2026 Trucking Costs: What Small Carriers Need to Know (ATRI)

Running a trucking business became more expensive in 2025, and the first numbers from 2026 show that the pressure has not eased.

ATRI’s newly released 2026 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking found that the average cost of operating a truck reached a record $2.336 per mile in 2025. That was a 3.4% increase from $2.260 in 2024.

The increase may look small on paper, but it adds up quickly. At ATRI’s average of 85,991 miles per truck, the additional 7.6 cents per mile represents roughly $6,535 more per truck annually.

For owner-operators and small fleets, the impact can be even greater. Smaller carriers often spend more per mile on fuel and maintenance, while having less room to absorb a breakdown, unpaid detention, or a slow-paying broker.

Let’s look at where costs increased, why smaller operations feel the pressure more, and what carriers can do to protect their margins.

The New Cost Benchmark Is $2.336 per Mile

ATRI’s findings represent 182,248 trucks and 14.67 billion miles traveled in 2025. The report found that nearly every major operating expense increased.

Fuel was relatively stable during 2025, but other expenses kept climbing. Without fuel, the cost of operating a truck increased 4.2% to $1.854 per mile, well above the 2.7% rate of inflation.

Tolls had the largest percentage increase, followed by repair and maintenance, driver benefits, and tires. Equipment payments and insurance also reached new highs.

This means carriers cannot depend on fuel savings alone to protect their margins. Even when diesel prices are relatively stable, the cost of keeping a truck financed, insured, maintained, and moving can continue to increase.

The National Average Can Understate Small-Fleet Costs

The $2.336 industry average is a useful benchmark, but it should not be treated as every carrier’s break-even rate.

ATRI’s data shows that smaller fleets often pay more in some of the most important operating categories.

Truckload fleets with fewer than five trucks spent an average of $0.530 per mile on fuel. Fleets with more than 1,000 trucks averaged $0.442. That is an 8.8-cent difference on every mile.

Maintenance showed an even wider gap. Truckload fleets with fewer than five trucks averaged $0.275 per mile in repair and maintenance expenses, compared with $0.169 for fleets with more than 1,000 trucks.

Larger carriers can negotiate fuel prices, purchase equipment in volume, operate in-house maintenance facilities, and move another truck when one goes out of service. Small carriers have fewer ways to spread those costs.

ATRI found that fleets with fewer than five trucks completed only 42% of their maintenance internally. Fleets with more than 100 trucks performed approximately 65% to 68% of their maintenance in-house.

Many small carriers also rely on older or fully paid-off equipment to avoid taking on another monthly payment. That can help cash flow in the short term, but it may lead to higher maintenance costs and more downtime.

The average truck age increased from 3.4 years in 2024 to 3.6 years in 2025. At the same time, the average truck traveled 85,991 miles, approximately 4% more than the previous year.

As trucks became older and traveled more miles, breakdowns became more frequent. The average distance between breakdowns or unscheduled repairs fell from 38,249 miles in 2024 to 36,891 miles in 2025. For truckload carriers, the average was even lower at 32,894 miles.

For a large fleet, one truck in the shop is an operating problem. For an owner-operator, it can bring the entire business to a stop.

That is why the decision to keep or replace a truck sho uld consider more than the monthly payment. Repair bills, roadside service, towing, missed loads, and lost working days all belong in the comparison. Our guide to choosing the right truck for your company can help carriers evaluate that decision.

Rates Have Not Kept Up With Costs

Higher operating costs would be easier to manage if rates were rising at the same pace. For many owner-operators, they have not.

The average rate paid by carriers to contracted owner-operators fell from $2.10 per mile in 2023 to $2.09 in 2024 and $2.08 in 2025. That was the same average rate reported in 2022, even though costs have risen considerably since then.

For comparison, the average cost for the truckload sector reached $2.21 per mile in 2025, while the overall industry average reached $2.336.

These figures are not interchangeable and do not mean that every owner-operator lost 13 or 26 cents on every mile. Operations, contracts, surcharges, and cost structures vary. However, they show that owner-operator compensation did not keep pace with the broader increase in trucking expenses.

The result is very little room for error. Truckload carriers reported an average operating margin of only 0.4% in 2025. Refrigerated carriers averaged 0.6%, while flatbed and oversize carriers reported an average loss of 0.5%.

