MarginWorkshopEquipment
Vehicle Downtime Cost
Calculate the real daily cost of a truck being down, idle crew labor plus missed job margin, not just the repair bill.
Total daily downtime cost$640
Lost labor cost/day$520
Lost margin from missed jobs$120
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Methodology
Formula: Lost labor cost/day = lost billable hours × loaded rate × crew size affected. Lost margin = missed job revenue/day × missed job margin %.
Assumption: Crew size affected should reflect only the crew actually idled by this specific truck.
Limitation: Counts only the margin, not the full revenue, of missed jobs, consistent with the rest of the site’s convention.
Frequently Asked
- What two costs combine into daily downtime cost?
- Idle crew labor, a crew with no working vehicle still gets paid, and missed job margin, revenue and profit not earned because the crew could not work, together rather than either alone.
- Why does this matter beyond the repair bill?
- The repair invoice is often the smallest part of a breakdown's real cost; a few days of idle crew pay plus lost job margin frequently exceeds the mechanical repair cost itself.
- How does this feed into Repair vs Replace Truck?
- A truck with a pattern of frequent, lengthy downtime should have that downtime cost included alongside repair invoices when comparing to replacement, not just the direct repair spend.
- Does having a spare vehicle change this calculation?
- Yes, indirectly, a spare truck (see Spare Vehicle / Backup Truck Break-Even) reduces or eliminates downtime cost for covered days, which is exactly the value that engine prices against the cost of keeping a spare.