What Maintenance Costs, and How to Budget It
The bill does not arrive monthly, which is exactly why it sinks people. It accrues every mile and lands in one lump.
What the data says
From ATRI's Operational Costs of Trucking, 2026 edition, covering 2025:
| Line | Change on the year |
|---|---|
| Repair and maintenance | +8.6% |
| Tires | +6.4% |
| All-in operating cost per mile | $2.336 (+3.4%) |
| Operating cost per mile excluding fuel | $1.854 (+4.2%) |
Maintenance rose considerably faster than the overall figure. A budget built on last year's maintenance spend is already behind.
In cents per mile, the same report puts repair and maintenance at 21.5 cents (19.8 the year before) and tires at 5.0 cents (4.7). Repair and maintenance is up 45 percent since 2019. Regional averages ran from 19.4 cents in the South Central US to 22.1 cents in the Northeast.
Two details matter for a small operation. Those averages come from fleets whose trucks averaged 3.6 years old in 2025, and which ran an average of 85,991 miles per truck. And ATRI found that, in truckload, the smallest fleets (fewer than five trucks) had the highest repair and maintenance costs — they also did the smallest share of work in-house, about 42 percent, against up to 68 percent for fleets above 100 trucks. An older truck in a one-truck operation should expect to sit above the fleet average, not below it.
The mistake that causes the damage
Treating maintenance as something that happens occasionally rather than something that accrues constantly.
A set of drive tyres does not become a cost on the day you buy them. It becomes a cost across every mile you ran them. Same for the clutch, the injectors, the aftertreatment system and the overhaul. If you only account for maintenance when you pay it, your cost per mile looks excellent for months and then catastrophic for one.
The fix is a per-mile accrual. Pick a figure, set it aside every week into a separate account, and pay repairs out of it. Whether your figure is right matters less at the start than having one at all — and after a year of records you can replace the guess with your own number.
This is also what makes your cost per mile honest. A calculation that includes only what you happened to spend this year understates what the truck actually costs to run.
A worked accrual, with the arithmetic
Illustrative figures, chosen for the arithmetic — not a recommendation for your truck. Suppose you accrue 25 cents per mile for repair and maintenance and 6 cents for tires, deliberately a little above ATRI's fleet averages for the reasons above, and you run 2,000 miles a week.
| Line | Rate | Per week (2,000 mi) | Per 48 weeks (96,000 mi) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Repair and maintenance | $0.25 | $500 | $24,000 |
| Tires | $0.06 | $120 | $5,760 |
| Total set aside | $0.31 | $620 | $29,760 |
After 20 weeks the account holds 20 × $620 = $12,400 before any withdrawals. A hypothetical $8,000 repair in week 20 is then an annoyance paid from the account, not an emergency paid from a credit card. The same repair in week 3, with $1,860 in the account, is why the accrual should start on day one and why a starting cushion helps.
The accrual also changes how you read your numbers. A month with no repairs is not a cheap month; it is a month in which four weeks at $620, or $2,480, moved into the reserve.
Replacing the guess with your own number
- Total twelve months of actual repair, service and tire spend from your records, including roadside calls and towing.
- Add the work you know is coming. Tires part-worn, a clutch or aftertreatment component near its usual interval, an overhaul you are approaching. Spread each over the miles until it is due.
- Divide by the miles you actually ran in those twelve months.
- Compare the result with your accrual rate and with ATRI's average. If yours is well below both, look for what has not happened yet.
- Reset the rate and repeat every year. A truck's maintenance cost per mile rises with age; a rate set in year two will be low by year six.
Preventive versus reactive, in money terms
The argument for preventive maintenance in a one-truck operation is not mainly about repair cost. It is about the two costs that dwarf it:
- Downtime. A truck in a shop earns nothing while the payment and insurance continue. Fixed costs do not pause.
- Where it breaks. A planned repair happens at your shop at your rate. An unplanned one happens 400 miles away, at whatever the nearest place charges, with a tow and a hotel.
