How many jobs a month does a truck cost you?
Before a truck makes you money, it costs you money every month. Put in the payment, the fixed costs, the running costs and what you keep on an average job, and I will show you how many jobs a month that truck has to do just to pay for itself.
Can you afford the next truck?
Four numbers. What the truck costs you each month, and what you keep on a typical job after parts and the tech’s pay. Change any number and the answer updates. If you are not sure what you keep per job, start with 30% of your average ticket.
$2,200 a month for the truck ÷ $425 kept per job = 5.2, so 6 jobs. A little over one job a week before the truck earns you anything.
Planning illustration only. It excludes taxes, depreciation, working capital, downtime, financing structure, owner labor, tax effects, resale value, risk and job variability. It predicts no sales, profit, ROI, uptime or vehicle fit. Verify the exact deal with qualified finance, tax, legal, insurance and operating reviewers.
What the calculator does
It adds up what the truck costs you in a month, divides that by what you keep on an average job, and rounds up. The answer is how many jobs that truck has to do each month before it puts a dollar in your pocket. Everything after that number is what the truck is actually earning you.
Where the numbers come from
- Truck payment. The monthly finance or lease payment for the truck itself. If you paid cash, use what you would have financed.
- Insurance and fixed costs. Commercial auto insurance, the shelving and wrap spread over the months you will run the truck, GPS, registration and permits.
- Fuel and maintenance. Fuel, tires, oil changes, repairs and tolls, averaged over a month.
- What you keep per job. Your average ticket minus the parts and the tech’s pay for that job. It is not the ticket price. If you have never worked it out, 30% of your average ticket is a fair place to start, and your bookkeeper can tighten it.
What it leaves out
Taxes, depreciation, working capital, downtime, financing structure, owner labor, resale value, risk and job variability. It predicts no sales, profit, ROI, uptime or vehicle fit. Use it to frame the conversation, then verify the exact deal with qualified finance, tax, legal, insurance and operating reviewers.
Why I built it
Every owner knows the truck payment. Almost nobody adds up the insurance, the shelving, the fuel and the repairs, so the truck always feels cheaper than it is. Seeing the whole monthly number next to what you keep per job is the fastest way to decide whether the next vehicle should be the cheaper van, the better-equipped van, or no van yet. Bring the result to the call and I will build the shortlist around it.
New or used?
Once an owner sees the monthly number, the next question is always whether a used work van would make it smaller. Plenty of business coaches tell people starting out to look for pre-owned. Here is the argument I make back, and you can check it against your own market in an afternoon.
Why a 20,000-mile work van should make you suspicious
Work vans do not come off a fleet at 20,000 or 30,000 miles because everything was going well. Either someone went out of business, or the van has a warranty problem the last owner got tired of fighting. A van that young is barely used, so the price is close to new anyway, and you are buying whatever the last owner walked away from. If the price looks like a bargain, ask why it is on the lot.
The two ranges that actually make sense
Either go to the 80,000 to 100,000 mile range, where the price honestly reflects the mileage and you know you are buying a used truck, or go new and under factory warranty. The gap in the middle is where owners overpay for someone else's problem.
What the gap usually costs
With fleet incentives applied, going new instead of low-mileage used often lands a couple hundred dollars a month apart. Your number depends on the vehicle, the incentives in the market that month and the terms your lender sets, so put your own figures in the calculator above. Then set that difference next to one breakdown: a van off the road on a Tuesday costs you the day's jobs, the technician's pay and the customer's patience, and that is rarely a couple hundred dollars.
Where I stand, and why I am telling you
Full disclosure: I do not coordinate used vehicles, so I have a stake in this answer. That is exactly why I would rather you run the numbers than take my word for it. If you find a genuinely clean, well-priced used van, take it. They exist. They are just rare enough that I would not build a growth plan around finding one.
Questions about the calculator
Should I buy a used work van instead?
Be careful in the 20,000 to 30,000 mile range: a work van that young is usually on the market because the owner went out of business or the van has a warranty problem, and the price is close to new anyway. The honest options are 80,000 to 100,000 miles, where the price reflects the mileage, or new and under warranty. With fleet incentives the new payment is often a couple hundred dollars a month more, which one breakdown can cost you in a single day.
What does 'what you keep per job' mean?
Your average ticket minus the parts and the technician's pay for that job. It is not the ticket price. If you have never worked it out, use 30% of your average ticket as a starting point and let your bookkeeper tighten it later.
What if I do not know my numbers exactly?
Use round figures. The point of the Glynn Fleet truck-math calculator is to see the whole monthly cost of a truck next to what a job leaves you, so a rough answer today is more useful than a perfect one you never calculate.
Does the calculator include taxes, depreciation or downtime?
No. It is a planning illustration that adds the truck payment, fixed costs and running costs and divides by what you keep per job. Taxes, depreciation, working capital, downtime, financing structure and owner labor are left out, so verify the exact deal with your advisers.
How should I use the result?
Treat it as the number of jobs a month the truck has to do before it earns you anything. If your crew clears that comfortably, the next vehicle is a growth decision. If not, bring the result to a call with me and we will look at a cheaper van, a different build, or waiting.