If my car gets 19.5 mpg and work pays me 44.5 cents a mile, is it better to take a company vehicle at no cost?

Answer 1

It depends on what kind of car you have, and if the company would pay you for fuel if you drove the company car.

If you have a newer car with low miles, I would say no. If you have an older car, then yes.
- A new car will depreciate faster with use, and miles
- An older car has already gone through most of the depreciation, but if you have an unreliable car it may not be cost effective.

The calculations:
Lets take worst case scenario, and say you have to buy premium gas, and that your car only get's 19mpg (forget the .5 for this calc).

Here are our values:
Fuel economy: 19 mi per gallon
Fuel cost: 3.50 $ per gallon (guesstimate for Premium)

Here is the calculation:
3.5 $/gal / 19 mi/gal = $0.184

That's raw cost for fuel. What is costs to operate the vehicle.

Cost of Ownership
Now consider the ownership costs: Oil changes, other fluid changes, maintenance, repairs, insurance, and depreciation.

For instance: Lets say an oil change costs $30, and you do that every 3000 miles. So, just the oil change will cost you $30/3000mi or $0.01 per mile.

Ownership for the whole year:
BUT! Lets say for the whole year your all of your costs, even the ones you don't see like depreciation are $4000. And then lets say you drive like the average American, 12000 miles per year. That's $4000/12000 or $0.33 per mile.

So, $0.184 for fuel plus $0.33 to own the car = $0.514 or 51.4 cents.

That's just a rough estimate, and it might all hinge on whether your car is reliable, if your insurance is high, and if your work would still pay you for fuel if you drove the company car.

If you drive the company car
- you won't suffer as much depreciation on your own car
- your insurance for your own car will be less
- you'll probably get a newer car that drives nicer than your own
- you may not have to pay for maintenance or repairs

Answer 2

Take the company car. You save wear and tear on your vehicle and your insurance will drop. I had one at the old job and you will do great on resale with lower mileage, as the company vehcile is used much more.
do it fast.

Answer 3

actual, the familiar fee tocontinual you very own automobile, runs over a greenback in keeping with mile. this is the clarification why they are paying you so little. business organisation grad's are no longer in business organisation to do all of us a prefer...in basic terms ask the people of Enron...

Answer 4

always better to use co car..my wife was happy getting checks for miliage and in 4 yrs had 150,000 miles on car and had to buy a ne 18,000 car....