Driver Turnover Cost Calculator
Almost no fleet books driver turnover as a line item, so almost no fleet knows what it costs. Enter your numbers — the math updates as you type, and nothing leaves your browser.
Your fleet
Seated or not — every truck you intend to keep running.
Drivers who leave in a year ÷ average driver count. Large truckload fleets have historically run near 90%.
Advertising, recruiter time, screens, orientation pay, travel, and training. Research puts the average at $8,234 — in 2001 dollars.
From the departing driver’s last load to the replacement’s first solo week. Two to four weeks is typical.
What a truck grosses in a normal week when it has a driver.
What turnover costs you per year
$752,500
- Replacement hires per year
- 35
- Direct replacement cost
- $280,000
- Lost revenue from empty trucks
- $472,500
- Cost per truck per year
- $15,050
Cut turnover by 10 points and you keep
$107,500 / year
That’s the budget context for every screening and retention investment you’ll evaluate — and better phone screens are the cheapest lever, because they work before you’ve spent a dollar on the hire.
How the math works
Replacement hires per year = trucks × turnover rate. A 50-truck fleet at 70% turnover re-hires 35 seats a year.
Direct replacement cost = hires × all-in cost per hire. The commonly cited industry range is $5,000–$10,000 per hire; the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute put the average at $8,234 in 2001 dollars, so five figures is realistic today.
Lost revenue from empty trucks = hires × weeks vacant × weekly revenue per truck. This is the number most back-of-napkin estimates skip, and it’s frequently bigger than the recruiting cost itself.
The full breakdown — where each cost hides, and the leading indicators that predict quits before they happen — is in our guide to the real cost of driver turnover.