Charging travel costs to the customer: which model, which amount and how to announce it in advance
Two technicians drive to the same municipality for a similar repair. One notes a travel charge on the work order, the other does not, and at the office someone puts a third amount on the invoice. When the customer calls to ask where that line comes from, nobody knows which arrangement applies.
Published by Abdelhay Rahou (opens in a new window)5 November 202610 min read
Charging travel costs: the short answer
You charge travel costs with one rule for the whole company: a fixed amount per trip, an amount per zone, a price per kilometre, travel time at your hourly rate, or travel included in your price. Calculate the amount from your own costs, put the rule in your terms and conditions and on the quote, and say it before the visit.
Where it goes wrong
- Every technician does it their own way. One writes down a travel charge, the other does not.
- The customer only hears about it on the invoice. An unexpected line becomes a discussion, even when the amount is correct.
- The amount is years old. The van, the fuel and the wages became more expensive; the travel charge did not.
- There is no rule for a wasted trip. If the customer is not at home, the office decides case by case, and differently each time.
Five ways to charge travel costs
| Model | How it works | Suits | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed amount per trip | One amount per intervention, wherever the customer lives | A small service area | Customers nearby pay for customers far away |
| Per zone | An amount per zone, by postcode or by distance from your premises | A larger service area | Set the zones down in a list that everyone can consult |
| Per kilometre | A price per kilometre, there and back | Long journeys, companies with scattered sites | You must be able to show the distance of each trip |
| Travel time at your hourly rate | Travel time counts as time worked | Breakdowns and urgent work on time and materials | Agree where you start counting from |
| Included in the price | No separate line | Maintenance contracts, installations at a fixed price | The trips do not count as billable hours, so your hourly rate is higher |
Choose what your planner can explain in one sentence on the phone. Whether you work on time and materials or at a fixed price also helps decide which model fits: see time and materials or fixed price.
How much should you charge for travel? Start from your own costs
A trip costs you two things: the technician’s time and the van’s kilometres. Calculate them separately.
- The van per kilometre. Add up a year’s costs: lease or depreciation, fuel or charging, maintenance, tyres, insurance and road tax. Divide by that year’s kilometres.
- The time per hour. Start from the cost price per billable hour in your hourly rate calculation. If the van is included in the overheads there, take it out, otherwise you count it twice.
- The average trip. Over a few weeks, measure the travel time per intervention and estimate the kilometres. Measure per intervention and not from the depot: someone who visits four customers in the same municipality only drives a short way between them.
- The mark-up. Add your mark-up and round the result.
If you take the van out of the overheads, recalculate your hourly rate without it too.
A worked example per zone, not a guide price
A heating installer starts from the hourly rate example: €60,000 in wage costs, €20,000 in overheads and 1,000 billable hours a year. The amounts are chosen to make the sums easy and say nothing about what a trip costs in your region.
| Item | Calculation | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Van per year, taken out of the overheads | Your own figures | €10,000 |
| Kilometres per year | Odometer | 25,000 km |
| Cost per kilometre | 10,000 ÷ 25,000 | €0.40 |
| Cost price per hour without the van | (60,000 + 20,000 − 10,000) ÷ 1,000 | €70 |
| Zone 1 (up to 10 km): on average 20 km and 30 minutes | 20 × 0.40 + 0.5 × 70 | €43 |
| Zone 2 (10 to 30 km): on average 50 km and 60 minutes | 50 × 0.40 + 1 × 70 | €90 |
| With a 25% mark-up | 43 × 1.25 and 90 × 1.25 | €53.75 and €112.50 |
The installer rounds these to €55 and €115 excluding VAT, prices anything beyond 30 km on a quote, and recalculates every year.
How much should you charge for travel as a self-employed person?
The same method works, with the income you want to keep each year instead of a wage cost. Ask your accountant how to handle the costs of your vehicle for tax purposes, especially if you also use it privately.
Charging travel costs to the customer: say it in advance
Set the rule down in four places, in the same words:
- Your general terms and conditions: the model, the amounts and what happens on a wasted trip.
- The quote: a separate line “Travel zone 2”, or a statement that travel is included. What else belongs on a quote is in writing a quote.
- The phone call: whoever makes the appointment states the amount and puts it in the confirmation.
- The invoice: the same description and the same amount.
In its notice of 14 August 2026 on repair services, the FPS Economy (Federal Public Service Economy) advises consumers to ask about all costs on the phone, including travel costs. It points out that these costs are often due, even if the customer decides not to have the work done. According to the same notice, the consumer has the right to a written confirmation of the total price before the work starts (FPS Economy, in Dutch). Have the text of your terms checked by your legal adviser.
