How do you cut fuel costs for a fleet of service trucks?

Cut the miles first: book jobs so each truck works one area instead of crossing town, start trucks from the nearest job rather than the shop where you can, and track miles per job to see where it goes wrong. Then work on idling, tire pressure and the weight each truck carries. Price is out of your hands; the miles are mostly decided at booking.

Fuel cost per truck is simple arithmetic:

Fuel cost = Miles ÷ MPG × Price per gallon + Idle hours × Gallons per idle hour × Price

Of those, price is the one you can't touch. The U.S. Energy Information Administration's weekly gasoline and diesel update put the U.S. average for regular gasoline at $4.354 a gallon and on-highway diesel at $6.199 for the week of October 5, 2026, with gasoline about $1.23 higher than a year earlier. When prices move that much, every avoidable mile costs more.

Step 1: measure miles per job

Total fuel spend tells you the bill. Miles per job tells you why. Pull a month of mileage for each truck and divide by completed jobs.

The miles per job and MPG above are invented for the example; the price is EIA's. Across 15 trucks that is over $22,000 a year in fuel alone, before you count the labor in those drive hours, which is usually the bigger number. The windshield time cost calculator adds the labor side.

Step 2: stop backtracking at booking

Much of the wasted mileage is backtracking: a truck crossing its own path because jobs were booked in the order the phone rang. Routing the day the night before helps a little, but it can only reorder jobs that were already promised to customers at fixed times. If the 9 a.m. is north and the 10 a.m. is south, no route fixes that.

The fix is at booking:

• Offer times by area. When a customer calls from the north side, offer the times when a truck will already be north.
• Count the drive from the previous job, not from the shop, when deciding whether a time works.
• Set zone days for spread-out recurring work, so each area gets a day. See zone scheduling.

CrewLink's booking page offers only start times a qualified tech can actually make, computing the drive from where the truck will be (the previous job), not from the shop. The travel-time scheduling page explains the mechanism.

Step 3: cut first and last drives

The drive from the shop to the first job, and from the last job back, is often the longest of the day. Options:

• Let techs take trucks home and start from home if that is closer to their first job (check your pay policy and your insurance first).
• Book the first job near where the tech starts.
• Stock trucks for two or three days so they skip the morning shop visit.

Step 4: idling

Idling burns fuel at zero miles per gallon. A truck idling at every stop to keep the cab warm, or to run tools, can add up to hours a week. Set a no-idle policy with sensible exceptions (extreme heat or cold, equipment that needs the engine), and look at idle hours by truck if your vehicles report them. The DOE and EPA fuel economy site says idling can use a quarter to a half gallon of fuel per hour, depending on engine size and AC use (checked October 2026). One truck idling an hour a day for 240 days at a third of a gallon an hour is 80 gallons, about $350 at the EIA price above.

Step 5: weight, tires and maintenance

• Weight. Every truck carries stock it hasn't used in months. Match truck stock to the jobs the truck actually runs, and clear out the rest.
• Tires. Keep them at the manufacturer's pressure; check monthly.
• Maintenance. Follow the service schedule. A truck that needs a tune-up costs fuel every day.
• Speed. Highway speed has a large effect on consumption. A written speed policy also helps your insurance.

What not to do

Don't cut miles by turning away good jobs at the edge of your area, or by cramming jobs so close together that techs rush the work. A callback costs more fuel than it saves. The goal is fewer wasted miles, not fewer miles at any cost.

Common questions

What is the fastest way to reduce fleet fuel costs?

Cut wasted miles. Book jobs by area so trucks don't cross town between calls, and count the drive from the previous job when offering times. Then add a no-idle policy and clear out excess weight.

Does route optimization reduce fuel costs?

It helps, but it can only reorder jobs that are already booked at fixed times. If the times themselves force a truck back and forth, routing the night before can't fix it. Booking by area is usually where the bigger savings are.

Should I let technicians take trucks home?

It can cut the first and last drive of the day if techs live closer to their work than the shop does. Weigh it against your pay policy, insurance and how often trucks need to restock at the shop.

Where can I find current fuel prices for budgeting?

The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes weekly average retail gasoline and diesel prices, nationally and by region. Use the regional number closest to you for your budget.