OK guy’s need help with my maths,If my truck was averaging 8 mile/gallon and I was doing 3000km or 1500 miles/week and diesel was 78.5p/litre.How much “readies” will I be spending on fuel per week 
Still working on the finances!!! 
1500 MILES…£669.11
Sounds about right to my calculator to 
cheers
STEVE
but with about £100 to come back in VAT reclaim.
3000kms = approx 1850 miles.
1850/8 = 231.25 gallons x 4.546 = 1051 ltrs x .785 = £825
with about £120 to come back in VAT.
Should be able to buy diesel better than 78.5.
Cue Ballymac service station in Dundalk big truck!!!
kev
Yeah Kev,I know!!
But I’m possibly looking to relocate to the mainland,Don’t think I can get rates of £1.04/mile loaded or empty (£1.30/mile two 20’ boxes) demurrage at £20/hour( they still pay you even if customer won,t pay it) after three hours, Guaranteed 1500miles/week (average usually 1800) for a new start in N.Ireland.Speaking to a TM at Teesport yesterday,he said he had been working for this company for 3 years and had never seen a subbie earn less than £1600/week even in quiet weeks, mostly they get 3000km (at 0.64p/km paid even if running for trailers with horse only)) with no trailer hire doing pure traction only,and they don’t run bent!!.Told me there would be no problem ringing his subbies for ref’s,questions and advice etc.
Although I’m going to see a quarry TM today to get some info ref rates etc and I suppose when comparing rates with across the water I should take into account the diesel available in the south at 56.25p/litre.
Can get a new ERF ECT 6x2 420c high entry sleeper AS tronic for £1050/month on 5 year buy back with full R+M (or 2001 low mileage Renault prem prev 6x2 with all the bells and whistles on hire purchase with full R+M for £800/month paid off in 3 years) and I’ve still to do abit of "dealing " 
on the quotes.Priced insurance @ £105/wk, public liability and GIT @ £26/wk. road tax @ £23/wk and fuel @ £670/wk (thanks to the guy’s above 
)
Doing the figures it seems to me there is profit to be made,but maybe being a “newbe” I’ve forgotten something!!!
Oops, I have forgotten something,What costing would I need to factor in for tyres on a 6x2 doing an average 130000km/year?
Now if only I had my CPC!!! ( start the 6 day course on Friday):lol: 
Dont forget youll need to take your drawings (wages)
Driveroneuk:
Should be able to buy diesel better than 78.5.
last bill I have is 64.79 +VAT = 76.13
( garage in village is sellling it at 86.9 
Yeah Welshman,
The drawings for wages will probably be ALL the profit because it goes to the wife!!!
Evening Big Truck. An easy formula to work out how much the total price is less the Vat is multiply 7 divide 47
i.e. your figure of £0.785 / litre equates to £0.12p / litre VAT. In other words you would be paying £0.67p / litre. (ex. VAT)
Having said that remember that you would still be paying the VAT up front on all your purchases. As Jonathan has pointed out 3000kms is more than 1500 miles. My maths make it 1875 miles. The maths are the important thing of becoming an owner driver. Many haulage companies work on a profit of around 3-5% so its critical that you have your figures right.
Litres to gallons — multiply 4.546
Gallons to litres — divide 4.546
KMs to miles — divide by 1.6
Miles to KMs — multiply by 1.6
The other important thing to consider is your cash flow. What are your terms of payment? Remember that if they are 30 days that will mean that you are waiting two months for any income. i.e. if you put it on the road April 1st you will bill that on the 30th April and get paid for it around the 30th May.
Hope that helps a bit. I wish Trucknet had been on the go years ago when I went into it. It might have avoided my bankruptcy in '96 
Best of luck
Phil
To add VAT multiply by 1.175 (obvious I know, but sometimes forgotten)
To subtract VAT multiply by 0.851
examples:
£10 * 1.175 = £11.75
£11.75 * 0.851 = £9.99925
That should be close enough and easy to remember/use on the calculator
all the best
Jules
Hi Big Truck
The monthly figures you quoted for the Tractor unit make interesting reading, who did you get those figures from.
How are you getting on in your quest to become an Owner Driver.
The Quotes came from Jim Lamb,A long time ERF dealer from Co.Tyrone,The dealer name is Lamb Commercials.
