Using my personal vehicle for work... 15

[esloan]

I am working for a small consulting firm (civil). I really love working here, however one downside is that they do not have company vehicles.

I have no problem using my personal vehicle for transportation and keeping track of mileage for the measly 45 cents per mile etc.

The only REAL problem is that we are expected to use our personal vehicle for construction work with no additional compensation. This is the only company that I personally know about that works in this manner.

I'd say that the mileage I put on my vehicle nowhere near compensates me for the use. I am not talking about home to office etc, I am talking about office to jobsite, on the site and back. Strictly business use. I am typically out in construction full-time from April to November with heavy usage mid-May to mid-September. The work I do involves large developments and heavy-highway construction, so there is a lot of off-roading. If I don't drive my vehicle off-road, then the walk would be ridiculously long (a waste of productive time). I couldn't justify it.

I have actually brought this up to my supervisors, but they kinda shrug their shoulders and say that this is how it has always been. They say that they see no advantage for them to get any vehicles or compensate for usage above the government mileage rate. The VP's all have company leased vehicles, which is considered a perk because they really only use them for home to office driving. Only one out of the three actually uses it for billable projects and that is because he has one main client and spends a lot of time at their location. The others use for transportation to/from meetings with clients, not necessarily directly billable, but "getting/retaining" projects.

Anybody else have experience with this, or perhaps some productive way of dealing with it? I am looking at options I could offer up to management vs just complaining about it. Yes, I have received advice to just move to another company etc, but I really think the company would look into ideas if presented.

 

[esloan]

Thanks TygerDawg! Your post spells out what my mind was grasping for but couldn't seem to formulate. Shoot, it definitely looks like a handful. Maybe not as bad as it sounds.

Believe me, whenever you get ANY of the field personnel together to chat for more than a minute or two this topic comes up about how burned they are.

What makes it worse for us, is the fact that the VP's have leased vehicles and don't really utulize them much for company use. As mentioned above, most of our clients are local to us, and in reality most of their time (the VP's) are in the office.

 

[ScottyUK]

Start requesting, or insisting, that you are given use of one of the leased vehicles for company business. Some companies in the UK have this a policy for business use, and discourage use of personal vehicles for anything but an emergency. At one former employer where this policy was implemented I ended up driving the MD's Merc 'E' Class because all the other cars were already out. He wasn't delighted about giving his pride and joy to someone in their early 20's with a reputation for driving like a hooligan, but he had made the rules and was man enough to stick to them even when they weren't in his favour.


----------------------------------

Sometimes I only open my mouth to swap feet...

 

[EddyC]

I think that some folks forgot to include the additional insurance that you need when you own a second vehicle. There's also the additional amount that you have to pay when the vehicle is used for business.

 

[waskillywabbit]

Where I work (in the USA) we have folks in the field all over the place and all of them have company trucks suited to their needs in the field. I don't have a company truck as I don't need one daily, but if I did, one would be provided.

I would say your situation is NOT the norm from my experience.

Sounds like as long as you keep letting the company stick you with the bill, they'll keep sticking you with it. No way I'd spend my money on something the company I worked for should be providing...move on to a job that appreciates its employess and values their efforts. You are getting screwed and they know it and don't care.

Brian

 

[l3city]

It appears you really like this job. Just stop using your car, get a bus or a friends ride to go to the office. Wait for a while until they figure out you don't have a car to get to the field. Assumming you didn't sign a contract specifying you will provide your own car, they can't do anything more than provide you a car/truck. Otherwise, they will keep you in the office as you said. If they do this, then they really don't appreciate you (otherwise they will value you and will manage to keep in your current project) Assuming this happens, start hunting for something else and eventually leave.

 

[monkeydog]

Is passive/aggressive an engineering trait?

 

[SomptingGuy]

To the OP:

Have you read the really small print on your insurance policy? Although insurance is compulsary, the providers are nothing more than bookies and will do anything they can to not pay out if possible. My policy explicitly states that the car may only be used for "Social, Domestic and Pleasure, plus travel to and from a regular place of work."
Outside of these uses, I would have no insurance and would therefore be driving illegally. In the event of an accident, I'd probably be taken to the cleaners by the other party and then prosecuted by the police.

 

[esloan]

SomptinGuy:
I suppose I haven't read the tiniest of prints, but I have the state minimums for liability as well as "at least" the minimums required by the financing company that carries my auto loan for comprehensive, ie no matter what happens my finance company is guaranteed that replacement value is covered. They don't care about liability, that is the state law, which I do follow.

