Reply to: mileage allowance should be upped!? - discuss

[Hiram King Of Tyre]

Don't forget also that with myco, you are only really paying the rate of the tax saved (say 40% of these figures). I bought a pickup truck!

[malvolio]

Study the AA's figures from here

http://www.theaa.com/allaboutcars/ad...trol_table.jsp

They are saying a £20k petrol on 15k miles a year costs 46ppm to own and operate...

[VectraMan]

With the figures the way they are, I think there is tendancy to buy older cars and run them into the ground and skimp on the servicing as much as possible. So while the lack of an increase in these milage rates could be an argument for discouraging car useage, on environmental grounds, what it can actually do is encourage people to drive older less efficient cars which might be more inefficient due to the lack of proper servicing.

Though it's often reported that the majority of energy usage in a car's life is in the manufacture, so keeping older cars going is doing the environment a favour (if you believe in that sort of thing).

Of course when I said "profit" I didn't really mean that, but even at 34mpg and about 700 miles per week, 25p per mile is probably around 30% more than it actually costs me.

[beeker]

bows down to sockpuppet.

Makes note for next contract...!

[Sockpuppet]

Just wondering though - Has anyone specified expenses in a contract before? i.e. overnight rates or mileage allowances?

Yes. Did some work for a consultancy and I specified £1/mile.

They asked me to work on a site 100 miles from home for 2 days running. Kerching.

[BoredBloke]

Get a car like mine with a wildly innaccurate fuel guage. Then a tank of fuel costs a lot less (because you fill up with a third left ).

To be fair, 40/25p per mile is pretty generous and I've consistently made money on mileage expenses. It is intended to cover general running costs, yes, but that varies enormously according to the car you buy and how you maintain it (i.e. Audi dealer servicing costs a lot more than me changing the oil, filter and plugs myself with parts from ebay).

I tend to do about 15,000 to 18,000 miles per year. For that I can claim £4000 for my first 10,000 miles and £1250 for the next 5,000. I seem to fill up once a week and it is now costing £60 a week for this. Assuming I work 48 weeks of the year, then I spend £2880 on diesel alone. That leaves £2370 (or £3120 if I do 18,000 miles) per year to cover the rest of my costs. This 'profit' sounds good, but when you consider the depreciation on a car covering these distances, the servicing costs and the parts replaced due to general wear and tear, this drops to about break even if not below.

With the figures the way they are, I think there is tendancy to buy older cars and run them into the ground and skimp on the servicing as much as possible. So while the lack of an increase in these milage rates could be an argument for discouraging car useage, on environmental grounds, what it can actually do is encourage people to drive older less efficient cars which might be more inefficient due to the lack of proper servicing.

[SueEllen]

I didn't hear of a petition on this? Any more info on what the response from the government was?

I found it in my bin folder: government response

Remember guys carry a passenger for your extra 5p.

[VectraMan]

Get a car like mine with a wildly innaccurate fuel guage. Then a tank of fuel costs a lot less (because you fill up with a third left ).

To be fair, 40/25p per mile is pretty generous and I've consistently made money on mileage expenses. It is intended to cover general running costs, yes, but that varies enormously according to the car you buy and how you maintain it (i.e. Audi dealer servicing costs a lot more than me changing the oil, filter and plugs myself with parts from ebay).

[beeker]

Garages up here started putting £10 limits on fuel late last week! Which means not even a 1/4 tank for me based on current prices!!

I had a client asking me to work at a different site, 2 hrs drive away and when my invoice came in they questioned the 40p a mile expense as they pay 25p to staff. When i pointed out that staff were using company cars and I was a contractor, we came to an agreement!

Just wondering though - Has anyone specified expenses in a contract before? i.e. overnight rates or mileage allowances?

[zara_backdog]

£70.00 for a tank of fuel? - get a smaller car!

PS - filled up mine Sunday - 15 min queue to to 'Panic buying at the pump - £62.00 so mines not that tiny.Worked for umbrella before 07/08 who refused to pay my 40p per mile as they said my fuel receipts were not high enough!

Had a 1600 Turbo Diesel and 10 mile round trip! Ditched the umbrella and the car.

[beeker]

bearing in mind the mileage allowance covers running costs too - 40p and then 25p is nowhere near enough. By making a company car nigh impossible to own withough the killing in tax you pay - a personal car and claiming mileage is the sensible alternative.

I didn't hear of a petition on this? Any more info on what the response from the government was?

[Billy Pilgrim]

The rate is 'OK' if you are a 'regular employee' of a company that you don't own..for example I can get about 400 miles out of a £60 tank of petrol...

If someone else was paying my expenses then I'd get £160 @ 40p per mile

However, since MyCo ends up paying ME then its not far off break even!

Completely ferked when it gets to 25 per mile

[SueEllen]

It should (have been) be upped in line at least with inflation or some travel expense index. Petrol is just one part of the equation.

Just more of the same, in that all the other tax allowances stay frozen or do not go up by the true %, so this is just another stealth tax by the Govt. We should expect nothing else from this lot.

Now he can also use the 'green excuse' for not increasing it.

In the carp he wrote in response to the online petition there was no mention of the environment. However it was implied the pricing was "fair"

[Turion]

It should (have been) be upped in line at least with inflation or some travel expense index. Petrol is just one part of the equation.

Just more of the same, in that all the other tax allowances stay frozen or do not go up by the true %, so this is just another stealth tax by the Govt. We should expect nothing else from this lot.

Now he can also use the 'green excuse' for not increasing it.

[MugsGame]

Completely agree - I was just discussing the same thing last week with some colleagues.

So what can we do about it?