To think 45p isn’t enough even to cover fuel

Insurance is not significantly higher, it's £20 a year sort of level, if that.

This.
We get 11p, and it's all rural and town driving. Mostly short journeys. Lots of stopping and starting, lots of being stuck in traffic and plenty of going round and round the various one way systems, looking for somewhere to park.
It's nowhere near enough to cover actual petrol costs.
It's set by the Local Authority, though. For most of the last year, my company added an extra 5p, but that was stopped a few months ago, as, they said, petrol prices have now stabilised.

Thank you to the PP that posted the graph and the mileage costs.
I'd recently kind of worked it out by putting in £10, when I got the 50miles left warning, and I got 60miles for that. So, I'd get £6.60 back, and pay the other £3.40 myself. So, fuel for work visits costs me about £17 a week. I think, in theory, that means some colleagues are working for less than minimum wage.

It's not as generous as it used to be, but it's definitely enough.

It's nonsense to say it isn't even enough to cover fuel. Fuel is no more than 15-25p per mile depending what you are driving.

Your insurance is significantly higher if you properly notify your insurance company because you need to indemnify for business use, equipment, carrying passengers at work and extra mileage you drive. Using a car for business is different than domestic use.
The extra miles do depreciate your car value. Most essential car users when I worked for Leeds Council put on around 6 to 7k a year. So about 35k more when trading in after 5 years. You replace tyres, increased services due to reaching mileage limits, and the driving is around towns and cities as that is the job you are doing so increased stress on car and lower mpg.
Of course the real test is why don't they provide pool cars for these functions. Because it's cheaper to pay mileage, which indicates they are pushing a cost onto their employees, which they are.

You can only claim a rebate if you are paid less than 45p per mile.

Say you are paid 30p, you can do a self assessment for the extra 15p to get tax relief on it (not the same as getting an extra 15p from HMRC, but you will save some money depending on your tax rate):

45p doesn't anywhere near cover it.

Can you show your working out there @mumyes ? As various posters have shown on this thread that (despite it not going up for so long) still does cover all the costs, and is virtually 3x the cost of the actual fuel.

Get the bloody tories out.

Totally agree with this part though.

In the early 90's I was volunteering for a charity.
My mileage allowance was 45p a mile. I thought it was very generous. Fuel was around 40p per litre. I was, quite briefly, an umemployed single parent. That 45p per mile helped me keep my car on the road. It was, I know, generous.

I would not expect the allowance to be as generous now BUT .... NO CHANGE for well over 30 years and a 4 fold increase in fuel cost, with similar increases for maintenance and servicing is fucking ridiculous.

£1.80 would equalise it. 90p at least would be fair(ish)

You can claim a tax rebate on mileage though can you not? I did community care from 1996 to 2010 and claimed a healthy tax rebate every year for mileage

You need to speak to an accountant then as there are tax offsets you should be eligible for on the difference between the 16p and the max allowable rate. This is banded, so if I recall correctly could be up to 60 odd pence per mile up to a certain annual mileage.

Not sure of the latest rules, so you'd need to check.

What would be classed as ‘significant’ though? I’m just thinking about a rurally-based family member who does care work, and to my London eyes she drives loads. Its can be 20 odd miles between homes she’s visiting as a carer, in for the 15 minutes the council allocate per visit, and off to the next one, covering thousands of
miles a month. It’s a lot more time driving than caring, that’s for sure (which she hates)

It's true that low mileage cars are cheaper but actually it's not ideal for cars to do lots of short trips. Longer journeys are better. I always go for high mileage but with regular servicing. It's lack of servicing that is really bad for cars, more than mileage.

Business insurance isn't more expensive. They only care about the mileage. So if you need to increase the annual mileage due to doing a lot of business miles, it will be more. If it's just a few local trips it will not make much difference. Lots of people insure themselves for more miles than they actually do anyway .

It's the same as my last job paid for mileage. I was always quids in when I had to drive anywhere for work. A long car journey felt like I had been paid overtime.

45p doesn't anywhere near cover it.

This - and a shitload of other thresholds including income tax - need raising

Get the bloody tories out.

I did some work on this last year when petrol prices were a little higher, for our Travel and Expenses policy. We sampled 3 different cars and worked out running costs like insurance, servicing, tax etc. then we worked what the average fixed cost per mile was. If you do 8-10,000 miles (in total, not necessarily business miles) in an average family sized car then you still ‘make’ money on the 45p, albeit to much. If you drive a gas guzzling large engine luxury car then no, you won’t. But that is a lifestyle choice and anyone doing a reasonable amount of miles for work would choose their car accordingly.

Costs me 16p a mile, business cover costs me £5 extra per year, I'd have a car anyway as live semi rural. I get 45p a mile which makes me a decent return covering car servicing, mot and insurance over the year

YABU

Fuel (obviously depending on your car) is only 15 - 17p a mile so every mile you drive gives you 28 - 30p to put towards other increased wear and tear.

(Obviously I mean 'only' in regards to the OP's question. I think that is extortionate, but in the context of this discussion, it is only costing 1/3 of what the claimant receives).

Adding business mileage to my insurance quote makes a minimal difference.

@Haydenn yes, but I look towards the mileage amount to reimburse me for the additional costs of using the car for work - the depreciation doesn't increase because I use my car for occasional work trips, and the insurance isn't a great deal more.

I don't have a company car! That's what I get for using my own car to travel for work purposes (events/conferences etc)

Have you ever opted to pay more for a used car with bigger mileage because it “might actually be better for them”? Usually lower mileage cars sell for more

But a carer isn’t going to be racking up a significant mileage.

What do you drive that costs more than 45p per mile in fuel alone?

Presumably if you’re doing that kind of job it makes sense to buy an economical car, my thirstiest car costs about £1.15/mile around town, it would be stupid to use for work 🤣

My company (a very, very large, multi-billion pound company) pay 16p a mile.

That sounds right for a company car, the 16p will just cover the fuel as the company pay for everything else.

You asked AIBU to say that 45p doesn't cover fuel?

YABU, it very obviously does cover fuel with lots to spare unless you're driving between your appointments in a Lamborghini.

Its enough to cover fuel but not the extra wear and tear on the car and deprecation on value of car due to higher mileage.
The HMRC / Govt recommended 45p mileage rate hasn't gone up.in years and needs increasing- but it will adversely impact local government so doubt there's any imperative from government to increase it. Of course employers could pay a higher rate but they wont

It depends a lot on where you drive. Motorways, cruising along at 70, fine. Around a town stuck in traffic jams with lots of stopping and starting, not so good.