Most businesses that run their own delivery vehicles think of the cost primarily as a fuel cost. The full picture is more complicated, and for businesses delivering along a regional corridor like the NSW South Coast, the difference between in-house and outsourced delivery is worth understanding clearly.
The Real Cost of Running Your Own Delivery Vehicle
The obvious costs are fuel, registration, and basic maintenance. The less obvious costs add up quickly:
- Vehicle purchase or lease cost. A reliable refrigerated van or truck is a capital or ongoing lease commitment. A smaller van starts around $80–120k new. A multi-pallet refrigerated truck significantly more.
- Driver wages, super, and leave. A full-time driver on an award rate plus super represents a significant fixed cost. Leave means you still pay the driver even when they're not delivering.
- Backup cover when the driver is unavailable. When your driver calls in sick or takes leave, someone needs to cover the run. If there's no backup, the delivery doesn't happen.
- Maintenance and repairs. Temperature-controlled vehicles require more maintenance than standard vehicles. Refrigeration unit servicing adds cost and downtime.
- Breakdown risk. A vehicle breakdown means a missed run. In a refrigerated vehicle, it may also mean lost product.
- Insurance and compliance. Heavy vehicle compliance, refrigeration unit certification, and commercial vehicle insurance all carry ongoing cost and administrative burden.
- Your own time managing the operation. Rostering, scheduling, handling driver issues, and dealing with vehicle problems all take management time — time that has cost even if you don't account for it directly.
What Outsourcing Actually Provides
A contract delivery arrangement with a carrier converts most of the above from fixed costs into a freight cost per run. You pay for the delivery. The carrier handles the vehicle, the driver, the backup cover, and the compliance.
The specific advantages:
- No capital outlay on a vehicle
- No driver wages, super, or leave liability
- Backup driver and backup vehicle built into the arrangement
- No maintenance or repair costs
- No compliance burden on refrigerated vehicles
- Scalable — volume goes up, freight cost goes up; volume goes down, cost adjusts
When In-House Makes More Sense
There are situations where running your own vehicle makes commercial sense. High daily volume along a fixed route, where a vehicle is fully utilised every day, is the clearest one. When the freight cost per run from a carrier significantly exceeds the amortised cost of running your own, the math changes.
But most businesses making this comparison for the first time underestimate the full in-house cost and overestimate the per-run cost of outsourcing. The breakeven point is typically higher than it looks initially.
The South Coast Corridor Specifically
For businesses delivering refrigerated freight along the NSW South Coast corridor, the outsourced model has a specific advantage: CCS is already running the corridor daily. You're not paying the fixed cost of a dedicated southbound run — you're sharing corridor infrastructure that's already operating.
If your business is currently running its own vehicle south, or is considering starting, the contract delivery page has more detail on how a CCS arrangement works. Or contact us directly to discuss your situation.