Why €0.60/km is not your acceptance threshold
The figure quoted everywhere measures something other than what you are looking for.
Updated on August 13, 2026
What is the difference between cost per kilometre and acceptance threshold?
Cost per kilometre measures what one kilometre costs you: fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation. It is where you stop losing. The acceptance threshold also has to cover your pay, your empty kilometres and your contributions. It is where you make a living.
Why is the gap between the two so large?
Because three items are added, and they compound. The pay you want, the unbilled kilometres carried by the billed ones, and the contributions computed on revenue. Each looks modest alone; together they multiply the starting figure.
The third item is the one almost nobody computes correctly. Contributions do not add to costs: they fall on what you take in, so they raise the revenue needed, which in turn raises the contributions.
Which figure should decide whether you accept a ride?
Yours, and only yours. A market average knows neither your vehicle, nor your mileage, nor your status, nor the pay you are aiming for. Two drivers in the same city can have thresholds that differ twofold without either being wrong.