The following budgeting tips for truck drivers are surefire ways to cut down on all those truck driver expenses, so you can keep more of your hard-earned money in your pocket.
Whether you’ve just begun a rewarding career as a CDL professional or you’re an experienced freight hauler, it’s never too early or too late to learn about saving money as a truck driver.
Right now, money is good in truck driving. The economy is recovering from the pandemic and supply chain logjams appear to be easing. These factors paired with the ongoing driver shortage has driver wages and benefits skyrocketing.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t periodically look for new ways to save money as a trucker. The day will come when you want to leverage your finances to buy a nice house or take that dream vacation. Don’t miss out on those opportunities because you didn’t take full advantage during this booming market.
Learn how to save money as a truck driver:
Assess Your Truck Driving Expenses
1. CREATE A REDUCED SPENDING BUDGET
It seems like common sense to create a truck driving budget to help manage spending. But not many professional CDL drivers actually have one. The result? Money gets unnecessarily squandered on things like fast food and road coffee. It may not sound like much, but it adds up fast. Knowing how to save money on food as a truck driver makes a considerable difference over time (see our next tip!).
Budgeting is all about money earned minus money spent. If you don’t know where your money’s going, you’re already behind. Don’t get behind. Create a budget.
Take a long look at your weekly and monthly spending. Make a plan to cut corners and reduce wasteful expenses. Identifying the areas that cause problems is an important and necessary step to keeping more of your income. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the savings after tallying up your expenses for just one single month. Now think about how that adds up over time!
2. MAKE AND PACK YOUR MEALS
Of all the money saving tips for truckers, making your own food more often is perhaps the most immediately impactful. Eating out is a huge expense for truck drivers. Consider investing in a truck cab fridge. You can find small and inexpensive ones online, and this small upfront cost would save you big down the road.
Packing your food is easiest if you are working a regional or dedicated trucking job. However, even if you are driving the longest over-the-road routes, replacing a few meals with some homemade ones can add up to major savings. Even if you are only spending $8 eating out per meal, that is $168 per week, and $8,736 per year. Making just half your meals yourself would create thousands of dollars in savings. As a bonus, cooking your meals is much healthier than eating fast food.
3. GET THE MOST OUT OF TRUCK STOPS
Experienced truckers are fully aware that fuel prices vary by region and company. Planning a route to maximize the benefit of low-cost diesel remains a crucial money-saving strategy. Yet inexpensive fuel isn’t the only benefit of trucker-friendly facilities.
When you stop to refuel, take advantage of other low-cost and free amenities. Refill your water bottles instead of purchasing new ones. Use the station’s free WiFi to manage online bill payments or respond to emails and social media messages rather than using your cellular data. Truck stop coffee can be pretty good and very cheap. Bring a thermos and fill it up. Some of the facilities even offer showers and laundry. Truckers are required to take breaks. Put that time to good use by saving money!
4. ASK ABOUT CDL Holder DISCOUNTS
Businesses offer reduced prices to groups for two fundamental reasons. First, they want your patronage. Second, it’s a way to say “thank you for your service” to veterans and first responders among others. This is why establishments offer CDL discounts. Truckers are part of the lifeblood of the country, delivering essential goods and materials. Without drivers, there would be a lot less food in supermarkets. We all remember the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With that in mind, check for CDL discounts at hotels, restaurants, and other businesses along your route. A Google search for “trucker discount hotels” in the city you’re staying in could save you up to 20% of the nightly rate at some places. It’s also relatively common for insurance companies to offer reduced rates. Searching the internet for CDL discounts may also uncover coupons specifically for professional drivers. Don’t pay full price if you don’t have to. Always ask if a discount is available for CDL professionals.
5. SWITCH TO LUMP SUM PAYMENTS
One common strategy that truck drivers employ is setting up automatic bill payments. Being on the road for days or weeks at a time too often leads to missed due dates. In turn, that means late fees and dings to your credit score. Although monthly automatic payments remain a smart bill-paying method, drivers could also be saving money by switching to annual lump sum payments.
By switching your monthly auto-payments to annual lump sums, numerous companies offer discounts. This generally holds true with things such as auto and home insurance, as well as subscriptions like Sirius radio or other miscellaneous services. Many of these companies encourage setting up convenient annual automatic payments. Compared to automatic monthly payments, the only difference may be more money staying in your wallet.
4. DON’T GET A TICKET
This may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s not unusual for a driver to feel rushed and push the pedal down. Speeding, other tickets, and preventable accidents are often astronomically expensive for truckers. The initial cost is the hefty fine you will have to pay. After that, drivers accumulate negative points against their CDL and, of course, insurance increases. Being a little tardy, or even a lot tardy, is far less expensive than paying a fine out-of-pocket, increased monthly insurance premiums, and risking the loss of your CDL. Watch your speed!
5. PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE AVOIDS BREAKDOWNS
One of the tried-and-true ways to save money as a trucker is to keep your rig in tip-top shape. That’s a lesson that drivers sometimes learn the hard way after an expensive roadside breakdown. The cost of having a mechanic come out to get you up and running can be painful. Worse, a tow to a garage that works on trucks on top of the mechanic’s regular work is only slightly less excruciating than the lost wages. Talk about a double-whammy.
Keeping routine maintenance appointments is essential to minimizing unnecessary breakdowns and their associated costs. Beyond consistent maintenance, many experienced drivers run through a safety checklist before leaving the yard. If something seems out of whack, the time to deal with such issues is before you hit the interstate. Your bank account will thank you.
6. SIGN UP FOR CREDIT CARD REWARDS PROGRAMS
The credit industry turns a profit on everyday people paying interest on credit card balances. They even offer rewards as an enticement for you to apply for their card. But they didn’t account for truck drivers taking full advantage of rewards programs and paying that card off in full each month.
CDL holders can maximize their benefits with cards that offer gas rewards and even cash back. After all, who purchases more fuel than a trucker? Nobody! A savvy trucker can use cards with high rewards, but the key is to always pay the balance off in full at the end of each month. Be careful; one misstep and your benefits earned are likely lost in full to the high interest rate you’ll pay. All you need to do is connect online and transfer the funds. And, don’t feel bad that the credit card industry is losing money on your interest. They’ll undoubtedly make a profit on millions of non-trucking Americans.
INCREASE YOUR INCOME
It’s easy to fall into bad habits when you’re driving long distances every day. Make sure you keep track of your spending so you can avoid unnecessary expenses. Also, try to plan ahead so you can save money on gas and food.
While these tips focus on spending reduction, don’t forget about working toward increasing your earnings! To take your financial planning even further, look for a new truck driving job offering better pay. Because of the current driver shortage, there are endless opportunities and companies are competing with each other for qualified drivers. Combining cost-saving efforts with a higher income will significantly improve your financial future.
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