Reducing fuel consumption is one of the major benefits of platooning. While introducing platooning in mixed traffic, surrounding traffic will interfere with the platoon, risking a loss in fuel savings. In this work, a method for estimating potential fuel loss due to cut-ins in platoons is presented. Based on interviews with truck drivers with experience from platooning, and naturalistic data from previous research, we estimate the potential loss of fuel savings due to cut-ins and compare two scenarios with different amounts of traffic. The results show that platoons spend as much as 20% of time in cut-ins on typical European roads, reducing fuel savings in platooning from 13% down to 10%. Consequently, avoiding cut-ins has a positive environmental effect worth considering. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.