Every tool on this site is built the same way: real formulas, honest assumptions, and no hidden inputs. This page explains exactly how the numbers work, so you can check them yourself instead of taking them on faith.
Cost-Per-Mile Calculator
Fixed cost per mile = (truck and trailer payment, insurance, permits and IFTA, other fixed costs, tolls, added together) divided by your monthly mileage.
Variable cost per mile = (fuel price divided by your truck’s MPG) plus your maintenance reserve per mile.
Total cost per mile = fixed cost per mile plus variable cost per mile.
Suggested minimum rate = total cost per mile, plus whatever margin percentage you choose to add on top.
Every input comes from you. Nothing is pre-filled with an industry average presented as your number. Where we do show a default or a typical range (like the insurance note when you switch between leased-on and own authority), it’s labeled as a range, not a fact about your specific costs.
Factoring Fee & Rate Comparator
Cost per invoice = your average invoice size multiplied by your factoring rate.
Monthly cost = cost per invoice multiplied by the number of invoices you factor per month.
Effective annual cost = monthly cost multiplied by 12.
If you don’t have a rate yet, the tool estimates a range using published industry rates instead of your own quote: 1.5% to 3.5% per invoice for recourse factoring, and 2.0% to 4.5% for non-recourse. Recourse is typically cheaper because you stay on the hook if a broker or shipper never pays; non-recourse costs more because the factoring company absorbs that risk instead.
These published ranges are not our own primary data. They are cited from the Freight Factoring Rate Index, Q2 2026, a third-party industry source, consistent with our rule below against presenting other publishers’ numbers as ours. Neither RTS Financial nor Apex Capital publishes an exact rate publicly, which is why the calculator works from your own inputs rather than quoting a specific vendor’s number.
New-Authority Startup Cost Estimator
The estimator adds up separate, non-overlapping cost lines rather than producing one blended figure: authority and registration fees, an equipment cost (down payment if buying, or start-up cost if leasing), an insurance deposit, a first-month working-capital cushion, and, if you don’t yet hold a CDL, a training cost. Each line is a published range, not a single number, and the total is the sum of whichever lines apply to your inputs.
Sourcing: authority and registration fees, the insurance deposit range, and the first-month cushion figure come from a 2026 startup-cost breakdown published by americantruckersllc.com, cross-checked against a separate registration-fee breakdown from logrock.com. Semi equipment ranges (buy and lease) come from americantruckersllc.com’s 2026 lease-and-purchase cost guide. Hotshot equipment ranges come from a dedicated 2026 hotshot startup-cost breakdown (otrucking.com). CDL training costs come from a 2026 state-by-state training cost survey (findcdlschool.com).
Where we couldn’t find a reliable published figure, specifically, insurance and first-month running costs for hotshot rigs, the tool says so instead of estimating a number we haven’t verified. That’s a deliberate gap, not an oversight.
RTS Financial vs Apex Capital, and freight factoring rate content
Our RTS Financial vs Apex Capital comparison and cheapest freight factoring rates pages are built from each company’s own published site content plus independent third-party reviews (freightfactoringusa.com, truckingway.com), not from our own account with either company. Contract terms, rates, and fees change, and we’ve flagged in that content exactly where a company’s own marketing claim differs from what independent reviews document about its actual contract terms.
Startup-cost supporting guides
Our four supporting guides for new-authority startup costs, How Much Does It Cost to Start a Trucking Company, Trucking Startup Costs Breakdown, How to Get Your Own Authority, and What Do I Need to Start a Trucking Business, are sourced primarily from FMCSA’s own site (fmcsa.dot.gov), the FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse’s owner-operator brochure, and federal regulation text (49 CFR, via ecfr.gov) for anything stated as a legal requirement, fee, or deadline. Equipment and insurance cost ranges are cited to named industry sources (ATBS, Apex Capital, RMS Truck Insurance, Truckstop.com, americantruckersllc.com), and are explicitly flagged in that content as less reliably sourced than the federal figures. Where a figure couldn’t be independently verified, for example reefer and flatbed trailer pricing, we said so rather than publishing an invented number.
Business tools comparisons
Our dispatch software, accounting software, business bank account, and load board comparison pages are built from each vendor’s own published pricing pages, cross-checked where possible against real operator discussion on TruckersReport and similar trucking forums. These pages deliberately push back on the premise that every category needs a paid tool, our dispatch software page states plainly that most 1-3 truck operations don’t need dispatch software at all, and our accounting software page explains when a spreadsheet is genuinely sufficient for IFTA. Where a vendor doesn’t publish pricing, we say so instead of estimating a number.
What we do not do
We do not average other publishers’ numbers and present them as ours. We do not use AI-generated statistics or invented survey data. If we haven’t verified a number ourselves, we don’t state it as fact.
About Haul Costs
Haul Costs exists to give small-fleet owner-operators a straight answer instead of a generic average. Every tool on this site runs on the numbers you enter, not numbers we assume for you, and every formula is documented on this page so you can check it yourself.
We built it this way because most sites in this space either sell you something or hand you a number pulled from nowhere in particular. We would rather show our work.
This site is currently free to use, with no sign-up required. If that changes, whether through affiliate partnerships or anything else, we will disclose it clearly wherever it applies. See also our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service, including our affiliate disclosure.