How to Plan a Tricycle Fleet Budget

A fleet is a small business. Before the first unit arrives, the budget should answer four questions: what each vehicle costs landed, what it costs to run per month, what it earns, and what breaks in year one. This guide builds that budget in simple steps.

Step 1: landed cost per unit

Landed cost is not the factory price. It is the factory price plus freight, insurance, import duty, clearance, inland transport and local registration. Ask the exporter for the FOB price, then add your broker’s charges to get the true per-unit number. Most fleet decisions go wrong here.

Step 2: monthly running cost

Estimate fuel or electricity, driver wages, maintenance consumables and unexpected repairs per unit per month. For combustion vehicles, fuel is usually the largest line; for electric, charging cost replaces it. Use your own route data, not a brochure figure.

Step 3: revenue per vehicle

Project trips or deliveries per day and average fare or delivery fee. Subtract the running cost to get contribution per unit. A vehicle that does not cover its running cost in the first quarter is a planning problem, not a vehicle problem.

Step 4: first-year parts and downtime

Stock a first-year parts kit and budget for downtime. A simple schedule, monthly checks, quarterly service, protects the fleet better than buying spares after a breakdown. Ask the exporter to itemize a first-year kit per five units as a starting point.

Step 5: financing and payment

Match the payment structure to cash flow: deposit to confirm, balance before loading. For larger fleets, confirm currency, bank details and milestones in writing on the proforma invoice.

The short answer

Landed cost per unit, monthly running cost, revenue per vehicle, and a parts-and-downtime line. Put those four numbers in a spreadsheet before ordering, and the fleet plan writes itself.

Related reading

How to Calculate the Real Landed Cost of Your Tricycle Order · Payment Terms for Importing Three-Wheelers: TT, LC and Deposits · CKD vs SKD Assembly: Which Import Format Fits Your Operation

Build the budget around cost per kilometre

A fleet budget that starts from purchase price tends to be wrong by the end of the first year. The number that decides profitability is cost per kilometre, and it has to include fuel or electricity, tyres, maintenance, parts, driver cost, insurance and the vehicle’s own depreciation.

The lines that are usually underestimated

• Tyres, which on rough roads wear faster than buyers expect.
• Brake components, which are consumed faster on loaded routes.
• Downtime, which does not appear in a parts invoice but does appear in lost revenue.
• Battery replacement for electric units, which arrives as a large cost after a few years.

How many vehicles, and which mix

The right mix follows the work: cargo units for goods, passenger units for fare routes, and utility units for site or farm work. Buying one vehicle type for every job usually raises cost per kilometre, because the wrong body spends fuel on work it was not built for.

Plan the second year before you buy

By the time the first vehicles need major service, the fleet needs either a workshop arrangement or a parts pipeline. Setting that up with the initial order, rather than after the first failure, is what keeps a fleet running.