The short answer
There is no official national rate for mobile mechanics. Government data covers what technicians are paid, not what shops charge customers. The right rate for you is the one that covers your costs and target profit at the number of hours you can actually bill, and that the market in your area will accept. This guide shows how to find that number and how to charge for the extras that make mobile work different: travel, after-hours calls and parts.
Why mobile pricing is different from shop pricing
A bay shop sells most of the hours its technicians are on the clock. A mobile technician does not. Every day includes driving to jobs, waiting for access to a yard, running for parts, and setting up and cleaning up on site. That time is real cost, but most customers will not pay labor rate for it. So a mobile operator has fewer billable hours to spread costs across, and higher costs to spread: the service truck, its fuel, insurance and maintenance.
That is why a mobile rate copied from a bay shop often loses money, even when the posted rates look similar.
Step 1: Add up your yearly costs
List everything it costs to run the business for a year. Use your own figures from bank statements, quotes and payroll records. The numbers below are illustrative only.
- Your pay and any technician pay, including payroll taxes and benefits. For reference, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2025 median pay of $61,770 per year, or $29.70 per hour, for bus and truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists. That is a national midpoint for employees, not a target for your own pay.
- Overtime for employees. The U.S. Department of Labor says covered nonexempt employees must receive at least one and one-half times their regular rate for hours over 40 in a workweek. Night and weekend road calls make overtime common.
- Service truck: payment or depreciation, fuel, insurance, registration, tires and maintenance.
- Tools and diagnostics: purchases, software subscriptions and repairs.
- Insurance: general liability, garagekeepers, tools, workers' compensation.
- Office: phone, software, accounting, marketing, licenses.
- Target profit: the amount the business needs beyond costs to replace equipment and grow.
Example: one owner-technician, $70,000 in pay and taxes, $30,000 in truck costs, $12,000 in insurance, $10,000 in tools and software, $8,000 in office costs, and a $20,000 profit target. Total: $150,000.
Step 2: Count the hours you can really bill
Start with hours worked, then remove what you will not invoice: drive time, parts runs, estimates that do not turn into jobs, warranty comebacks, admin, and slow days. Track this for a month if you can; most new operators guess too high.
Example: 2,300 hours worked in a year, 1,150 billed to customers.
Step 3: Calculate the floor rate
Floor rate = total yearly cost and profit / billable hours.
Example: $150,000 / 1,150 hours = about $130 per hour.
That is the minimum you can charge for labor and still hit your plan, if all travel is unbilled. Every hour of travel you bill separately lowers the labor rate you need.
Step 4: Decide how to charge for travel
There are three common approaches, and many mobile shops combine them:
- Service call fee: a flat charge per visit that covers getting to the site and setting up. Simple for customers to understand. See service call fee.
- Mileage charge: a per-mile charge beyond a free radius. Fair for long trips, but needs a clear way to measure distance. See mileage charge.
- Portal-to-portal labor: labor time billed from leaving your base to returning. Common for road calls far from base.
Whichever you choose, write it down and quote it before you roll. Fleet customers dislike travel charges that appear for the first time on the invoice.
Step 5: Price after-hours work separately
Nights, weekends and holidays cost more: overtime for employees, lost sleep for owners, and higher risk at roadside. Most mobile shops use either a higher hourly rate for after-hours work or a flat after-hours call-out fee on top of the normal rate. Define the hours exactly, such as weekdays after 6 p.m. and all day Saturday and Sunday, and put them on your rate sheet. See after hours rates for mobile mechanics.
Step 6: Set your parts pricing
Parts are a major part of revenue on most repair orders. Decide on a markup policy, such as a markup that decreases as part cost increases, and apply it every time. Include core charges as separate lines and track the core until the supplier credits it. Parts bought on a run for one job should be billed to that job, including the cost of getting them. See parts markup and core charge.
Step 7: Add the small charges that add up
- Shop supplies or consumables: rags, cleaners, fasteners, small fittings. Some shops charge a percentage of labor with a cap; some build it into the rate.
- Environmental fees: disposal of used oil, filters and coolant.
- Diagnostic time: bill it as labor, and say on the estimate how much diagnosis is included before you call for approval.
Check your state's rules on how these must be disclosed on estimates and invoices.
Step 8: Check the market, then publish
Now look outward. Ask fleet customers what they pay, look at dealer and shop rate sheets in your area, and listen when prospects say no. If the market is well above your floor rate, price higher; if it is below, look at your billable hours and costs before you cut price. Write a one-page rate sheet with labor, after-hours, travel, diagnostics, supplies and payment terms, and give the same sheet to everyone.
Step 9: Review every six to twelve months
Fuel, insurance and wages change. Re-run the numbers at least once a year, after buying a truck or hiring, and when you notice you are fully booked. A full calendar is often a sign your rate is too low.
A worked rate sheet
Here is how the illustrative example above might turn into a published rate sheet. Every figure is an example, not a recommendation:
- Mobile labor, weekdays 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.: $135 per hour, one hour minimum.
- After-hours labor, nights, weekends and holidays: $185 per hour, two hour minimum.
- Service call fee within 25 miles of base: $95 per visit.
- Mileage beyond 25 miles: a set rate per mile, round trip.
- Diagnostics: billed as labor, first hour included in the estimate.
- Parts: list price or cost plus your markup matrix, cores as separate lines.
- Payment: card on file for new customers, net terms for approved fleet accounts.
A sheet like this answers the questions fleet managers ask before they call you, and keeps every technician quoting the same way.
Common pricing mistakes
- Using a bay shop's rate without adjusting for unbilled travel.
- Giving away the first hour of travel on every job.
- Not quoting after-hours terms before the call.
- Pricing parts at cost to look competitive.
- Discounting for new customers without an end date.
- Never tracking which jobs actually made money.
How software helps
Pricing only works if every charge makes it onto the invoice. MetaFleet supports estimates with line-by-line customer approval, technician time tracking, after-hours billing and invoices with card and ACH payment; see estimates, after-hours billing and payments, or get a walkthrough.