Fuel surcharge

Definition

A billed add-on that moves with a published fuel index instead of the job.

Why It Matters

Route and haul businesses quote a base rate and add a separate line that rises and falls with diesel, which moves the fuel risk onto the customer and off the operator. The index is usually the federal weekly on-highway diesel average, published every Monday, and the contract names a base price and a miles-per-gallon assumption that turn the gap into cents per mile. What decides value in diligence is coverage, not the mechanism: a book where half the revenue carries the clause and half does not is two businesses with different exposure to one price. Read which contracts have it, what base each names, how often it resets, and when each was last repriced.

In numbers: A 40 cent gap over the contract base at 6 miles per gallon is about 7 cents a mile, so a 600 mile run bills $40.