FTL Trucking Rate Calculator
Price a full truckload by per-mile rate plus fuel surcharge, accessorials and deadhead — with margin.
FTL is priced per mile: linehaul + fuel surcharge, plus deadhead to reach the pickup and accessorials. The all-in rate per mile (shown) is the number to benchmark against DAT/market lane rates.
Sources & references
- DAT / Truckstop lane rate benchmarks (market context)
- Carrier-broker rate confirmation / accessorial norms
Calculations use the formula described and the rates YOU enter — they are planning estimates, not quotations. Live freight rates, surcharges, duties and accessorials change constantly and vary by carrier and contract; confirm with your forwarder or carrier before quoting or booking.
Disclaimer: This tool is for general informational and estimation purposes only and is not professional financial, tax, accounting or legal advice. All figures are estimates — verify with a qualified professional before making decisions. Read the full disclaimer.
Full truckload pricing reduces to a rate per mile — but which miles, and plus what, is where quotes diverge. This calculator builds an FTL rate the way carriers and brokers actually cost it: linehaul plus fuel surcharge across the loaded miles, plus the deadhead miles to reach the pickup (a real cost someone pays), plus accessorials, then margin — and it reports the all-in rate per mile, the single number to benchmark against market lane data.
About FTL Trucking Rate Calculator
The fuel surcharge is the moving part most shippers under-weight: at $0.40+ per mile on an 850-mile haul it adds over $350, and it's quoted separately from linehaul precisely so the headline rate looks lower. Deadhead is the other quietly-real cost — a truck doesn't materialize at your dock; the miles to get there are dead miles the rate has to cover, which is why lanes with poor backhaul (you're shipping into a freight desert) price higher. Accessorials (extra stops, detention, tarping, lumper, layover) stack on top and are where the rate confirmation's fine print matters. Use the all-in per-mile output as your benchmark: market intelligence (DAT, Truckstop and similar) publishes lane rates per mile, and a quote that's wildly off the lane average is either a great deal or a service problem waiting to happen. Brokers can set margin transparently here; shippers can sanity-check incoming quotes and see when a 'cheap' linehaul is being recovered through fuel and accessorial lines. Spot versus contract, reefer versus van, and seasonality all move the number — but the structure stays this.
How to use FTL Trucking Rate Calculator
- 1Set each input — loaded miles, linehaul rate per mile, fuel surcharge per mile, deadhead miles — using your own figures.
- 2The estimate recomputes instantly as you type; no submit button, no waiting.
- 3Review the line-item breakdown to see how each component contributes to the total.
- 4Click “Copy quote” to paste the itemised result into an email, quote or audit note.
Why use FTL Trucking Rate Calculator?
- ✓Itemised line-by-line breakdown, not just a single opaque total
- ✓Copy-ready output for emails, quotes and audit notes
- ✓Recomputes live as you type — compare scenarios in seconds
- ✓Free and private — nothing you enter leaves your browser
Frequently asked questions
How is FTL freight priced?+
Per mile: a linehaul rate (market-driven by lane, equipment and season) plus a fuel surcharge per mile, applied to the loaded miles — then deadhead to reach the pickup and accessorial charges, plus the broker's or carrier's margin. The all-in rate per mile is the comparison metric. Reefer and flatbed price above dry van; spot rates swing with capacity while contract rates are steadier but renegotiated periodically.
What is deadhead and why does it affect my rate?+
Deadhead is the empty miles a truck drives to reach your pickup (or after your delivery to the next load). Someone pays for them — and on lanes with weak backhaul, where trucks struggle to find a return load, deadhead and repositioning push rates up. It's why the same mileage costs differently in different directions: shipping into a high-demand region is cheaper than into a 'freight desert' the carrier must deadhead out of.
Why is the fuel surcharge separate from the linehaul rate?+
To isolate volatile fuel cost from the negotiated linehaul, so neither side re-negotiates the base rate every time diesel moves. The FSC is typically a per-mile amount pegged to a fuel-price index (often the DOE national diesel average) on a published schedule. The effect for buyers: the headline linehaul understates the real cost — always add the FSC to compare quotes, which the all-in-per-mile figure here does for you.
What accessorials should I expect on an FTL quote?+
Common ones: extra pickup/delivery stops, driver detention beyond free time, layover (overnight hold), tarping (flatbed), lumper fees (paid unloading), TONU (truck ordered not used), and residential or limited-access surcharges. They're situational, so a clean quote may show none — but the rate confirmation should define the rates for each, because that's what governs when one occurs. The accessorials field lets you load known ones into the estimate.
Embed FTL Trucking Rate Calculator on your website
Want FTL Trucking Rate Calculatoron your own site? Paste this snippet into any HTML page — it's free, with no API key or sign-up. The tool loads in an iframe and keeps working exactly as it does here.
<iframe src="https://tooljolt.com/tools/ftl-trucking-rate-calculator" width="100%" height="640" style="border:1px solid #e5e7eb;border-radius:12px;max-width:680px" title="FTL Trucking Rate Calculator — ToolJolt" loading="lazy"></iframe>Related Logistics tools
Demurrage Calculator (Ocean Containers)
Work out ocean container demurrage from free days and a tiered terminal tariff — with a per-tier breakdown.
● LiveContainer Detention (Per Diem) Calculator
Calculate detention / per-diem owed on containers gated out but not yet returned empty to the depot.
● LiveTruck Driver Detention Fee Calculator
Price driver detention at the dock by the hour — free window, tiered hourly rates and multi-stop totals.
● Live