Trucking cash flow tips

A truck can be booked solid and still run short of cash. Fuel, insurance, tolls and repairs are due now, while brokers pay in 30 days or more. Good cash flow is about closing that gap.

Know your cost per mile

Add up everything the truck costs in a month: fuel, the truck payment, insurance, maintenance, tolls, permits, your own pay. Divide by the miles you ran. That’s your cost per mile, and it tells you which loads actually make money. A load that barely covers fuel can still lose money once everything else is counted.

Invoice the day you deliver

Every day an invoice sits unsent is a day added to when you get paid. Send the invoice and the signed BOL as soon as the load is delivered. Check the paperwork before you leave the dock: a missing signature or a wrong amount can hold up payment for weeks.

Check the broker before you book

An unpaid invoice costs you the fuel, the time and the miles. Before you book with a new broker or shipper, check their credit and payment history. If you factor with FFS, we run those checks for free.

Cut what you spend on fuel

Fuel is the biggest bill in trucking, so small savings add up:

• Use a fuel card with discounts. FFS fuel cards are free and save $0.08–$0.40 per gallon at 14,000+ locations, with no monthly fees.
• Plan fuel stops around your discount network instead of filling up wherever you are.
• Watch idling and speed. Both burn fuel without moving freight.

Keep a reserve

Set money aside every week until you have enough to cover a month of fixed costs. A reserve turns a surprise repair or a slow week into an inconvenience instead of a crisis.

Plan for the big bills

Insurance renewals, tires, registration and quarterly fuel tax filings come around on a schedule. Put a little toward each one every week so they never land all at once.

Don’t wait on slow payers

If broker payments are the gap, factoring closes it. You send the invoice and BOL and get paid now: with FFS, rush requests fund within 60 minutes and standard requests are ready to fund the same day. A fuel advance of up to 40% of the invoice at pickup covers the fuel for the load itself.

You choose which invoices to factor, so you can factor the slow payers and keep the rest.

Get a quote or call (813) 773-4002.