Should you buy a trailer, or pull other people's? The answer isn't a feeling about freedom or risk. It's arithmetic: what a trailer costs you every month, against what power only costs you in rate and empty miles. This comparison lays out every line, gives a break-even formula, and works an EXAMPLE you can redo with your own numbers.
What a trailer adds to your costs
| Cost line | Owned trailer | Power only |
|---|---|---|
| Payment or lease | Every month | None |
| Physical damage insurance | On your trailer | Replaced by interchange coverage |
| Plates and registration | Yes | None |
| Tires and brakes | Yours to replace | Usually the owner's, check the agreement |
| Repairs and inspections | Yours | Mostly the owner's |
| Downtime when the trailer is in the shop | Lost loads | Hook another trailer |
| Freight choice | Any van load | Only what programs and brokers offer |
| Empty miles | To pickups | To pickups and to and from yards |
The break-even formula
Power only wins when the trailer's monthly cost is bigger than what power only costs you in rate and miles:
Trailer monthly cost > (van rate − power only rate) × loaded miles + extra empty miles × your running cost per mile
Everything on the right side is yours to measure. The van rate reference for a lane can come from market data; DAT reported the national van spot average at $2.19 a mile before fuel in August 2026. Your running cost per mile includes fuel, which moves with diesel; the U.S. average was $6.382 a gallon for the week of September 28, 2026.
A worked example
- Trailer: payment, insurance, plates, tires, repairs
- $1,400 / mo
- Loaded miles
- 9,000
- Power only pays 10¢ less per loaded mile
- $900 less
- Extra empty miles to and from yards
- 400
- 400 × $1.23 running cost
- $492
Almost dead even. Cut the extra yard miles to 200 and power only wins by about $254 a month. Push the rate gap to 15 cents and owning wins by about $442. Small changes in the lanes decide it, which is why the answer differs from one carrier to the next.
Measuring your own numbers
- Trailer monthly cost. Add the last twelve months of payments, insurance, plates, tires, brakes, repairs and inspections, then divide by twelve. Include a month of lost loads if the trailer sat in a shop.
- Rate gap. Ask two or three power only programs or brokers what they pay on your main lanes, and compare with van offers you've had on the same lanes.
- Extra empty miles. Map the drop yards and pools near your lanes and estimate the extra miles a week of hooks and drops would add.
- Running cost per mile. Fuel, maintenance and tires per mile, without fixed costs, since those don't change.
- Put them in the formula and test a bad month as well as a normal one.
Before you sell your trailer
Ask any program you're counting on:
- How many loads a week can you offer in my area, and how steady is that?
- Where are your yards, and how long does check-in take?
- What are the interchange insurance limits, and who pays for tires and lights at the hook?
- Do you pay for empty repositioning and detention?
If the answers are thin, keep the trailer and add power only on the side first. Run both for a couple of months, track the real rate gap and the real yard miles, and let those numbers, not a guess, decide whether the trailer stays. Selling a trailer is easy; buying one back in a tight market usually costs more, and the same trailer can be hard to find again when you need it.
What the formula doesn't show
- Downtime: when an owned trailer needs brakes, the truck can sit. With power only you hook another one.
- Freedom of freight: your own van can take any van load on any board. Power only takes what the programs near you have.
- Waiting: drop and hook programs can save hours a week that live-load van freight burns.
- Cash at start: no trailer means less money tied up when you're new.
- Resale: an owned trailer keeps some value; power only builds none.
Who should pick which
| Choose power only if | Choose your own trailer if |
|---|---|
| Pools and drop yards are near your home base | Few programs run near you |
| You want lower fixed costs while you build | Van freight in your lanes pays well and reloads easily |
| You like drop and hook | You want to take any load on the board |
| You'd rather not handle trailer repairs | You have a good shop and want control of equipment |
Doing both
Many carriers keep one trailer and use power only to reposition, fill slow weeks, or run a dedicated program on part of the week. That mix often beats either one alone because the truck has two sources of freight. Trailer prices and financing are covered in how much is a trailer truck; the trailers you'd pull in power only trailer and types of truck trailers; and the companies running programs in power only trucking companies. If you're weighing a dispatcher in the same budget, the load board vs dispatcher comparison does that math.
All figures in the example are EXAMPLE values. Put your own trailer costs, lanes and rates into the formula before deciding.
Questions carriers ask
01Is power only cheaper than owning a trailer?
It's cheaper in fixed costs, since there's no trailer payment, trailer insurance or trailer repairs. Whether it's more profitable depends on what power only pays in your lanes compared with van freight, and how many extra empty miles the yards add.
02What does it cost to own a dry van trailer?
It varies with the trailer's age, financing and use. Add up the monthly payment or lease, physical damage insurance, plates and registration, tires, brakes and repairs, and the cost of downtime when it's in the shop. Enter your own numbers; there's no single right figure.
03Can I do both?
Yes, and many carriers do: their own trailer on lanes with good van freight, power only to fill gaps, reposition or work dedicated programs. Having both options keeps the truck loaded more often.
04What insurance changes with power only?
You drop physical damage coverage on a trailer you own, but most programs require trailer interchange or non-owned trailer coverage for the trailers you pull. Your agent can price both.
SOURCES
- DAT Freight & Analytics: August 2026: van spot linehaul $2.19/mi vs contract $2.41/mi; in July both were $2.39/mi (checked 2026-10)
- U.S. Energy Information Administration: Weekly U.S. retail on-highway diesel: $6.382/gal for the week of Sept 28, 2026 (year ago $2.628 lower) (checked 2026-10)
SOURCE: Primary sources listed above, checked on the dates shown.