This is why owner-operators should calculate their own break-even rate instead of relying on market averages. If you drive the truck yourself, include fair compensation for your labor as an operating cost. What remains after paying yourself and covering the business’s expenses is profit.

Staying busy is not the same as operating profitably.

Deadhead Pushes the Real Break-Even Rate Higher

Excluding tanker fleets, empty mileage averaged 16.5% in 2025. That means nearly one out of every six miles produced no direct freight revenue while still consuming fuel, tires, maintenance, equipment life, and driver time.

Using ATRI’s industry averages, a carrier with a cost of $2.336 across all miles and 16.5% deadhead would need approximately $2.80 per loaded mile just to cover the marginal cost of all miles:

$2.336 ÷ 83.5% loaded miles = approximately $2.80 per loaded mile

That figure still does not include every possible overhead expense or a target profit margin.

This is why a load offering $2.50 per mile may look acceptable on the load board but lose money once the miles to pickup, an empty repositioning move, tolls, and waiting time are included.

Before accepting a load, calculate the rate using total trip miles, not only loaded miles. Our dispatching guide for owner-operators and small carriers explains other factors to review when selecting freight and evaluating brokers.

Are Conditions Improving in 2026?

The first months of 2026 brought some encouraging rate movement, but the recovery remains uncertain.

Higher rates do not yet mean a strong freight recovery.

By May, dry van spot rates were up 31% from the previous year, while contract rates were up 9%. However, freight volumes in both categories were down more than 15%.

This suggests that rates are improving mainly because fewer trucks are competing for available freight, not because there has been a major increase in freight demand.

Carriers reduced their fleet sizes by an average of 2.4% in 2025. Approximately 10% of the trucks that remained were parked or did not have a driver. Together, these changes resulted in an estimated 5.5% reduction in active trucking capacity.

At the same time, costs continued to rise. Compared with the 2025 averages, insurance increased 6.4% in the first quarter of 2026, fuel rose 5.9%, driver benefits climbed 4.5%, and repair and maintenance increased another 2.4%.

Higher rates are welcome, but small carriers should not assume that every load is now profitable. If more capacity returns before freight demand strengthens, the improvement in rates could slow.

Cost control and careful load selection will remain important throughout 2026.

What Small Carriers Should Do Now

Start with your own numbers. Calculate a rolling cost per mile using at least the last eight to twelve weeks of expenses. Separate truck costs, driver compensation, overhead, and financing expenses so you can identify what is changing.

Then calculate three different benchmarks:

1. Your cost across every mile, including deadhead.
2. The loaded-mile rate required to cover those costs.
3. The loaded-mile rate required to cover costs and produce your target profit.

Review these figures by truck and lane. A company-wide average can hide an unprofitable unit or route.

Build maintenance reserves into every load rather than waiting for a breakdown. ATRI found that the average distance between breakdowns or unscheduled repairs fell from 38,249 miles in 2024 to 36,891 miles in 2025. If maintenance cash is not being reserved as the truck moves, the next repair will have to come from working capital.

Carriers should also track essential trucking KPIs, including deadhead percentage, fuel economy, maintenance cost per mile, dwell time, days to pay, and operating margin.

Finally, protect cash flow. A profitable load can still create a cash shortage if the broker takes 30 to 60 days to pay while fuel, payroll, tolls, and repairs are due immediately.

Freight factoring does not make an unprofitable load profitable, but it can reduce the timing gap between completing a load and receiving payment. When evaluating factoring, compare the fee with the cost of broker quick pay, missed fuel discounts, late payments, and loads you may be unable to accept because cash is tied up in receivables.

How Summar Financial Can Help

Summar Financial helps owner-operators and small fleets turn completed loads into working capital through same-day freight factoring payments.

Carriers can receive up to 98% of an approved invoice, access unlimited broker credit checks, and work with a dedicated account representative. Faster access to cash can make it easier to cover fuel, maintenance, payroll, and other operating expenses without waiting weeks for brokers to pay.

Summar clients can also access a Load Connex fuel card with savings of up to 95 cents per gallon and weekly rebates.

Costs may be rising, but small carriers still have control over the loads they accept, the expenses they track, and how quickly completed work becomes available cash.

Contact Summar Financial to learn how freight factoring, fuel savings, and better cost visibility can support your operation.