MarginWorkshopService Call & Trip Charge Pricing
What to charge just to show up: drive time, vehicle cost, and a minimum labor floor, before any actual repair work starts.
Trip charge at other drive times
| Scenario | Trip charge |
|---|---|
| Nearby (15 min) | $39.78 |
| Close (30 min) | $47.9 |
| Typical (45 min) | $56.03 |
| Far (60 min) | $64.15 |
| Distant (90 min) | $80.4 |
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Methodology
Formula: trip charge = drive time cost + vehicle cost + minimum labor cost, where drive time cost and minimum labor cost are both computed at your loaded labor rate, and vehicle cost is miles × cost per mile.
Assumption: the default $0.70/mile vehicle cost is a rough placeholder, adjust it to your actual vehicle operating cost.
Limitation: this prices the trip itself, not any repair work performed once on site, see Job Profit Check or Change Order Price for that.
Guide: The Scope and Warranty Cost Guide, why a flat truck fee usually undercharges the real trip cost.
Frequently Asked
- What three components make up the trip charge?
- Drive time cost, vehicle cost for the trip, and a minimum labor floor, so the charge covers the true cost of showing up before any actual repair labor or parts are added on top.
- Why have a trip charge at all instead of rolling it into the repair price?
- A trip charge recovers cost even when a job turns out to need no repair, a diagnosis-only visit, or the customer declines the work after diagnosis; without it, those visits are pure cost with no recovery.
- Should the trip charge vary by distance?
- For jobs with meaningfully different drive times, yes; see Geographic / Service Zone Pricing for a distance-based travel premium layered on top of this base trip charge.
- Does the trip charge typically apply toward the repair if the customer proceeds?
- Many businesses waive or credit the trip charge against the repair once the customer approves the work; that is a policy choice this engine does not make for you, it prices the charge itself.