Ask a last-mile logistics operator what it costs to run a van for a day, and most will give you a number. Ask them how they got to that number, and the conversation gets uncomfortable fast.
The vehicle payment? They know that one cold. Fuel? Roughly. Insurance? What's on the invoice. But maintenance reserves, tire replacement cycles, downtime costs, driver turnover costs, compliance overhead, and the carrying cost of capital tied up in their fleet? Most operators have never added those up. Not because they don't care — because nobody ever gave them the tools to do it.
Operators who track both estimated and actual costs consistently report a 20-35% gap. That gap is the difference between a fleet that compounds into a real business and one that grinds itself out over three years wondering where the margin went.