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What the drive actually costs you.

Every service call starts with a drive you're paying for. Put in the miles, your cost per mile, the time behind the wheel and what that time costs, and see the trip charge that covers it.

mi
$
Example only. Your own fuel, wear and insurance per mile, or the IRS standard rate for the year if you use it.
hrs
$
What an hour of your time or a tech's time costs the business.
$
0 if you don't have one.
Vehicle cost$21.00
Time cost$45.00
Trip charge$66.00

Tell Redline your service call fee once and memory keeps it, so it can add the trip charge as a line when it drafts a repair quote for you to check.

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How the math works

Two costs, added together. Vehicle cost is round-trip miles times what each mile costs you in fuel, tires, maintenance, insurance and wear. Time cost is round-trip drive hours times what an hour of your time, or your tech's, costs the business. If you have a minimum service call fee and the total comes in under it, the minimum wins.

Your cost per mile is yours to set. Some owners work it out from a year of fuel and repair receipts divided by miles driven. Others use the IRS standard mileage rate, which the IRS publishes each year; if you go that way, look up the current year's rate on irs.gov and type it in, since it changes.

For the hourly cost, use the loaded cost of the person driving, not their wage. The burdened labor rate calculator works that out for an employee.

Worked example

An example vehicle cost of $0.70 a mile and labor cost of $60 an hour:

CallRound-trip milesDrive hoursVehicleTimeTrip charge
Across town100.25$7.00$15.00$22.00
Next town over300.75$21.00$45.00$66.00
Edge of the service area601.50$42.00$90.00$132.00

Cost per mile and hourly cost are examples, not published rates. With a $49 minimum, the first row would be $49.

What to watch for

  • Tell the customer the trip charge before you roll, and say whether it's credited toward the repair if they go ahead. Surprises on the invoice turn into disputes.
  • A trip charge covers getting there. Diagnosis time is separate work; some shops bundle the two into one service call fee, some don't. Pick one and say it the same way every time.
  • Return trips for parts are the expensive ones. Decide whether a second trip is billed again, and put it in your terms.
  • If most of your calls are in two or three towns, a flat zone fee per town is easier to quote than a per-mile number. Use this calculator to set each zone.
  • Use real round-trip miles from the shop or your last stop, not the one-way distance.

Questions contractors ask

Is a trip charge the same as a service call fee?

People use both names. Strictly, a trip charge covers travel, and a service call fee often covers travel plus the first stretch of diagnosis. If yours includes diagnosis, add that time to the drive hours.

Should I waive it if they book the repair?

That's a sales call, not a math one. Waiving it wins jobs; keeping it pays for the calls that don't turn into work. If you waive it, make sure your repair pricing covers the drive.

How does Redline handle trip charges?

Say "my service call fee is $66" and memory saves it on its own, so Redline can include it when it works out a price. You check every draft before it goes anywhere. "Invoice Ortiz for the trip, 1.5 hours and the igniter" drafts one invoice for the total, with a one-line description, on Solo ($29 a month) with a card pay link. Redline doesn't calculate miles or drive time for you; there are no maps inside it.

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