Q am operating a 5-ton Bedford boxnan and have been offered
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a job which involves a whole day's work. The mileage involved is about 150 for a round trip and I expect to have to wait at the customer's premises for an hour while the vehicle is loaded and a further two hours while the goods are unloaded at the other end. Could you give me some advice about charging for the job? A It is difficult to be precise about
a rate for the job you quote without knowing more about your business such as what overheads you incur, the insurance premium you pay and so on.
However, the following estimate is based on Commercial Motor Tables of Operating Costs for 1973. (These are now available by post price 70p from Cashiers Department, IPC Business Press (Sales and Distribution) Ltd, 40 Bowling Green Lane, London EC1R ONE. It has been assumed that your vehicle is a diesel unit.
Standing costs have been estimated per week at, licences, £2.03, wages £36.41, garage rent and rates £2.28, insurance, £4.16, interest on capital £4.40. A total of £49.28 a week or 123.20p an hour based on a 40-hour week.
Running costs per mile are estimated at fuel 1.90p, lubricants 0.17p, tyres 0.57p, maintenance 3.08p, depreciation 2.36p. A total of 8.10p.
The data on which these figures are based is cost of fuel 31.50 a gallon, fuel consumption 16 mpg. cost of tyres (excluding spare) £200, mileage life of tyres 35,000, cost of vehicle (less tyres and 10 per cent for residual value) £1750, mileage life of vehicle 75,000.
If any of these factors differ from those involved in your operation, you should substitute your own figures and recalculate the cost figure concerned.
Using CM figures, however, you will realize it is necessary now to add an appropriation for overheads and for profit and contingency. In CM Tables, 20 per cent has been asssumed reasonable in each case. Therefore the hourly charge becomes 172.48p and the mileage charge 11.34p.
A reasonable estimate for a whole day's work involving a 150-round-mile trip is therefore:
11 hours at 172.48p = £18.97 150 miles at 11.34p = £17.01
Total £35.98
Assuming your vehicle averages 1000 miles a week, the total operating cost per mile would be 13.03p and, with the overhead and profit factor added, the minimum charge per mile would be 18.24p. If you charged at this rate the estimate would be 150 miles @ 18.24p = £2736.