How to Get a Trucking Business Contract Bid

Contract Bid

Everyone with merchandise needs it moved on a truck. As an owner of a truck, you need to learn how to get a trucking business contract bid.

At one time or another every piece of merchandise is on a truck; therefore, as an owner/operator of your own truck, you need to learn how to get a trucking business contract bid. Unfortunately there is so much competition in the trucking industry that you must be able to outbid the competition in order to get work. Winning a trucking contract means knowing your costs.

You should know truck dispatcher license requirements to carry a trucking business. If you are interested in learning to dispatch trucks you can get acquainted with truck dispatcher training book.

Determine Your MPG

Determine the mpg of your vehicle. Fill up your fuel tank and drive 100 miles. Fill up your tank again. Record the number of gallons used to fill up the truck the second time. For example, you fill up your truck with 50 gallons of fuel the first time. After the 100 mile trip, you top off the tanks with 10 gallons of fuel. The second number is the one to remember. Divide 100 by the number of gallons of fuel you recorded. You drove 100 miles, so, this will tell you how many miles per gallon your truck gets. Record this number. Use this formula to continue your example. Divide 100 by the 10 gallons of fuel you added to your tanks on the second stop giving you 10. That means your truck is getting 10 miles per gallon.

Determine Mileage Cost

See how many miles each trip will take. Multiply the number of miles per trip by the number of trips required by the contract. This number will tell you how many miles the contract requires. Looking at the hypothetical contract of your example you see that each trip is 25 miles and you will need to make 10 trips to complete the job. Multiply these two numbers together and you see that the contract requires you to travel 250 miles.

Divide the total miles required by the contract by the miles per gallon your truck gets. This number will tell you how many gallons of fuel you will need to purchase to complete the contract. Apply this to your example. Divide the 250 miles required by your hypothetical contract by the 10 miles per gallon you determined your truck averaged during your sample run. This tells you that you will need 25 gallons of fuel to complete the contract.

Multiply the number of gallons of fuel needed for the contract by the current cost of a gallon of fuel. This will tell you your fuel cost for the contract. Record this number. To continue your example you will visit your local favorite fuel station. Look at the sign in front of the station and you see that fuel for your truck is $5.00/gallon. So, you multiply $5 by the 25 gallons you will need to complete the hypothetical contract. In this instance the fuel cost for your contract is $125.

Determine Daily Cost

Divide the total number of miles in the contract by the average number of miles you can drive in a day. This will tell you how many days it will take you to complete the contract. For your example imagine you can drive 440 miles in a day. That's 55 miles every hour for 8 hours. Divide the 250 miles of the contract by 440 and you get 0.57. That means you can complete the contract in a day or less of driving.

Multiply the number of days it will take to complete the contract by the amount of pay you want to receive each day. Remember not to undersell yourself. This fee pays your salary and gives you some money to save for future business operations. In your example, pretend you want to make $500/day. Remember that this number covers the taxes, fees and maintenance that your pay and other miscellaneous expenses. Multiply the $500 by the one day it will take to complete the contract and you get $500 for labor.

Submit Bid

Add the price you expect to pay for fuel with the price you want to charge for your labor. This is your bid price. Submit this price to the company for consideration. Write a bid proposal explaining your safety record and over-the-road experience along with a statement of commitment to increase your chances of winning the bid. Complete your example by adding the $125 you need for fuel with the $500 you want to charge for labor. This means that your hypothetical contract is worth $625.

Tip

A bid proposal is a document that briefly outlines the specifics of the contract. You must also include an introduction that includes your experience as a driver, your safety record and your performance record. The proposal is designed to sell you to the client. So, highlight your strengths, outline the job and end with a firm, but fair, price.

Warning

Overbidding will cost you the contract. Underbidding can push your company into bankruptcy. Never bid without having the experience necessary to competently complete the task.