How many miles to
break even?
Enter your monthly fixed costs, variable cost per mile, and average rate per mile — find the exact mileage where you stop losing money and start profiting.
Break-even = fixed costs ÷ (rate per mile − variable cost per mile). The denominator is your contribution margin per mile.
Know your break-even in real time.
Alogix rolls up fixed and variable costs against actual revenue so you always know how many miles stand between you and profit.
What is break-even in trucking?
Break-even is the point where total revenue exactly equals total cost — you make nothing, but you lose nothing. In trucking it is measured in miles per month. Your fixed costs (truck payment, insurance, permits) are the same whether you run 5,000 or 12,000 miles. Each mile you run earns the rate per mile but also incurs a variable cost per mile (fuel, maintenance, tolls). The gap between those two — your contribution margin per mile — is what slowly pays down your fixed costs. Once enough miles have covered those fixed costs, every additional mile is pure profit.
How to lower your break-even point
- 01Negotiate higher rates — every cent added to rate per mile widens your contribution margin and pulls break-even closer.
- 02Reduce fixed costs — refinance the truck, shop insurance, or drop unused permits to lower the mileage you must cover.
- 03Cut variable cost per mile — better fuel economy and disciplined maintenance directly shrink the per-mile burn.
- 04Eliminate deadhead — empty miles add variable cost without adding revenue, pushing break-even further out.
- 05Increase utilization — more revenue miles spread the same fixed costs, lowering the per-mile fixed burden.
Why knowing your break-even matters
Your break-even point is the line that separates a profitable month from a losing one. If you know you need 7,500 miles to cover costs, you know instantly whether a slow week is a real problem or just normal variance. It tells you the minimum rate you can accept before a load actually costs you money, and it sets a concrete monthly mileage target for dispatch. Operators who track break-even make calmer, faster decisions — they negotiate from data instead of fear, and they spot a structural cost problem long before it drains the bank account.