Fleet Profitability

Fleet profitability measures the ratio between what vehicles cost and the service they provide to the business. With no direct revenue to measure, it is managed through cost per kilometer, utilization rate and cost per job. These indicators are tracked over time and compared across vehicles.

How do you measure fleet profitability?

For a transport company, the fleet generates revenue and the margin per vehicle can be calculated directly. For most companies, the fleet is a means to an end: its profitability is read as the cost of the service it provides.

The starting point is the total cost of ownership of each vehicle. It adds up the purchase price or lease payments, energy, maintenance, insurance, taxes and ancillary costs.

That cost is then set against actual use: kilometers driven, days in use, jobs completed. An expensive vehicle that is used a lot can be more profitable than a cheap one that sits in the parking lot.

Which indicators should you track?

Indicator	Calculation	What it reveals
Cost per kilometer	Total costs for the period ÷ kilometers driven	Vehicles that are too expensive to run
Utilization rate	Days used ÷ days available	Surplus or overstretched vehicles
Cost per day used	Total costs ÷ days in use	True cost of a vehicle that rarely goes out
Cost per job	Total costs ÷ jobs or service calls	Direct link between the fleet and the business
Downtime rate	Days in the shop or off the road after a claim ÷ days available	Lost availability
Share of fixed costs	Lease payments, insurance and taxes ÷ total costs	Sensitivity to underuse

To put a cost per kilometer in context, the mileage allowance scale published by the French tax authorities (barème kilométrique) offers a public benchmark. For a 5 CV (French fiscal horsepower) combustion or hybrid car, the 2026 formula is (d × 0.357) + €1,395, where d is the distance in km, according to Service-public.fr (in French). It applies from 5,001 to 20,000 km driven for business in the year.

For 15,000 km, this gives €6,750, or €0.45 per kilometer. This tax scale is used to deduct actual expenses. It covers depreciation, maintenance, tires, fuel and insurance. Parking and loan interest are not included. It was not raised in 2025 or 2026: it is a benchmark for a personal vehicle, not a fleet standard.

Which levers improve profitability?

1. Right-size the fleet: an underused vehicle still carries its lease payments, insurance and taxes. Pooling it through company car sharing or removing it from the fleet lowers the cost per day used.
2. Cut consumption: in town, aggressive driving uses up to 20% more fuel than smooth driving (ADEME, in French). Eco-driving training acts directly on this cost.
3. Keep up with maintenance: servicing done when it is due limits breakdowns and time off the road. Downtime weighs on the business as much as the repair shop's bill.
4. Limit claims and fines: fewer accidents mean fewer insurance deductibles and less time off the road. In France, a company that fails to designate the driver faces a fixed fine of €675 per violation (Service-public.fr).
5. Choose the energy on total cost: compare the total cost, not the purchase price. All-electric vehicles are exempt from the annual tax on CO2 emissions (Service-public.fr).
6. Renew at the right time: once a vehicle's maintenance starts to pick up pace, keeping it ends up costing more than replacing it.

Our article on reducing the costs of a company fleet, available in French, covers each lever in detail.

Which mistakes skew the profitability calculation?

• Forgetting hidden costs: management time, downtime and replacement vehicles do not appear on any lease invoice.
• Estimating kilometers: mileage that is declared rather than read from the odometer skews the cost per kilometer.
• Comparing different uses: a worksite van should not be judged like an executive car.
• Reasoning on purchase price: the cheapest vehicle to buy is not always the cheapest to own.

How Dadycar helps

Dadycar brings together the data behind these indicators, vehicle by vehicle. Odometer history and trips and mileage give the distance driven. Expenses, fuel cards, claims and ANTAI violations give the costs.

Assignments and booking show actual use, and car sharing pools the vehicles that rarely go out. The dashboard views track the fleet, fuel, expenses and claims.

Donna, the AI agent, audits usage and costs, and can remove a vehicle from the fleet after a preview and your approval. To plan a renewal, use the TCO calculator.

Frequently asked questions

How do you calculate the cost per kilometer of a fleet vehicle?

Add up all its costs over the period: lease payments or depreciation, energy, maintenance, tires, insurance, taxes, claims. Divide by the kilometers driven over the same period, read from the odometer. Then compare vehicles with the same use against each other.

What is a good utilization rate?

There is no official threshold. The right level depends on use: a delivery-round van goes out every working day, a replacement vehicle does not. Track the trend and spot vehicles that sit well below their group.

Is profitability just about cutting costs?

No: a cheap vehicle that is often off the road leads to missed jobs. Profitability is a trade-off between cost, availability and safety, vehicle by vehicle. So track availability alongside cost per kilometer.