Cost of mileage

In light of the recent increases in fuel costs here in the US, what do you place in your contract in terms of travel costs?

Do you charge per mile after a set distance?
Do you charge for parking costs?
What if you get a parking ticket?
What is your current per mile cost?
How often do you adjust this rate? Will you after this hike this week?

If you charge by the mile, do you bill up front (estimated), or bill after (actuals)?

Larry

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Charge what your states current re-inbursement rate is. It's a set fee that's never challenged. currently around $.45/per mile. Top end packages you may waiver this.

Interesting. I'm looking at the IRS standard mileage rate for 2007 and it's 48.5 cents/mile. How do you bill for this?

Estimated up front? Or completely separate bill after the wedding?

I've seen some photographers who have no charge for mileage to a certain distance, and then per mile after that. What's your take on that?

Larry

I, personally do not tack on mileage. I keep a log of the miles driven, for everything connected to my business and then deduct at tax time.

I have, however, been known to fit in a get away vacation with the wife if I have a wedding a goodly distance from home. We usually make a three or four day trip of it, parking the travel trailer at a nearby State Park or RV Park. I don't charge anything back to the client, but it is figured in at tax time.

George Law
http://www.images123.com

For me, it varies depending on the type of contract and scope of work....

digicamneophyte said:

In light of the recent increases in fuel costs here in the US, what
do you place in your contract in terms of travel costs?

Do you charge per mile after a set distance?

Click to expand...

For "local" travel, I usually bill travel time at half my standard hourly rate; and do not bill mileage. For more distant travel, I'll rent a vehicle and bill the total rental charge [plus fuel] as a reimbursable expense [plus travel time at some reduced rate]. If mileage is ever billed, it's at the standard rates published by the IRS.

digicamneophyte said:

Do you charge for parking costs?

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Yes, parking costs are a legitimate reimbursable expense.

digicamneophyte said:

What if you get a parking ticket?

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No. If you get a parking ticket that cost should NOT be passed on to the client. That's a result of your own negligence. The client should, of course, never be charged for your own "illegal acts".

digicamneophyte said:

What is your current per mile cost?

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If used, it's the current published IRS rate.

digicamneophyte said:

How often do you adjust this rate? Will you after this hike this week?

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The rate is adjusted when the IRS publishes new rates.

digicamneophyte said:

If you charge by the mile, do you bill up front (estimated), or bill
after (actuals)?

Click to expand...

For reimbursable expenses, I usually only bill based on the "actual" charges. For lodging/meals, I either bill the actual charges or [more frequently] just use the IRS published standard "Per Diem" rates.

Hope this helps.

digicamneophyte said:

In light of the recent increases in fuel costs here in the US, what
do you place in your contract in terms of travel costs?

Click to expand...

The government figure is what they'll allow as a deduction, but I don't consider it as the be-all, end-all of mileage charges. If the job requires my Suburban, it's different than if I drive the Cobalt. For weddings, I allow a radius of 50 miles from the studio as included. If it's a commercial job, I charge travel at half rate of what I'm charging for teh job.

digicamneophyte said:

Do you charge per mile after a set distance?

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After 50 miles for weddings, commercial work is round trip, portal to portal (my door back to my door)

digicamneophyte said:

Do you charge for parking costs?

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Yep.

digicamneophyte said:

What if you get a parking ticket?

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Nope

digicamneophyte said:

What is your current per mile cost?

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See above, but for the Cobalt the gov'ts $0.485 is fine, for the Suburban these days it's twice that.

digicamneophyte said:

How often do you adjust this rate? Will you after this hike this week?

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As often as needed, and not just yet.

digicamneophyte said:

If you charge by the mile, do you bill up front (estimated), or bill
after (actuals)?

Click to expand...

Actuals

digicamneophyte said:

Larry

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--
jrbehm
http://www.jeffbehm.com

I don't charge for travel/mileage for anything less than a 30 minute drive (most of the Denver area) from my studio. Anything more than that, I charge $50 per hour, in 1/4 hour increments for travel, and only to the location, not from.
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Visit me at

http://www.have-camera-will-travel.com/

George Law said:

I, personally do not tack on mileage. I keep a log of the miles
driven, for everything connected to my business and then deduct at
tax time.

I have, however, been known to fit in a get away vacation with the
wife if I have a wedding a goodly distance from home. We usually make
a three or four day trip of it, parking the travel trailer at a
nearby State Park or RV Park. I don't charge anything back to the
client, but it is figured in at tax time.

Click to expand...

Now, I like that. Usually, my wife isn't interested in coming along--I do a lot of auto shooting and she is not an enthusiast--but on occasion, it could be fun.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

digicamneophyte said:

In light of the recent increases in fuel costs here in the US, what
do you place in your contract in terms of travel costs?

Do you charge per mile after a set distance?

Click to expand...

Yes. Half a buck after 25 miles.

digicamneophyte said:

Do you charge for parking costs?

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Yes.

digicamneophyte said:

What if you get a parking ticket?

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No, nor would I charge for a speeding ticket. That's my mistake, and can't be passed on.

digicamneophyte said:

What is your current per mile cost?

Click to expand...

Less than what I charge.

digicamneophyte said:

How often do you adjust this rate? Will you after this hike this week?

Click to expand...

No.

digicamneophyte said:

If you charge by the mile, do you bill up front (estimated), or bill
after (actuals)?

Click to expand...

Actual mileage.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

Thank you for your honest feedback. It sounds like most of us are either charging that IRS standard mileage, or not charging for local travel. I live in a major city so most of my shoots will be within a 30-40 mile radius.

I could just assume that is part of the cost of doing businesss, but that list of things I need my rate to cover is getting long. It certainly would help my bottom line to pass fuel costs on to my clients, especially if it's outside that 30-40 mile radius.

I'll have to mull that some more. Thanks again everyone. I appreciate your input.

Larry

digicamneophyte said:

Thank you for your honest feedback. It sounds like most of us are
either charging that IRS standard mileage, or not charging for local
travel. I live in a major city so most of my shoots will be within a
30-40 mile radius.

I could just assume that is part of the cost of doing businesss, but
that list of things I need my rate to cover is getting long. It
certainly would help my bottom line to pass fuel costs on to my
clients, especially if it's outside that 30-40 mile radius.

I'll have to mull that some more. Thanks again everyone. I
appreciate your input.

Click to expand...

It is sometimes a battle to keep prices reasonable without having the client think you're nickel and diming him or her to death with extra fees. Mileage is almost always acceptable, I think, but when you start getting to the "lawyer" stage and charging separately for paper clips and staples and similar items, you'll start seeing problems.

At today's gas costs (just hit $2.99.9 in this area, and is headed up fast), charging a dime or two over the standard mileage fee may make sense and be acceptable. I first put my half a buck a mile figure up when costs were closer to 38.5 cents. Next year, I'll probably boost it 20 or 25%, maybe even just go to 75 cents and hold it there as long as possible.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

The real cost of driving is more than 48.5 cents a mile. Especially when driving a SUV with gas prices here at $3.50 per gallon (California). There is wear & tear on you and your car, meals away from home and your time (plus motel for overnite). I charge a flat rate of $1 per mile each way from my home/office/studio for everybody for a wedding.