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Trucking Costs Decline for Parts and Labor in Q4 2025
Decisiv and TMC Benchmark Report Finds 1.3% Decline After Prior Quarter’s Run-Up
Key Takeaways:
- Trucking parts and labor costs fell 1.3% in Q4 compared with Q3, reversing a 3.8% increase seen in the previous quarter.
- Despite the quarterly dip, combined costs rose 2% year over year as parts expenses increased 3.7% while labor costs slipped 0.4%, according to Decisiv and TMC.
- Analysts said the decline was driven by lower freight volume and mileage, though they noted rising parts costs remain the main pressure point for maintenance budgets.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Trucking experienced a fourth-quarter decrease in parts and labor costs compared with the third quarter but saw costs jump on a year-over-year basis, American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council and Decisiv revealed in a new report.
The Decisiv/TMC Parts & Labor Service Benchmark Report found combined parts and labor costs in Q4 declined 1.3% compared with the previous quarter. This included a 0.4% reduction in parts and a 2.6% decline in labor.
This moderation followed cost increases in the previous quarter due to higher combined expenses, noted Rob Ziemba, vice president of marketing at Decisiv, during a March 15 session at the TMC 2026 Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition.
“Last quarter we reported a rather notable increase of 3.8%,” he said. “This quarter we actually saw a cost decrease of 1.3%. So, good news there.”
On an annual basis, however, Q4 combined parts and labor costs rose 2%. Year over year in Q4 2025, combined parts and labor costs increased 2%, with parts costs rising 3.7% while labor costs fell 0.4%. Despite being modest, the drop in labor costs was a better result than the rise in both parts and labor recorded in Q4 2024, and a hopeful sign for the industry, Ziemba noted.
“Over the past two quarters, we’ve had rather notable increases with labor costs,” he said. “So, this is certainly something to keep our eyes on because this is definitely a swing in the positive direction on labor costs for us that we haven’t seen in quite a while.”
He added that parts, not labor, have been the main source of rising costs over the past year, with labor remaining relatively stable.
The quarterly report combines TMC with Decisiv maintenance technology.
For Q4, combined parts and labor costs rose in 10 of the 25 VMRS Systems tracked in the report, seven fewer than in the previous quarter. Sequentially, parts costs rose in 10 systems, seven fewer than in Q3, while labor costs rose in just seven systems, down from 15 systems in the previous quarterly analysis.
“Fewer systems actually saw labor increases,” Ziemba said. “While that sounds like great news, and we do have the overall reduction of 1.3%, a lot of that cost reduction was in some of the system codes that have smaller overall share of the parts and labor costs.”
The report noted that the drop in quarterly costs reflected lower freight volume and mileage.