As for the O/D thing,took the CPC exam last Friday,Didn’t think it was that bad but will wait until the results come out in June!!! Have also booked to do the ADR from 5th/9th April, Still doing alot of research about what type of work I will do hence why my name appears on alot of threads here asking everybody for advice and they are all very forthcoming
Big truck,
Hope you passed the cpc. Thanks for the details of the supplier of the ERF it seems a reasonable deal. Better than mine of £1600 plus vat for the scania
I start my ADR on 29th march and it lasts five days.
Hopefully tommorrow I will be able to get various quotes for insurance and costings of tractor units sorted.
I will let you know how I get on good luck with the ADR.
Hi,
I’ve been following this over the last month or so, as its very relevant to my position - which is not just sitting
Having been self employed over the last 5 years or so doing stuff which doesn’t interest me, I am trying to justify a business plan based on buying a tractor unit (for around £10k) and running it as a general haulage business, perhaps running containers or doing some Euro work, part-time, for 3 or 4 days a week. How practical is this, keeping in mind it has to pay for itself at least?
From the info I have gleened from above, it would seem like you have to clear about £500 - £800 per week, depending on fuel, just to pay for the truck and running costs. I guess you have servicing, tyres, etc. , on top of that over a year.
Does anyone know of an average industry figure it costs to run a truck, per km/per mile? (I guess this would depend on the age of truck, for fuel and servicing)
Also, I have seen on other forums that companies that offer to act as CPC for drivers are not ‘liked’ by the government. Is this still the case? Is taking my own CPC the only option?
Anyway, sorry if I’ve deviated from the initial theme of the interesting discussion, but any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Paul
Plambert:
Hi,I’veDoes anyone know of an average industry figure it costs to run a truck, per km/per mile? (I guess this would depend on the age of truck, for fuel and servicing)
The RHA have a “standard costs” publication - it’s on their website but may be members only - I’m not sure
Also, I have seen on other forums that companies that offer to act as CPC for drivers are not ‘liked’ by the government. Is this still the case? Is taking my own CPC the only option?
No, taking your own CPC is not the only option but it’s a good one
If you use an outside person then your CPC holder MUST visit your premises regularly to check tacho’s, maintenence sheets etc - and you should keep records of the hours they spend on your premises.
Some of the agency CPC holders were never seen - that what caused the problems
Thanks Dennis for your info. I’ve seen some figures which suggest a £35 per hour cost but this must include an ‘average’ salary for a driver. Does anyone have a per km cost?
Or should I take an ‘average’ week of 50 hours, x £35 per hour, then take off an ‘average’ salary of, say, £14k?
Anyway I’ll keep digging,
Thanks again,
Paul
Plambert:
, then take off an ‘average’ salary of, say, £14k?
hope Tony doesn’t read that 
M** and B***** Money
I reckon 14k is a bit ambitious for drawings for one truck, especially on start up. My old guvnor reckoned on splitting the cheque like this.
I never saw a ratecon with max earnings every week
week 1 for truck finance
week 2 for fuel.
week 3 for tyres, insurance and maintenance
week 4 for trailer, admin, tax and drawings.
You get your bonus on a 5 week month but you still need fuel and tyres
That has to last for 90 days.
Plambert:
Hi,Does anyone know of an average industry figure it costs to run a truck, per km/per mile? (I guess this would depend on the age of truck, for fuel and servicing)
Paul
Paul, if it helps I have some tables published January 2004 showing typical running costs.
Based on
4x2 Tractor 38 Tonnes
Capital cost ££44,000
Annual Distance 120,000km
Ownership Period 5 years
Fuel Consumption 8.4mpg
Standing Costs
Overheads £10,658
VED £1,200
Insurance £3,283
Depreciation £7,000
Finance £1,760
Drivers 29,749
Running Costs
Fuel and Oil £24,894
Tyres £890
Maintenance £4,496
Total cost per year £83,930
Total cost per km £0.69.9
Tri-axle Skellie
Capital Cost £13,900
Annual Distance 100,000
Ownership Period 5 years
Standing Costs
Depreciation £1,365
Finance £556
Running Costs
Tyres £1,100
Maintenance £1,382
Total Cost per year £4,413
Total Cost per km 4.4p
I hope that helps.