How much truck can I afford? A calculator that starts with the payment

By Edwin Horton · Updated October 2026

How the affordability calculator works

Most buyers start with a price and ask whether they can make the payment. This works the other way: start from what the truck will earn and what it costs to run, and let the payment fall out.

• Maximum payment = monthly revenue − all other monthly costs − the profit or reserve you want to keep
• Loan you can carry = the amount that payment pays off at your APR and term (standard loan formula)
• Price range = loan you can carry + down payment
• Loaded miles to cover the payment = payment ÷ your net margin per mile before the payment

EXAMPLE A truck should earn $23,000 a month. Everything except the payment costs $17,200: fuel, driver, insurance, maintenance, dispatch and overhead. The owner wants to keep $2,500 a month. Maximum payment: $3,300. At 10% APR over 60 months that carries a loan of about $155,300. With $25,000 down, the price range tops out near $180,300. At a $0.32 net margin per mile, that payment needs about 10,300 loaded miles a month.

What the payment ceiling tells you

Maximum payment is zero or negative: the truck can't carry any payment at these numbers. Either the revenue estimate is too low for this kind of truck, costs are too high, or the business needs a cheaper truck or higher-paying freight first.

The price range is below what you want to spend: don't stretch it. The difference has to come from somewhere every month, usually from the reserve you need for repairs.

Lots of room: good, but test a slow month. Drop revenue by 15% and see if the payment still works. Check your monthly costs with the small fleet cost per truck calculator and your per-mile costs with the trucking cost per mile calculator.

Before you sign

Our guide to how much it costs to start a trucking company lists the costs around the truck itself. If you're buying a whole operation instead of a truck, read buying a trucking company. And when the new truck arrives, small fleet dispatch keeps both units loaded at the fleet rate.

Run the calculator twice: once with the revenue you expect and once with 15% less. If the payment only works in the good version, you're buying the truck for a best case. Many owners choose a slightly older or cheaper truck so the payment still works in an ordinary month, and the difference goes into a repair reserve that protects the whole business.

Revenue a truck like this really earns

• Use revenue a truck like this has earned, not a best week
• Include dispatch, insurance and a repair reserve in other costs
• Get the APR in writing from a lender
• Leave cash for tax, title, plates and first repairs