You do not know what your trucks cost per kilometre

Fuel is watched because it is visible

Fuel gets attention because somebody pays for it in cash, repeatedly, and the amount is obvious. Tyres are bought four at a time every so often. Maintenance arrives as a workshop bill. Neither feels like a running cost, so neither gets divided by kilometres.

Add tyres, servicing, repairs, insurance, permits and the driver, and the non-fuel share of a truck's running cost is frequently the larger half. A fleet optimising only fuel is optimising a minority of its cost base.

Per vehicle, not per fleet

Fleet averages hide the vehicle that is quietly ruining the numbers. In most small fleets one or two vehicles consume a wildly disproportionate share of maintenance, and the average absorbs it.

Cost per kilometre, per vehicle, over twelve months is the report that makes a replacement decision obvious. It usually shows that the truck everyone assumed was fine because it keeps running is costing more per kilometre than a loan repayment on a new one.

What to capture, and the one that gets skipped

• Odometer at every fuelling. Without it none of the rest divides into anything.
• Fuel quantity and amount, against the vehicle rather than the driver's advance.
• Every workshop bill tagged to the vehicle, including the small ones paid in cash on the road.
• Tyre fitting with the odometer reading, so tyre life is measurable rather than assumed.
• Driver cost, which is a running cost even when it is paid monthly.

The one that gets skipped is roadside repairs paid in cash by the driver. Individually small, collectively substantial, and invisible in every fleet that reimburses them as a lump sum at month end.