Cost of Idling Trucks
Fuel prices are up. Wasting gas is stealing even more money from your bottom line.
What Is Truck Idling Costing Your Business?
Gas prices are up over 40% from a year ago. And while you’re watching the prices go up, your trucks are burning fuel waiting at job sites, idling through lunch, warming up longer than they need to. Most fleet owners have no idea what that’s actually adding up to. The calculator below uses a sample of 10 trucks at typical idle time. Plug in your numbers and find out in 10 seconds.
Fleet Fuel Burn Calculator
See what idling is costing your fleet — at today’s prices.
Fuel TypeFleet vehicles average 30–60 min/day of unnecessary idling — waiting at job sites, warm-ups, lunch breaks with the engine running.
These are annualized estimates based on published EPA and DOE fleet data — not guarantees. Most customers see meaningful fuel savings within the first 60–90 days.
Fuel prices: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), week of May 11, 2026 — gasoline $4.50/gal, diesel $5.64/gal. Updated weekly at eia.gov.
Idle burn rate: 0.8 gal/hr for light-to-medium duty trucks per U.S. DOE / Argonne National Laboratory. Heavy-duty diesel may burn up to 1.0 gal/hr.
*20–40% idle reduction range based on Geotab and U.S. DOE telematics research. Individual results vary.
“Fuel is through the roof right now. Since I got Momentum I have saved $10,000.” Jake Shea, Owner, Clean Cut Movers
Where We Got The Numbers
The math is based on EPA and DOE data — we used the conservative end because that’s how we roll. What you actually save depends on where you’re starting from. Already running a tight ship with drivers who shut it down at every stop? Your number will be smaller. Got trucks sitting in parking lots with the engine running while guys grab a coffee? It’s probably higher. Either way, at $16 a month per truck, the risk that GPS tracking won’t pay for itself is pretty close to zero.
How GPS Tracking Reduces the Cost of Idling Trucks
Knowing about a problem and being able to do something about it are two different things. GPS tracking gives you both.
- Idling alerts — get notified in real time when a vehicle has been idling beyond a threshold you set. Two minutes at a red light is fine. Thirty minutes in a parking lot is not.
- Idling reports: See idle time by driver, by vehicle, or across the whole fleet. Spot your worst offenders fast.
- Driver scorecards: Drivers who know they’re being measured idle less. It’s not complicated.
- Maintenance reminders: A well-maintained engine burns less fuel. Tire pressure alone accounts for 1–3% of fuel waste.
You can’t fix what you can’t see. GPS tracking makes the invisible visible.
Customer Example
This customer reduced their idling by 42% in one month after being able to see who was idling and for how long.
July 2025 – 936 Hours of Idling
One Month Later
August 2025 – 539 Hours of Idling
FAQs For Cost of Idling Trucks
Common questions from small fleet owners about idling costs and what GPS tracking can do about them.
Contact UsHow much fuel does an idling truck waste?
According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Argonne National Laboratory, a light-to-medium duty fleet vehicle burns approximately 0.8 gallons of fuel per hour while idling. For a service vehicle idling 30 minutes a day over 250 operating days, that’s 100 gallons of wasted fuel per vehicle, per year — before a single mile is driven. Heavy-duty diesel trucks can burn up to 1.0 gallon per hour.
How much does idling cost a small business fleet per year?
At current national average fuel prices — $4.50/gallon for gasoline and $5.64/gallon for diesel as of May 2026 per the U.S. Energy Information Administration — a 10-vehicle fleet idling just 30 minutes per day wastes roughly $4,500–$5,600 annually in fuel alone. Fleets with higher idle times or more vehicles can see that number get bigger fast.
Can GPS tracking actually reduce the cost of idling trucks?
Yes. GPS tracking can reduce idle time by about 40%. Real-time alerts, per-vehicle idle reports, and driver scorecards give owners the visibility they need to stop excessive idling.
Is GPS tracking worth the cost for a small fleet?
Yes. Momentum IoT’s GPS tracking starts at $16 per vehicle per month, that equals $192 per vehicle prepaid annually. The average work truck wastes $451 in fuel per year.
