Mileage Cap

[michaelboehm]

what are others doing in regards to capping mileage reimbursements... is there max reimbursement per year, month etc. manual audits?

We are looking to tighten up our mileage reimbursements and re-working our travel policy. Our proposed section of the policy looks like this:

Travelers will be reimbursed for mileage driven on their personal automobile when used for a valid business purpose. A valid business purpose does not include your normal commute to and from work.

Associates may use their personal vehicles for business purposes under the following conditions:

• Less expensive than renting a car or taking a ride share or alternate transportation
• More timely than taking public transportation
• When transporting Company goods for delivery

Concur will be automatically set with IRS approved mileage reimbursement rates. The rate includes the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

• Travelers will be reimbursed for business use of personal cars at the current mileage rate provided documentation of the reason for the trip, city of origin/destination and total miles driven are included
• Travelers are entitled to receive reimbursement for only the mileage in excess of the Traveler’s normal business day commute

We would like to add a maximum mileage component and steer associates away from driving their personal vehicles, but at what point should we cap that off?

[Munari_alEXPert]

dear @michaelboehm 

it seems an occurring topic recently about mileage and even about electric vehicles. I like the clear way you mention on the policy when it should be reimburse compare to car rental... 

Mileage in most countries (probably all) are linked to government regulations and companies have very little if not zero possibility to modify those towards a reduced rate. I give the only example I know of reduce rate in Switzerland, where if employee receive already a monthly car allowance they can ask reimbursement to half the full rate for mileage.

Once the best option for the travel is the personal car, I would in your case reach out to each payroll department to see what is possible to do, as maybe there are new rules that I am not aware on countries where you have employees asking reimbursement for car mileage.

Keep us updated since the interesting topic.

[lperez-lopez]

Hi,

This is a great question and proposal. 

We have implemented a limit on mileage that distinguished when an associate should rent a vehicle vs. using his/her own personal vehicle. If the round trip mileage exceeds 100 miles, then a rental car should be used for travel. For some associates it was not an issue, they understand the logistics of using a rental car vs. personal. For other's, the loss of the mileage reimbursement was a HUGE issue. As we know there are associates who supplement their income by using a personal car, and those were the ones who made the noise. 

Be ready for questions and scenarios that in no way you could have thought of. Also, bringing in your company legal and hr teams will ensure alignment.