Fuel price hit

How to read the result

The big number is the extra fuel you would pay each month if the pump price moved by the amount you typed, at your miles and your mpg. Under it, the per-mile lines translate the same change into the unit you quote and get paid in. The “change per mile” figure is the one to hold against your fuel surcharge: if the surcharge you actually collect moves by less than this, the difference comes out of your margin.

Two things make the number bigger than owners expect. Empty miles burn fuel but earn no surcharge, so a fleet with a lot of deadhead is more exposed than its loaded miles suggest. And mpg is not a constant: a tired truck, a heavy lane or a cold month can move it enough to change the answer. Run the tool with your worst-month mpg as well as your average.

What to do about it

Check how your surcharge is written. Many are tied to a published weekly index and a base price, and the base price and the mpg assumption in the formula decide how much of a rise you actually recover. If the formula assumes better mpg than you get, you are paying the gap on every mile. Then look at timing: fuel is paid at the pump, or on a fuel card due in days, while the surcharge arrives with the load payment weeks later. A price rise therefore widens your float even when the surcharge eventually covers it. Our guide to the broker pay gap covers how fleets carry that stretch.