why do employers offers car allowance rather then expense refund?

Question

its much more convenient to travel on trains and taxis then driving a car yourself a couple of hours to get to a meeting with a client. and you are wasting time that could be spent on working on train.

if this is money, my estimation says there is little difference in costs for both approches....so ?

Answer 1

simply the cost, the majority of large comapnies have accounts with train companies, etc... and believe me its much cheaper to provide you with car allowance than travel expenses

Answer 2

If you get a Car Allowance, in theory you must have a car insured for business use and (again in theory) your Manager may ask you to give other employees a life to another site.

However a lot of people just regard car Allowance as part of their wages.

At my last place they got some 'consultants' in who told them that they could save money by dropping the car allowances (for Service Engineers) and making payment upon receipt of expense

First it became difficult to recruit new Service Engineers - second it didn't save them any money (of course, these were PHOTO COPIER Service engineers:-):-) )

Answer 3

the tax laws regarding travel and allowances are always changing and at the moment there are clear guidlines for vehicle expenses that are allowed for to companies but hardly anything for public transport .

Answer 4

My guess would be that with an expense refund, there is no limit. With an allowance, that's what you get. I see your point. In our company, they give you the allowance, and what you do with it is up to you.