Below-market rates and 22% empty miles: a fleet audit that recovered a carrier's margin
A fleet cost audit uncovered below-market per-kilometer rates with key clients and a high share of empty return trips. Renegotiating contracts with clients, the fuel supplier, and the insurer delivered a measurable margin improvement without investing in new vehicles.
Time to first result: 4 months
Context
The company operates a fleet of 25 units, running domestic and international routes mainly between Poland and Germany. It had grown organically over the years, adding vehicles and clients, but had never systematically reviewed its rates or fleet operating costs. EBITDA margin stayed below 4% despite rising revenue.
Challenge
Management suspected the company was losing money in places it couldn't see (an aging fleet, rising fuel costs, and rates that no longer reflected market reality), but had no data broken down to the level of a single kilometer to confirm it.
What we found
The audit broke fleet costs down into components: cost per kilometer stood at €0.90, with fuel accounting for nearly 38% of it. At the same time, per-kilometer rates with a portion of clients (35% of revenue) were 5–10% below current market rates and hadn't been renegotiated in years. Route analysis showed about 22% empty miles, well above the achievable 10–12% with better route planning.
What we proposed
Grevo prepared negotiation material breaking down cost per kilometer and benchmarking it against market rates, which became the basis for negotiating rate increases with clients billed below market. In parallel, Grevo renegotiated the fuel supplier agreement (fleet cards, volume discounts) and the fleet insurance terms, and recommended route-planning changes to cut empty miles.
Implementation
Renegotiations with clients and suppliers ran in parallel over four months. Rate changes with clients were implemented at the next contract renewal date, while the new fuel and insurance terms took effect immediately upon signing the amendments.
Result
Rates with below-market clients rose by an average of 7%, restoring margin on those routes to market level. Renegotiating the fuel and insurance agreements delivered a combined saving of about €0.02 per kilometer. At an annual fleet mileage of roughly 2.9 million km, that alone comes to about €53,000 in annual savings, without changing suppliers or investing in new vehicles.
„We knew some clients were paying us less than they should, but nobody had time to sit down and work out exactly what we were losing per kilometer. The audit gave us numbers we could bring to the table, and it worked.”
— Owner, road freight carrier
Services used
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