Fuel Surcharge Calculator — Does the Broker's FSC Cover Your Fuel?

Does that fuel surcharge really cover your fuel?

Enter a trip, the diesel price a program reads, and one or more fuel surcharge programs. You get the surcharge each one pays, the extra fuel your truck burned above the peg, and the gap that comes out of your linehaul, plus the surcharge per loaded mile you would need to break even. A peg, a step and an mpg basis in a rate confirmation are three numbers that hide a lot of money.

Calculated in this browser tab. No account, no upload. The example is made up. A planning estimate, not a contract.

1. Your trip and the programs

Published diesel price the program reads ($/gal)

What you actually pay at the pump ($/gal, optional)

Loaded miles

Deadhead miles

Linehaul ($, needed for percent programs)

Your real miles per gallon

Trips like this per week

One program per line: name, peg $/gal, mpg basis (or % of linehaul per step), step $/gal, loaded or all, cpm or pct. Names cannot contain commas. A step of 0 follows the price continuously.

Programs

Enter a trip and your programs, or load the example, then click Calculate the surcharge.

Result

Programs compared

Program	Per loaded mile	Surcharge	Extra fuel burned	Gap	Recovered	Per year

What the first program pays as the price moves

Diesel price	Surcharge	Extra fuel burned	Gap

The arithmetic, and what it leaves out

The price over the peg is rounded down to whole steps. A cents-per-mile program divides that by its mpg basis and pays it on loaded miles, or on all miles if it says so.
A percent program pays its percent for each step over the peg, on the linehaul.
The extra fuel is your total miles divided by your real mpg, times the pump price minus the peg: the fuel the base rate did not cover.
The gap is the extra fuel minus the surcharge. A positive gap comes out of your linehaul.
Not modelled: regional price indexes, the week a price is read, caps and minimums, contract-specific mileage sources, fuel-card discounts and taxes. Read the fuel clause in the rate confirmation.

Common questions

How is a fuel surcharge calculated per mile?

Take the published diesel price, subtract the peg (base) price, round down to the program's step, and divide by the miles per gallon the program assumes. A price of $4.05 against a $1.20 peg in $0.05 steps and a 6 mpg basis is $2.85 over, or about $0.475 per mile.

What is the peg price?

The base diesel price already built into the linehaul rate. The surcharge only pays the part of the price above it, so a low peg pays more and a high peg pays less.

Why does the mpg basis matter?

The surcharge divides the price move by the miles per gallon the program assumes. If it assumes 6.5 mpg and your truck gets 6.0, every dollar over the peg is under-recovered by about 8%.

Do brokers pay fuel surcharge on deadhead miles?

Often only on loaded miles. The fuel burned getting to the pickup is then yours, which is why this tool shows the cost of deadhead miles and what asking for all miles would add.

What is a percent-of-linehaul fuel surcharge?

Some shippers pay a percent of the linehaul for each price step over a peg. It ignores your miles and your mpg, so it can pay far more or far less than the fuel you burned. Enter it as a percent program to compare.

Which things does this leave out?

Regional price indexes, the week the price is read, caps and minimums, per-contract mileage sources, taxes and any fuel discount from a card. Check the fuel clause in your rate confirmation.

Is my data uploaded?

No. Everything runs in your browser tab and nothing is sent anywhere. There are no accounts.