What is a vehicle mileage log?
A vehicle mileage log records every trip a vehicle makes: the date, the driver, where it went, why, and the odometer at the start and end. Companies use it to know how far each vehicle travels, to separate business from private use, to pay mileage claims, and to spot kilometers that nobody can explain.
This Excel mileage log template does that for a whole fleet. It also checks the odometer between trips, totals the month by vehicle and purpose, compares planned trips with actuals, and gives dispatch a shift handover log.
How to use the mileage log template
- Add vehicles and drivers on Settings, and set the reimbursement rate your policy uses.
- Record every trip with the start and end odometer, the purpose and the customer or job.
- Enter each vehicle's trips in date order so the gap check compares each trip with the one before.
- Check rows marked "Check km" and find the missing trip or the wrong reading.
- Use the Monthly summary for mileage claims, private-use charges or the monthly review.
How the odometer gap check works
In the example, VAN-02 ended its 2 October trip at 22,545 km but started on 3 October at 22,560 km. The 15 km gap means a trip was not logged or a reading was wrong. A gap check catches unlogged private use and typing errors, and keeps distance totals honest.
How to split business, private and commute kilometers
Each trip has a purpose: business, private or commute. The summary totals each for the month and shows the business share for every vehicle. Rules on private use of company vehicles, mileage reimbursement rates and tax treatment differ by country and company, so set the rate from your own policy.
Trip plan vs actual
Trip T-102 was planned at 160 km and 3.5 hours and took 190 km and 4.5 hours: 18.8% and 28.6% over plan, because of a road closure. Recording the reason for each gap turns the sheet into a list of fixable causes: detours, waiting at customers, missed time windows.
Dispatch shift handover log
Many dispatch problems start at shift change. The handover log records what the outgoing dispatcher passes on: vehicles on the road and off road, open and late jobs, and issues to follow up. The incoming dispatcher confirms it, and rows not confirmed are highlighted.
How to measure route savings fairly
A new route plan, new dispatch rules or a tracking system should cut kilometers, fuel and hours. To show it, compare the same routes before and after the change. Totals alone mislead, because one month may have more stops than the other, so the sheet first divides each total by the number of stops.
In the example, the East retail run fell from 15.0 to 13.5 km per stop. Over 270 stops in October that is 410 km, 56 liters and 8.5 driving hours saved. North service calls is marked Check: two customers moved to another route, so its stops per trip fell 16.7% and the two periods are not comparable. The three comparable routes save 917 km, 164 liters and 19.2 hours, worth 386 at the example rates of 0.60 per liter and 15 per hour. Use one fuel price for both periods, take the data from the same source, and leave out abnormal days; the sheet lists these rules under the table.
Customer SLA report: on-time delivery by customer
Each customer contract has its own on-time target. The Customer SLA sheet takes one row per customer per month: deliveries, deliveries on time and deliveries that did not happen. It calculates late deliveries, the on-time rate and the gap to the target, and keeps the late reasons and credit notes next to the result, so the monthly meeting with the customer starts from the same numbers.
Gulf Foods Co. had 260 deliveries in October, 236 on time and 4 not delivered: 20 late and 90.8% on time against a 95% target, so the result is Missed by 4.2 points. The main reason is a loading delay at the depot, and 2 credit notes were issued. Across the four customers, 785 of 834 deliveries were on time (94.1%) and two customers were below target. Credit notes and service credits follow each contract, so record what was agreed rather than a standard rate.
Limits of a spreadsheet mileage log
The log relies on drivers reading and typing the odometer correctly for every trip. It cannot tell where a vehicle went between two readings, and it does not record the route or times automatically. For a deeper look at the cost of a single trip, use the truck trip cost calculator.