You see a mobile service fee on the invoice. So you skip it. You tell your guys to take the truck to a shop instead and tell yourself you saved money.
Actually, you didn’t. You moved the cost somewhere that you don’t get a bill for.
A truck doesn’t drive itself to the shop
When a unit goes to an off-site shop, someone has to take it there. That takes two drivers and two vehicles for every trip:
- One driver takes the unit to the shop.
- A second driver follows in another vehicle to bring the first driver back.
Then it happens again when the repair is done. One driver rides out to the shop, picks up the unit, and the second follows to bring everyone home.
One repair. Two round trips. Six trips down the road.
What one round trip really costs
A single round trip to an off-site vendor runs a fleet $300 to $400 in true cost.
That is before a single late delivery. Before the hours your drivers spend shuttling a truck instead of running their routes.
That cost lands on your books either way. You just won’t see it on a line item.
Run the numbers for your own fleet
Here is how the cost adds up. No mystery to it:
- Two drivers and two vehicles per round trip.
- Roughly 15 minutes to dispatch and 15 minutes at the vendor on each leg.
- Driver wages, plus a 20% markup for benefits.
- Vehicles at $.60 per mile across all six trip legs.
Here’s an example. Your shop is a 30-minute drive away from your vendor and your drivers earn $30 an hour.
Walk it through:
- Drop-off. One driver takes the unit. A second follows and brings the first driver back.
- Pick-up. Same thing in reverse once the repair is done.
- That is two drivers and two vehicles, out and back, twice. Six trips on the road.
- Add their time, the 20% for benefits, and the miles at 60 cents each.
One repair, done off-site, runs you about $324.
Now nudge the numbers. Move the shop to 40 minutes out and the same repair passes $400. Put a higher-paid team member on the run and it climbs from there.
And don’t forget that lost productivity is not in that figure. A delayed load, a missed pickup, or a route that runs a truck short are all additional losses. Your real cost runs higher than the table below shows.
Find your driver’s hourly wage across the top. Find your one-way drive time to the shop down the side. Where they meet is what one repair trip costs you.
| One-way drive time | $25/hr | $30/hr | $35/hr | $40/hr | $45/hr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 min | $136 | $156 | $176 | $196 | $216 |
| 20 min | $212 | $240 | $268 | $296 | $324 |
| 30 min | $288 | $324 | $360 | $396 | $432 |
| 40 min | $364 | $408 | $452 | $496 | $540 |
| 50 min | $440 | $492 | $544 | $596 | $648 |
| 60 min | $516 | $576 | $636 | $696 | $756 |
Mobile service removes the trip
Mobile service keeps your units where they are. The truck stays on your lot and your drivers stay on their routes. The shuttle problem goes away. So the real question isn’t shop versus mobile fee.
It’s “which cost would you rather carry?” The one printed on the invoice, or the one buried in payroll, fuel, and late deliveries.
Keep your trucks working
Wiers brings the shop to you. From Denver to Orlando, Corpus Christi to Grand Rapids, and markets across the country, our mobile technicians service your fleet on your lot, so your trucks keep rolling and your drivers keep driving.
Want to see how the numbers work for your fleet? Talk to a Wiers rep.
