense
Truck Wash
Wages
Truck Supplies
Health Insurance
Workmans Comp
Food
Office / Computer supplies
postage
????
Looking forward to your formulas & input on this, THANKS!

 

Truck payment
Repairs
Cell phone
Lumpers
Tools of the trade (straps, binders, etc)
Postage
Dues (consortium dues, OOIDA dues, etc)
Hotels / rental cars

 

Some of the items you listed will vary from one state to another. When I am doing estimates, I use 100,000/year as a basis unless I know the actually run. If you have been running and plan on doing approximately the same number of miles per year, then you can use those numbers. Base plates and permits can vary widely from one state to another. Illinois is one of the most expensive to buy base plates. I paid just over $1,400 in my home state. Some have posted rates as low as $1,100/year for their base plates. UCR will cost $39/year for one truck. We have covered the basic costs before, but I will try to give you a basis to get started. Some of it will require you to do some leg work within you own state to check the initial cost of base plates. There are a few states which require additional registration costs, such as New York and New Mexico. I change my oil at 15M mile intervals. Some change more or less frequently. I generally pay around $200 per oil change. If you go to a dealer you can easily pay $300. I run CAT filters which make my oil changes a little more expensive than someone running a Cummins or Detroit. I would count on about $0.05/mile for tires. Maintenance fund could run from $0.05-0.15/mile. Collision insurance normally runs from 2-4% of the stated value of your equipment. If you plan on running your authority, rates are all over the place. I pay less than $4,000 including collision. Some have posted rates as high as $36,000. A number of factors come into play when buying liability and cargo insurance, including credit, experience and where you run. You will need to check with some insurance companies to get an accurate rate.

I have not used Qualcom or prepass for several years. I believe prepass runs about $14/month. Bobtail should run from $30-60/month. If you run your own authority you won't need bobtail insurance. I don't run toll roads so I can't help you with those costs. As far as fuel is concerned, you take the national average and divide by your mpg. I calculate these figures using 5 mpg. If you travel 100,000 miles per year and use 5 mpg, then you will purchase 20,000 gallons of fuel during the year. If the average cost of fuel is $3.25/gallon, then it will cost you $0.65/mile for fuel. ($3.25/5 mpg=$0.65/mile).

You take all of your costs for the year and divide by your estimated miles driven to get your cost per mile.

 

Some things you listed are variable, like truck washes. I go well over a month (almost 2) in the nice months. This trip, its been every 2 weeks. However, all the things you listed can be grouped together based on last years annual cost and factored in.

 

online calculators

http://www.truckershelper.com/operationscost.php

http://www.peterbilt.com/index_our_too_cst.asp

 

Food isn't a business expense, you'd have that cost regardless of whether you were on the road or not.

 

Food IS a business expense. You can keep all your receipts or the govt gives you a flat per diem dollar figure...you have the choice to use either as a write off.

 

Any money you spend is an expense. The question becomes whether to include it in your business calculations or not. The more you include, the more accurate you will be when determining how much you need to earn.

 

Here is a good spreadsheet from OOIDA that helps with pulling all your numbers together and spitting out a cost per mile:

http://ooida.com/trucking_tools/CPM/cost_per_mile.htm

It says it is Microsoft Office, but I have opened and used it in Open Office.

Longsnowsm

 

I didn't think I needed to explain that by "expense" I meant business expense, since that was the topic of discussion...my bad. Rev, I know that you use an unconventional method of calculating your operating expenses which includes your household expenses. In the end, whatever works for the individual is what matters for your personal accounting.

That is not correct. The IRS recognizes that travel away from home sometimes necessitates that you spend money for food ABOVE AND BEYOND what would be a normal level. That is what this deduction is targeting. If this was a business expense, as recognized by the IRS, then you would get the deduction for everyday you are away from home. That's not the case. In fact, if you spend too much time away from home, the IRS can disallow your ENTIRE meal allowance deduction. The reason; you spend so much time on the road that you aren't incurring normal household expenses. Since you are not DUPLICATING normal expenses you don't qualify for the deduction. This is why you need a physical residence in order to claim the deduction.

One other clue as to whether it's a business expense or not; where is the deduction taken and who may take it? You don't even have to own a business in order to take the deduction. It's a deduction for EMPLOYEES. You claim it on your PERSONAL tax return under unreimbursed employee expenses.

If you would incur the expense anyway, whether you own a business or not, it is not a business expense.