Mileage Rate Calculation as per the actual movement rather than Car registered city

[Tarun309]

In our current car configuration for India-Personal, mileage reimbursement rates are configured based on the employee's registered city rather than the city where the travel takes place.

For example, if an employee's car is registered in Bangalore and they travel to Delhi for business, the system continues to reimburse them using the Bangalore mileage rate, even though the travel occurred in Delhi, where a different rate has been configured.

We would like to understand whether it is feasible for the system to determine the reimbursement rate based on the location where the business travel occurs, rather than the employee's registered city. In the above example, the employee should receive the Delhi mileage rate while travelling in Delhi.

A similar challenge exists in Europe, where employees frequently travel across countries for business. For example, an employee whose vehicle is registered in Germany may travel to France, Belgium, or Netherlands. Currently, the reimbursement continues to use the Germany mileage rate, whereas the expectation is that the reimbursement should be based on the country in which the travel takes place, as mileage rates differ across European countries.

Question:
Is it feasible to configure SAP Concur so that the mileage reimbursement rate is determined based on the travel location (city/country) instead of the employee's registered vehicle location or home location? If so, what configuration or approach would be required to support this scenario?

[KevinD]

@Tarun309 so I'm clear...you have employees that drive their own vehicle from Bangalore to Delhi? I'm asking because I looked up the distance and it is over 1300 miles. Is this an actual scenario or are these employees flying to other cities? I'm trying to just get a clear picture on what is actually happening. I may be wrong, but it seems unlikely for an employee to drive their own car that far of a distance. 

The way the mileage rates work is they are assigned to a vehicle type. Each vehicle type has one rate assignment, unless you use variable rates. For a user to use a rate based on another city, they would need to have access to that rate, which means they would need to have a vehicle registered on their profile for that vehicle type. 

My understanding for mileage rates is it is determined by the user's location, not where they drive. So, although Bangalore has a different rate from Delhi, if I live in Bangalore, I am reimbursed at the Bangalore rate no matter where I drive. 

I'll await your reply about users driving their own cars long distances (Bangalore to Delhi) and I've also posted internally about this to see if any colleagues have come across this situation before.

[Tarun309]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your response. While the Delhi–Bengaluru example may not be a practical scenario, there are other cities within India that are less than 200 miles apart and have different mileage reimbursement rates.

Additionally, an employee may have their car registered in one city but later transfer to another city within India. In such cases, if they travel for business, the applicable mileage rate should be based on their current commuting/work location rather than the city where the vehicle is registered.

[KevinD · Accepted solution]

@Tarun309 thank you for clarifying. 

What I learned is that for employees to be reimbursed based on the city where they are driving, they would need to register that Car Type on their profile. So, if you have three or four car types set up for cities in India and it is possible that one employee could be driving in each of those four cities, that employee would need to register all four car types on their profile. Then when filling out their expense reports, they would choose the appropriate car type for that mileage entry. 

Any employee that will be driving in another city would need to register all the car types for any city they think they will be driving in. That is the only way to allow someone to be reimbursed by city where miles were incurred. 

Let me know if you have any questions.