Trip Fees, Diagnostic Fees & Minimum Charges: When and How
Free quotes and free service calls are a holdover from when gas was $1.50 and your phone wasn't ringing. Today, a 30-mile round trip in a service truck costs $25 before you have unscrewed anything, and every hour spent driving to a tire-kicker is an hour you cannot bill. Trip and diagnostic fees are not greedy — they are the difference between running a business and running a charity.
Trip fee vs diagnostic fee vs minimum charge. These three fees solve different problems and should not be combined.
How to set each one. Trip fee: calculate your loaded truck cost per mile ($0.65–1.20 is typical) times your average round-trip distance, plus 30 minutes of tech time. Most urban shops land at $45–75; rural shops at $75–125.
When to waive. Waive the trip fee when the customer approves the repair on the spot. Apply it to the invoice if they don't. This rewards decisive customers and recovers the trip cost from tire-kickers.
How to present these fees on the phone. Disclose every fee on the booking call, before the truck rolls. Use this script: 'Our service call is $89, which includes the trip and the first diagnostic. If you approve the repair, we apply the $89 to your bill, so you only pay for the work.' Customers who object to fees on the phone are customers who would not have
Frequently asked questions
What if a competitor offers free estimates?
Match it only for large quoted jobs (>$2,000) where the win-rate justifies the visit. For service calls under $500, never give away the trip — the math doesn't work.
Can I charge a trip fee for warranty callbacks?
If the callback is your fault (defective install, missed problem), eat the trip. If it is a separate issue or customer-caused, charge normally and document why.
Should the trip fee be on the invoice as a line item?
Yes, even if you applied it to the repair. Customers want to see the value transparently — show 'Service call: $89' and 'Service call credit: −$89' so they see they got it for free.
