ATRI Details 12.5% Increase in Truck Insurance
In its 2024 Analysis of the Operational Costs of Trucking, the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) reported that trucking’s operational costs rose an average of 6.6 percent to $1.716 per mile in 2023. Some examples of costs that have increased are:
• 8.8% increase in truck and trailer payments, or $0.36/mile
• 7.6% increase in driver wages, or $0.779/mile
• 3.1% increase in repair and maintenance costs, or $0.202/mile
Truck insurance rose by 12.5 % to $0.099/mile, after experiencing modest increases in 2021 and 2022. (If you haven’t requested a truck insurance quote from ICSA’s risk purchase group, you can do so here.)
The report also cited the soft freight market for reducing operational efficiency as seen through an average 16.3% increase in deadhead mileage. Combined with lower freight rates, average operating margins were 6% or lower in all fleet sizes and sectors except LTL.
In the report ATRI also conducted an analysis of cost trends in 2024 and beyond, including carrier- reported changes in Q1 2024 costs. The full report is available at no charge on ATRI’s website here.
Every year, TAT (formerly called Truckers Against Trafficking) honors a member of the trucking, bus or energy industry, whose direct actions help save or improve the lives of those exploited or prevent human trafficking from taking place, with the Harriet Tubman Award
Bob Costello has indicated that the freight market has improved – but very slowly – since January. It must be said that ATA’s indices are dominated by contract freight as opposed to spot rates.
Now, however, with Republican control of both houses of Congress and the White House (and, some say, the Supreme Court) I am optimistic that trucking will get a fairer shake than it has during Biden’s term in office.