Any people driving for a living - petrol question

Minxie123

Sorry if this is not the right forum but I'm just wondering about something. I work for myself and I've been offered a contract where I'll be on the road going to appointments on behalf of the client. All appointments are based in Dublin. I'd be working 3 days a week and I'd be going to about 8 appointments a week. I'm due to have a con call this afternoon about money and I'm trying to factor in petrol costs.

Obviously I'm only looking for approximates here but would love to hear from people working on the road about how much they spend on petrol per week etc. Any info would be greatly appreciated as up until now I've worked from home and petrol was never an issue so I'm clueless!

iMax

Get them to get you a fuel card as part of the contract. It bills directly to them & you won' have to worry about it.

I'm on the road most of the week & am currently spending about €60 PW on fuel (card) I drive an eight year old focus.

CompFix

Are you going to be an employee or a contractor? If you'll be an employee using your own vehicle then you can claim mileage at whatever rate the company has. If you get them to pay for your petrol as an employee I'd imagine it would be seen as a BIK and tax would be owed on it.

If you're a contractor then you'd be invoicing them "x for 1 contracting fee, z for travel costs".

Minxie123

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll be contracting and using my own car so I'll find out their mileage rate and work from there. What about phone calls - should I be looking to get them to pay for these as well? These would be calls made to set up appointments etc.

delllat

Minxie123 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll be contracting and using my own car so I'll find out their mileage rate and work from there. What about phone calls - should I be looking to get them to pay for these as well? These would be calls made to set up appointments etc.

you could always try asking them for a company phone.....(only to be used for work calls obviously )

the worst they can say is no......

Herbalist

I would agree with going for the mileage and asking about the company phone. It will be much easier to have a phone that can be billed to the company for work use than using your personal mobile and trying to sit down when you get the bill and seperate what was work and what was not.

unnameduser

whilst a fuel card is a good place to start you also need to factor in things such as wear and tear on a car - think of tyres, servicing etc.

Budget Marketing

Hi Minxie,

It largely depends on the type of car/jeep/van that you drive and the age of the car. How much do you currently spend in running the car, noting how much you currently spend on the road timewise and factor into account the number of hours you expect to be spending on the road when your contract commences.

Rob

Minxie123

Really appreciate the replies on this folks. I'm very new to all of this. I've been working for "the man" for so long that the in's and out's of self employement are like double dutch. Am trying to price myself competitively without leaving myself short so it's a fine line.

Thanks again