Deadhead Miles: What They Cost and Who Pays for Them
Updated 2026-08-10
Deadhead miles are the miles a truck runs empty — most often from where it delivered to where its next load picks up. They generate cost and no revenue, which is why they decide whether a load is worth taking.
What a deadhead mile costs
An empty mile costs nearly what a loaded mile costs. The truck, the driver, the insurance, and the payment book do not care whether the trailer is full.
ATRI’s published figure for the industry-average cost to operate a truck is $2.336 per mile in 2025, up 3.4% year over year, and $1.854 per mile excluding fuel (ATRI, July 2026). Fuel is the one line that genuinely drops when the trailer is empty — a lighter truck burns less — but the difference is small next to the fixed cost that keeps running.
| Deadhead distance | Cost at $2.336/mile | Cost at $1.854/mile (ex-fuel) |
|---|---|---|
| 25 miles | $58 | $46 |
| 50 miles | $117 | $93 |
| 100 miles | $234 | $185 |
| 150 miles | $350 | $278 |
| 250 miles | $584 | $464 |
Our calculation: distance × ATRI’s published per-mile figures, rounded to the dollar. See methodology.
A note on the percentages you have seen: figures like “15–35% of all truck miles are empty” circulate widely, usually attributed to ATRI’s Operational Costs report, but the number is not in ATRI’s public summary and the copies quoting it cite each other rather than the report. We are not repeating a number we cannot trace to its primary source. The per-mile cost above is published; use it.
Deadhead is what makes a good-looking rate a bad load
This is the arithmetic carriers run when your load board post lands, and the reason “$2.40 a mile” gets declined.
Take a load paying $1,200 for 500 loaded miles — $2.40 per loaded mile, which reads well.
| Deadhead to pickup | Total miles run | All-in revenue per mile |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 500 | $2.40 |
| 50 | 550 | $2.18 |
| 100 | 600 | $2.00 |
| 150 | 650 | $1.85 |
| 200 | 700 | $1.71 |
Against ATRI’s $2.336 per mile of cost, that $1,200 load stops covering its own operating cost at roughly 14 deadhead miles. Everything past that is the carrier subsidizing the move — before profit, and before anything goes wrong at the dock.
Two things follow for a broker. First, a carrier 180 miles away is not “the same load at the same price,” so a quote that ignores origin position is a quote that gets declined slowly, which is worse than declined fast. Second, the carriers most likely to take a load at your number are the ones already near the pickup — which makes speed of response the whole game, since the truck that was empty near your shipper at 9 a.m. is booked by 11.
Who pays for deadhead
| Arrangement | Who absorbs deadhead | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Spot truckload, standard | The carrier, priced into the linehaul | Nothing to bill — it is in the number they quoted you |
| Contract lanes with a stated deadhead allowance | Shared: carrier absorbs up to X miles, shipper/broker pays beyond | The allowance and the per-mile reimbursement rate |
| Cancelled after dispatch | Broker, via TONU terms | Whether TONU reimburses deadhead in and back out |
| Repositioning for a dedicated fleet | Usually the customer, in the contract rate | Whether empty repositioning is in scope |
| Driver’s move to a home base | The carrier | Not billable to anyone |
The practical rule: in spot truckload, deadhead is not a line item, it is a decision input. It shows up in whether the carrier says yes, not on the invoice. When it does become a line item — cancellations, contract allowances — it needs a per-mile number in writing on the rate confirmation, because “reasonable deadhead” is not a number.
Fuel makes deadhead worse in some regions than others
Empty miles burn regional fuel, not national-average fuel. The EIA’s on-highway diesel reading for 2026-08-03 was $5.348 per gallon nationally, but $6.130 on the West Coast, $6.716 in California, and $5.141 on the Gulf Coast (EIA weekly series, updated weekly).
At an assumed 6.5 mpg — slightly better than the ~6 mpg OOIDA uses for a loaded tractor-trailer, because an empty trailer is lighter — 100 empty miles burns about 15.4 gallons: roughly $103 in California versus $79 on the Gulf Coast, using the EIA readings above and a stated mpg assumption, not a measurement, rounded to the dollar. That is a $24 spread on one 100-mile reposition, close to 30%. A 100-mile reposition in California is a materially different ask than the same reposition in Texas, and carriers price it that way. How diesel moves through the rest of a quote is covered in linehaul vs fuel surcharge vs accessorials.
FAQ
Do drivers get paid for deadhead miles? That is between the driver and the carrier, and it varies: some pay all miles, loaded and empty; some pay loaded miles only at a higher rate; some pay a deadhead rate above a threshold. It is separate from what a broker owes, which is only whatever the rate confirmation says.
What is a good deadhead percentage? Lower, and it depends entirely on equipment and lane mix — flatbed and reefer operations structurally run more empty than regional dry van. We are not publishing a benchmark number here because we cannot trace the ones in circulation to a primary source. Measure your own by dividing empty miles by total miles over a full month, then compare yourself to yourself.
Should deadhead be included in the rate I quote? The carrier includes it whether you do or not. If you are quoting a customer, the practical version is that loads originating far from available capacity cost more to cover, and pretending otherwise just moves the loss to the day you have to re-cover the load.
How do I reduce deadhead as a broker? You do not control the truck, but you control matching speed and information quality. Loads posted with complete, correct pickup detail and answered quickly get taken by nearby trucks; loads that sit get taken by trucks that have to drive to them, at a price that reflects it.
Related
- TONU: what’s owed when a dispatched load cancels
- Linehaul vs fuel surcharge vs accessorials
- Rate confirmation: fields, template, records
- Detention fees and the evidence that gets them paid