Many distributors calculate route cost by looking at fuel alone. It is the most visible line item, but usually represents less than half the real cost when you include driver time, vehicle wear and failed deliveries.
Understanding cost per route lets you compare zones, customers and days of the week — and justify investing in better planning. Complements the manual planning cost guide and the route savings calculator.
Components of route cost
- Fuel or energy: km driven × consumption × price/litre (or kWh).
- Driver time: hours on route × hourly cost (salary + employer costs + social security).
- Stop time: minutes per delivery × number of stops — unloading, signature, waiting.
- Tolls and parking: relevant in urban areas and restricted zones.
- Prorated fixed cost: insurance, MOT, leasing — spread across vehicle km or days.
- Incidents: failed delivery, revisit, returned goods.
Simplified formula per route
Estimated cost of a route
Fuel cost = total km × cost per km (fuel + indicative wear)
Labour cost = (driving time + stop time) × driver hourly cost
Incident cost = failed deliveries × average cost per revisit
Route cost ≈ fuel + labour + incidents + tolls
Illustrative numerical example
Daily route with 85 km, 12 stops, 15 min average per stop (includes driving between stops in a 6 h shift), driver hourly cost €16, all-in km cost €0.35 (simplified fuel + wear), 1 failed delivery per month prorated (~€45 per revisit):
- Fuel/km: 85 km × €0.35 = €29.75
- Labour: 6 h × €16 = €96
- Incidents: ~€1.5 daily prorated (€45 / 30 days)
- Indicative total: ~€127/day per route
Multiply by the number of active routes and days per month to see delivery weight in your P&L. If stop order adds 10% unnecessary km, that is ~€3 extra in fuel alone in this example — plus driver time.
Common calculation mistakes
- Using only the day's fuel receipt, without real route km.
- Not counting warehouse loading time as part of the delivery shift.
- Ignoring failed deliveries ("we'll count them next month").
- Comparing routes of different density (rural vs urban) without normalizing per stop.
- Assuming "we have always done it this way" means the cost is optimal.
How to reduce cost per route
Fewer km with better stop order (VRP optimization), grouping deliveries by zone, realistic time windows and a driver app that reduces stop time (digital signature, customer data visible). Learn more in multi-vehicle optimization or try the savings calculator with your monthly km.
Example figures are illustrative. Replace cost/km and hourly cost with your fleet's. LogIA does not guarantee specific savings without analyzing your operation.