Use paid days rather than calendar days. Enter financing, maintenance and depreciation consistently.
Try this with your own numbersFormula and worked example
Day price = (annual costs / paid days + daily variable cost) / (1 − margin)
| Input | Example |
|---|---|
| Annual ownership and fixed costs | 12,000 |
| Expected paid rental days | 120 |
| Operating cost per rental day | 25 |
| Required margin | 25 % |
| Calculated result | 166.6667 per rental day |
Choose reliable inputs
Account for turnaround, maintenance and available inventory before accepting another booking. For this equipment rental calculation, use rental contracts, asset records and maintenance logs and a consistent definition of one rental booking.
- Maintenance: include the portion belonging to this rental booking or reporting period, and record where the value came from.
- Depreciation: include the portion belonging to this rental booking or reporting period, and record where the value came from.
- Turnaround time: include the portion belonging to this rental booking or reporting period, and record where the value came from.
Use the same currency for every money input. Do not mix weekly costs with monthly revenue, or count the same expense in both an itemised cost and allocated overhead.
Why do unused days raise the required day price?
Use paid days rather than calendar days. Enter financing, maintenance and depreciation consistently.
What if this input changes?
If annual ownership and fixed costs rises by 10%, this example changes by 13.3333 per rental day. This shows the effect of one change; it does not predict what will happen.
Open the calculator, save your baseline, then change the input supported by the least reliable estimate in your records. Compare both scenarios before committing to a price or capacity promise.