That second point is why the same job can cost three times as much depending only on when you chose to do it.
What to keep, and why it is not optional
A systematic inspection, repair and maintenance programme with records is one of the six areas examined in a new entrant safety audit. "I fix it when it breaks" is not a programme.
Keep, per vehicle:
- A record of every repair and service: date, mileage, what was done, by whom.
- The annual inspection documentation, with the copy on the vehicle.
- Driver vehicle inspection reports and repair certifications where they apply.
Those records serve three purposes at once: the audit, your Vehicle Maintenance BASIC, and the resale value of the truck. The same folder does all three jobs.
How long the records must be kept
| Record | Rule | Keep for |
|---|---|---|
| Inspection, repair and maintenance records for each vehicle controlled 30 consecutive days or more | 49 CFR § 396.3 | 1 year, and 6 months after the vehicle leaves your control |
| Annual (periodic) inspection report | 49 CFR § 396.21 | 14 months from the inspection |
| Driver vehicle inspection reports and repair certifications | 49 CFR § 396.11 | 3 months from the report |
| Evidence of inspector and brake inspector qualifications | 49 CFR §§ 396.19, 396.25 | While they work for you, and 1 year after |
Two edge cases for one-truck operators. The written post-trip report under § 396.11 does not apply to a carrier operating only one commercial motor vehicle, and for others a report is not required when no defect is found. Neither removes the § 396.13 duty to be satisfied the vehicle is safe before driving, the annual inspection, or the § 396.3 maintenance records. If you are leased on to a carrier, its programme and paperwork rules apply as well.
Common mistakes
- Spending the reserve. An accrual held in the operating account is not a reserve. Keep it separate.
- Building the budget on a truck's warranty years. Costs during warranty say little about costs after it.
- Leaving tires out. At about 5 cents a mile on ATRI's numbers, a set of tires is a cost that is easy to forget until it arrives all at once.
- Treating a deferred repair as a saving. It is a cost moved to a worse time and place, often with an out-of-service violation attached.
- Keeping receipts but not mileage. Without the odometer reading, records cannot produce a cost per mile.
Where the maintenance line hides in your numbers
Put your accrual, not your spend, into the maintenance and tyre lines of the calculator. If your figure is well below the industry pattern, the likely explanation is not that you are efficient — it is that a cost is sitting in the future rather than in the spreadsheet.
Frequently asked questions
How much should I budget for maintenance per mile?
Use your own records once you have a year of them. Before that, set any deliberate accrual and refine it. ATRI's data shows repair and maintenance rising 8.6 percent and tyres 6.4 percent in 2025, so last year's figure is a floor rather than a target.
Why does my cost per mile look good until something breaks?
Because maintenance accrues per mile but is paid in lumps. Accruing weekly rather than accounting when you pay removes the illusion.
What maintenance records must I keep?
Records of systematic inspection, repair and maintenance for each vehicle, plus annual inspection documentation. These are examined in a new entrant safety audit.
Does a one-truck owner-operator need written DVIRs?
The written report under 49 CFR 396.11 does not apply to a carrier operating only one commercial motor vehicle. You must still be satisfied the vehicle is safe before driving, keep maintenance records and pass the annual inspection.
How long must maintenance records be kept?
One year, and for six months after the vehicle leaves your control. Annual inspection reports are kept for 14 months, and driver vehicle inspection reports for three months.
Related
Sources
- Operational Costs of Trucking — ATRI, 2026 edition.
- 49 CFR § 396.17 — Periodic inspection.
- 49 CFR Part 396 — Inspection, Repair, and Maintenance — eCFR.
- New ATRI Report Details Accelerating Costs and Low Profitability Despite Cuts — ATRI, July 2026.
- M&R cost per mile rose nearly 9% in 2025: ATRI study — Fleet Maintenance.
- ATRI report breaks down Class 8 truck operating costs by region and expense category — FleetOwner.
General information, not legal advice. Regulations change; confirm current requirements with the agency before acting.