An example clause to adapt:
For each intervention we charge for travel according to the zone of the address: zone 1 (up to [x] km from our premises) [amount] euros, zone 2 ([x] to [y] km) [amount] euros, beyond [y] km on quote. The amounts exclude VAT. If nobody is present at the agreed time and the appointment was not cancelled at least [number] hours in advance, we charge for the travel.
Travel costs and VAT on the invoice
Put the travel on the invoice as a separate line the customer recognises: “Travel zone 2” says more than “miscellaneous”. State whether your amounts include or exclude VAT, especially towards private customers.
Which VAT rate applies to the travel, and whether it is the same as the rate for the work itself, for example for renovation work on a home, is something you decide with your accountant. After that, use the same rate everywhere.
When the customer is not at home
A wasted trip costs as much as an ordinary one, with no work to invoice. If you charge for it, it is in your terms and you mentioned it in the confirmation. The technician notes what happened: rang the bell, phoned, how long they waited. You charge the amount for the zone, no more. Whether you waive it the first time is a commercial choice. How to prevent wasted trips is explained in customer not at home.
An example: a water treatment company chooses three zones
A fictional company that installs and maintains water softeners works across a whole province. Each technician decided for themselves whether to write down a travel charge. The owner measures the travel time per intervention for two months: around the premises the trips are short, at the edge of the province they take almost an hour.
The owner picks three zones based on postcodes and calculates an amount per zone. It goes into the general terms and conditions and onto the quotes as a separate service, and whoever makes an appointment mentions it. For customers with a maintenance contract, travel is included in the annual price. To drive less, the company now schedules by region: see route planning with multiple stops.
How it works in Digitalnatie Service Suite
Service Suite does not calculate the travel charge itself. You set your amounts once, and invoicing uses them on quotes and invoices.
- Travel as a service: in the warehouse (in the parts menu), the new item button creates an item of the service type (labour or fixed price, no stock), for example “Travel zone 1”, with its sales price excluding VAT. In the standard roles, the administrator and the Warehouse Manager do this.
- On the quote: in the lines block, product adds the travel. For the unit price, you keep the price from the customer’s price list or choose your own price. Once confirmed, the quote becomes a sales order, and the invoice of a linked intervention takes over its lines and prices.
- On the invoice: on a completed intervention, accounting uses create invoice: a draft invoice with the billable hours and the parts used. By editing the lines, they add the travel as a product or as a free line.
- Measuring travel time: in the technician app, the technician taps depart and then arrived; after closing, the intervention’s times show the travel time. If your technicians record their day in my day, the employees and hours screen shows per period, among other things, the billable hours and the travel time.
- Customer absent: the technician opens more actions, chooses customer absent and has to describe what happened. The intervention stays open and moves to to reschedule. With create follow-up, you create the new visit.
- Your terms: in the invoicing rules of the configuration, the administrator enters your general terms and conditions and switches on adding them to new invoices and quotes.
Good to know:
- Accounting adds the travel to the draft invoice themselves, unless it is already on the confirmed sales order.
- Kilometres are not recorded. The distance shown by the route optimisation in the schedule is as the crow flies, so it is no basis for a price per kilometre.
- Creating the invoice works for a completed intervention, and an intervention marked customer absent is not completed. Accounting adds a wasted trip to another draft invoice, for example the one for the new visit.
- Whether your general terms and conditions can appear on the documents depends on your environment.
- The application and the guide are available in Dutch, French and English.
Frequently asked questions
How do you charge travel costs to a customer?
Choose one model for the whole company, for example an amount per zone or travel time at your hourly rate, and put it in your general terms and conditions and on the quote. State the amount as soon as the appointment is made. On the invoice, the travel appears as a separate line.
How much should you charge for travel?
There is no fixed amount. Calculate what an average trip costs you: the kilometres there and back times the cost per kilometre of your van, plus the travel time times the technician’s cost price per hour. Add your mark-up and recalculate it every year.
How much should you charge for travel as a self-employed person?
Use the same calculation, with the income you want to keep each year instead of a wage cost, and the cost per kilometre of your own vehicle. Ask your accountant how to handle that vehicle for tax purposes.
Can I charge for travel if the customer is not at home?
Only if your general terms and conditions or the agreement with the customer provide for it, and mention it when you confirm the appointment. Have the technician note what happened, and have your terms checked by your legal adviser.
Does Service Suite calculate travel costs automatically?
No. The draft invoice of an intervention contains the billable hours and the parts used; accounting adds the travel as a product or as a free line, unless it is already on the confirmed sales order. The app records the travel time per intervention, but not kilometres.