Car Rentals: Planning a Weekend Getaway

When I moved to the big city, buying a car seemed like a waste of money. The subway takes me anywhere I want to go, and there are always cabs as a backup. When I do want to get out of the city for a weekend, I arrange for a car rental. Rentals are great for me. I get to choose the type of vehicle that I want, buy insurance to cover the trip, and concentrate on enjoying myself. If the car develops engine trouble, I call the agency and they pick me up in a replacement. Thanks to my club discounts, I even get price breaks on some of my rentals. If you are new to the idea of renting a car, let me help. I'll show you how to get the best terms, including the lowest price. That'll make for a more pleasant trip.

New Owner Operators Must Know The Numbers

Articles

If you are getting ready to purchase your first truck and become an owner operator, it is most likely because you have a love of trucking. You love the wide open road, and love driving, but most importantly, you see this job as a way to make money. Unfortunately, once you purchase your own truck making money is not as easy as it looks. The only way to know whether or not you are making money is to know your numbers. There are a few calculations that you must make, but fortunately, there are easy ways to make them.

Calculating The Cost Of Doing Business

If you are like most owner operators, you have driven for someone else for a period of time before getting ready to put your own truck, or trucks, on the road. In your previous positions you were either paid by the mile, by the load, or even by the hour. When you own your own truck, how you are paid, and what you are paid, depends on the price you accept for the load that you are agreeing to haul. But how do you determine if the price is right? You must know the cost of operating your truck. These break down into two simple categories:

Fixed Costs - this is what your truck costs you whether it moves or not.

These include:

  • Truck Payment
  • Trailer Payment
  • Truck Insurances including your health insurance
  • Licenses
  • Permits
  • Taxes

To calculate your monthly fixed costs. Take the total annual amount of all of these expenditures and divide them by 12.

To calculate your daily fixed costs. Take the total annual amount and divide it by 365, or the number of days that you plan to work per year.

To calculate the cost per mile, divide your annual amount by your projected annual miles, but you are not finished yet. You must still calculate in your variable costs.

Variable Costs - this is what it will cost you to operate, or move your truck. The further you drive the higher these costs will be. Some of these costs will be less per mile as you increase the number of miles you drive. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Fuel
  • Tractor/Trailer Tires
  • Repairs
  • Routine Maintenance
  • Truck Washes
  • Telephone Costs
  • Meals/Lodging
  • Tolls
  • Loading/Unloading Costs
  • Scale Fees
  • Fines/Legal Fees

In this category, small fluctuations in the price of fuel, or unexpected maintenance, can make the difference between you making a profit, or taking a loss.

What Will Your Numbers Show?

You will calculate your variable costs the same way that you calculated your fixed costs. When you add these together, you will get a true picture of the total vehicle costs. Add in your driver income, and you will have your total costs of operation.

The cost of operation will help you see the type of money that you need to make a profit on owner operator trucking jobs. You will also be able to analyze the places in which your costs are increasing, and even find ways to cut costs.

The Easy Way To Do This

You do not have to have a degree in accounting to come up with your numbers. Technology has made it easy, and you can find several online interactive calculators that will help you do these figures like the one at the bottom of this page.

There are also smartphone apps that will keep this information in the palm of your hand, as well as calculate this information for you. All you have to do is go to the app store, and search for cost per mile, or total cost of operations calculators. They have them for Apple, Blackberry, and Android users.

The next time that you have to set, or even accept a price for a load, you will immediately know the type of money that you need to ask for in order to make a profit. Know your numbers so that you will make informed decisions, and not just pluck a number from the sky. This will not only allow you to run a more effective business, but will give you grounds when you are negotiating a price with your customers.

Share

16 October 2014