INDUSTRY FUEL IMPACT REPORT
Fuel and Transport Cost Tracker
Diesel moves, margins follow. This tracker surfaces fuel cost shifts before they hit your bottom line — whether you’re a carrier watching cost-per-mile, a broker managing rate expectations, or a shipper protecting acquisition margins.
How Rising Fuel Costs Are Changing the Price of Moving Cars
May 21, 2026 Update
Diesel prices have eased slightly from their early-May highs but remain well above $5.50 per gallon, with the national retail average at $5.60 as of the week of May 18 — still more than $2.00 higher than a year ago. The Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed to commercial shipping, and while early signals around a possible U.S.-Iran deal have injected some volatility into crude oil markets this week, Brent crude still sits near $109 per barrel — roughly 50% above pre-conflict levels.
On the ground, auto transport prices continue to climb: the daily average price per mile has reached $1.08, with the seven-day weighted volume average at $1.09 — a nearly 30% increase from pre-conflict levels. Whether you’re a carrier setting rates or a shipper planning your next move, the data is clear: price to today’s reality. Use this tracker to stay current.
Key Data Points:
Auto transport prices are now up nearly 30% from pre-conflict levels, with the daily average price per mile reaching $1.08 — a significant acceleration from the 18% increase recorded in early May, reflecting the sustained pressure of diesel costs above $5.50 per gallon.
The national average for on-highway diesel fell to $5.596 per gallon for the week of May 18 — down 4.3 cents from the prior week and the third consecutive weekly decline from the early-May peak, but still more than $2.06 higher than a year ago.
Diesel prices surged more than 55% between early February and early May, climbing from roughly $3.60 to over $5.64 per gallon. While prices have ticked down slightly over the past two weeks, the EIA’s latest outlook projects diesel will average $5.36 in Q2 and remain above $4.70 through year-end — meaning elevated fuel costs are likely to persist for months even in a best-case scenario.
Auto Transport Costs Are Up 30% From Pre-Conflict Levels
Auto transport prices have accelerated sharply, with the daily average price per mile now at $1.08 and the seven-day weighted volume average at $1.09 — up from the $0.99 seven-day average recorded in early May and well above the $0.84 pre-conflict baseline. The roughly 30% increase from pre-conflict levels outpaces the rate of diesel’s decline, suggesting carriers are continuing to reprice loads to recover margin lost during the initial fuel shock.
Last Updated: May 21, 2026
How Fuel Prices Flow Through to Auto Transport Costs
What the data also shows is a meaningful gap between how much diesel has risen and how much transport pricing has moved. Diesel is up approximately 37–46% from pre-conflict levels. Auto transport pricing has not moved proportionally, but that’s expected. We can do some simple math to see what price movement we expect from carriers.
| Costs | Percent |
|---|---|
| Fuel | 25% |
| Other Costs** | 61% |
| Profit Margin | 14% |
**Other Costs include: Driver wages, truck payments, insurance, maintenance, permits, tolls
If a carrier wanted to maintain $14 of profit for every $100 of load moved, here’s how they would have to raise their prices as the price of fuel increased:
| Fuel Price Increase | 0% | 20% | 40% | 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Load Price | $100 | $105 | $110 | $113 |
| Fuel | $25 | $30 | $35 | $38 |
| Other Costs | $61 | $61 | $61 | $61 |
| Profit | $14 | $14 | $14 | $14 |
| % Increase in Load Price | 0% | 5% | 10% | 13% |
Since the start of the conflict, our data shows auto transport load prices rose approximately 11% from around $0.84 to roughly $0.95 per mile before stabilizing in that range. When diesel climbs 50%, carriers would need to raise prices 13% to maintain their profits. So the data says carriers not passing on all their increased fuel costs to shippers.
This differs from what we saw before. When diesel prices rose 45%, we saw carriers raise their load pricing to cover all their fuel cost increases. The fact that load prices have plateaued suggests the market has found a temporary ceiling and carriers are sharing in the pain. Howver, that could shift quickly if fuel costs continue to climb. We update this tracker regularly, so check back often.
This Disruption Has a Longer Tail Than Past Spikes
The Strait of Hormuz carries approximately 20 million barrels per day, roughly 20% of global maritime oil trade, and its closure has been described as the largest energy supply disruption since the 1970s. Analysts estimate three to four months for Gulf production to fully restore, with the oil price floor unlikely to return to pre-conflict levels. The IEA’s emergency release of 400 million barrels, the largest in history, provided temporary relief but did not reverse the underlying supply picture.
The current pricing environment is not a spike with a clear near-term resolution.
What This Means for Your Operation
Dealers and auctions: Build a transport cost buffer into your acquisition math now. Units sourced today will be delivered into a higher-cost environment than what you underwrote at purchase.
Fleets and leasing: Loads quoted before February 28 are being re-priced across the industry. This is diesel economics, not carrier opportunism. Build flexibility into Q2 transport agreements.
Brokers: When diesel moves this fast, all-in rate models create real margin compression. Pricing Insights pulls from real accepted-offer data so you’re quoting from what lanes are clearing today, not January.
Tools to Help You Navigate This
Our Pricing Insights tool pulls current market rate data by lane from real accepted offers on the Super Dispatch platform. When prices are moving fast, quoting from live data is the difference between competitive and underwater.
Super Dispatch will soon be offering carriers access to fuel savings that directly offset pump costs through our upcoming SuperCard! When your carriers’ margins are healthier, your loads move faster and more reliably. Click below to let us know you’re interested to get early access!
About This Data
Transport pricing data shown represents a normalized subset of orders processed through the Super Dispatch platform. Filters applied: single-VIN orders; 500–1,000 mile moves; operable SUVs; and order status is picked up or delivered. Dates reflect date that the carrier and shipper agreed to pricing. This subset is statistically meaningful in size and is designed to isolate comparable moves for consistent trend analysis. It does not represent the Super Dispatch marketplace in aggregate.