What the Pump Costs You in Payroll
Most fleet fuel calculators compare price per gallon. This one measures something that usually costs more and never appears on a fuel invoice: the paid driver hours spent getting to a pump, waiting at it, and coming back. Enter your fleet size, how often each truck fuels, and what an hour of driver time actually costs you, and the calculator returns the monthly and yearly figure.
The defaults are deliberately conservative — 30 minutes per stop and a $28 loaded hourly rate. Every assumption is adjustable, because the number only means something if it matches how your yard really runs. For a delivered quote for your fleet, call Exigo Fuels at (305) 900-6725.
Read the full guide
How the calculation works
- Monthly fuel stops = vehicles × stops per vehicle per week × 4.33 weeks.
- Paid driver hours = monthly stops × minutes per stop, divided by 60, at your loaded hourly rate.
- Detour miles, card or processing fees and receipt handling are added on the same basis.
- The fuel line is real: gallons × (live delivered price − your pump price). When the pump is cheaper, that line counts against delivery.
- Net = everything around the gallon − the fuel line. The tool also shows the delivered price at which the month breaks even.
Why 30 minutes per stop
A fuel stop is not the four minutes the nozzle is running. It is the detour off route, the wait if the island is busy, the fill itself, the receipt, and the return to route. Diesel Direct, one of the larger on-site fueling operators, publishes 45 minutes for this. We default to 30 because we would rather the number be defensible than large. If your yard sits next to a truck stop, drop it to 15 and the calculator will still show you something real. If your drivers cross town to fuel, push it to 45.
Why the hourly rate is loaded
The rate field asks for a loaded hourly rate: wage plus payroll taxes, workers compensation, benefits and paid time off. That burden typically adds 25 to 40 percent above base wage for a South Florida CDL driver. It matters because the hour spent at a pump costs the company the full loaded figure. Using the base wage alone understates the true cost by roughly a third.
Why the fuel line is shown with its sign
The delivered price per gallon follows the day's market, with no delivery fee or after-hours surcharge on standard deliveries. On many days a busy Miami station is cheaper per gallon. We show it rather than hide it: the case for delivery is the paid hour at the pump, the detour and the fees, not a per-gallon discount. The pump price defaults to the dated AAA Miami average and the delivered price is fetched live for your ZIP, so the comparison is today's, not a brochure's.
When the answer is that you should not switch
If your trucks are rarely all parked in one yard overnight, if your routes already pass a fuel island at no detour cost, or if you run fewer than about ten vehicles, the number this calculator returns will be small. That is a real answer and worth having. On-site fueling earns its keep when trucks sit in a yard overnight and the detour to fuel is genuine time. It does not earn its keep everywhere.
Related tools and pages
Estimating consumption rather than the cost of fueling? Use the Fuel Consumption Calculator for gallons per day, month and year. Comparing delivered price against retail? The Fuel Cost Calculator models the per-gallon side. For how delivery actually runs, see fleet fueling and bulk fuel delivery.