 

[esloan]

With this issue, the salary issue (in another thread) and a steep increase in health premiums and co-pays I have decided to just "look around" at other companies to see what they have to offer. It kind of pains me because I really love what I do and sometimes it's hard to find the right "fit" with companies.

I swear, I am just going to look around.

 

[l3city]

yep, look around! Seems the chances for getting a job car/truck are far less than you getting a new job with a better company.
Regards, (don't worry, you are not doing anything wrong)

 

[DRC1]

I drive a company car. It is a good benifit. I would lok at the miles you and ssome of the other engineers drive. I drive about 35-45 a year, but that is some what over the average. Say gas is 2.25 per gal at 15 mph. That's $0.15 per mile, leaving $0.30 for the vehicle. Lets say you are invoicing 15k miles per year - that's 1,250 miles per month, times $0.30 is 375 pr month. Your company should be able to lease and insure a decent pre owned vehicle for that, especially if they lease a few at te same time. I amsure that you are not the only one in this postion. Hertz and Ford both have good fleet programs. Many fleet dealers can also get preowned fleet vehicles. Do a little research, talk to some of the other people in your postion, and go as a group to dics this with the powers to be. The IRS will only allow your employer to deduct $0.45 per mile regardless of what they pay you. however, the entire cost of ownership of the car is deductable as an expense, so the net cost of ownership vs. reimbursement may actually be better than $0.45 per mile.
Its one thing to occasionally use your car for work, it is another to devote to work permenatly loaded whith tools.
Good Luck with the PE

 

[boffintech]

That $.34 a mile thing is crap. There is no way a few cents per mile can compensate for the wear and tear on a vehicle placed into extreme duty: visiting construction sites on a daily basis. That's like saying come to work for use and we'll destroy a major investment of yours.

I have a company truck and I figure it is worth at least $600 a month. Frankly, if the truck were go away I would go away. But that is function of experience and education and depends greatly on your negotiating skills.

Initial Investment
Monthly gas bill
Monthly Insurance
Regular Maintenance

Even when the truck is finally paid off the gas, insurance, and maintenance bills continue.

If I were you I'd try to negotiate a flat fee per month with your employer. Shoot for $650/month and work your down if need to not less than $550/month. As part of the deal you agree to take care of everything: no more mileage reimbursement paperwork so less administrative expense etc., and a fairer deal for for both parties. If it goes well buy a used truck that is not more than 3 years old and every 3 years trade it in. Heck you can get a brand new Ford F150 model work truck with extended cab for $20K.

 

[DRC1]

That probably won't fly as the IRS will not recognize it as an expense, so the cost will not be deductible. Therefore it will cost the employer about an additional 50% in lost tax credit. If the company owns or leases the vehicle, it can deduct the actual cost of purchase and ownership. Note that if the vehicle is a truck for work related purposes, it can be provided free of charge, but if it is a car, it is seen as a taxible benifit and the user must pay about $10-20/ month personal tax.

 

[SAK9]

How about telling your management that you have sold your car off.Get your wife or somebody to drop you off or take public transport.The company would need to pay you taxi fare to get to site and back.That will really pinch them hard.

 

[davidbeach]

I doubt that she has a wife.

 

[lewtam]

I dunno davidbeach, takes all kinds these days

 

[davidbeach]

lewtam, I suppose, but the odds are way against it. Nothing said about being in Massachusetts, the only state that recognizes same-sex marriages, and even then the odds of any random poster at Eng-Tip being in a same-sex marriage is so small that my doubts were, I'm sure, well founded.

 

[esloan]

to clear this up.... I am hetero-sexual.

 

[MedicineEng]

What has that to do with the car issue?

Going back to the thread, I can tell you that I never had a personal vehicle myself. an if it depends from me, I will never have.
In both companies that I worked for, they always provided me a car. I an not in US, so I don't know the current practice there. I can also tell you that I recently refused a work offer being one of the main reasons not having a company car.

 

[davidbeach]

MedicinEng, go back up to SAK9's post, making reference to the OP's wife. OP had earlier corrected someone who referred to said OP as a "he". So I made a crack about it not being likely that the OP (esloan) had a wife. She then put the nail in it. All a tangent, but any thread this long is likely to have several tangents.