Company Car or Bust?

[JR2ALTA]

I've been driving my personal vehicle for 8 years on my third company.

As a bit of a slob and former smoker this was just fine with me.

But as I mature and as my car is near-death I am quickly changing my mind.

I get .35 cents a mile after the first 40 miles (my would be round trip commute to shop) thats it.

I think any job that makes you drive your own car into the ground is ripping us off.

They get a fleet of technicians to dispatch anywhere, anytime without any real skin in the game.

Meanwhile, we pay for gas, oil, brakes, repairs etc etc. And some of us have kids and/or use our car after hours. A pain in the ass emptying out boxes and parts.


Our financial investment into the company should make us part owners!

[cccjjn]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

The last time I drove my personal vehicle was way back in 1993. Back then I got $0.25 per mile and gas was less than $1 a gallon. Even back then I realized after putting 36,000 business miles in a single year on my personal vehicle I was getting hosed and demanded a company car. I've had a company car ever since. Even with a company car I get paid for gas and oil changes and they take care of repairs and insurance. In a nutshell I'm getting the car and still better than $0.30 cents a mile. I'm on my 5th company car since 1993. Get a company car or a new employer.

[brotherlarry]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Check with your tax person the IRS Allows more the amount you stated. It can come off your taxes, not cash in hand but it helps.

[Acme]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Yea, unless they are compensating you handsomely hourly, you have a real issue. Not many techs nowadays put up with that B.S. do the math and subtract that from your yearly salary and then re-evaluate WTF they are doing to you. Reputable and honest owners of a business take care of their road warriors because the service is the money maker plain and simple.

[kuby]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Ditto on cccjjn said. Had a guy who wanted to hire me and give me a company car, but he wanted me to pay for the gas etc. I said wait a minute, you want me to drive the car and bring you in business and money but I have to pay for driving the car. He said everyone does it. I drive my own car to work and this bozo wants me to 'pay him' for driving the company car. I did not take the job. You figure out why.......

[allan]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

I really get how badly we get screwed I was doing About 70 000 km that is 43495 Miles a year. Except for destroying my own car the amount of time i spend on the road was ridicules. In South-Africa i was doing that 2 years back for $ 863.32 a month!!!!! And if you complain they would just get another idiot to do the job. I am really thinking about going somewhere else in the world.

[John21]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Companys will try to get away with what their employees allow them. Sure, it's a ripoff. You're giving them money that you worked for. They would'nt be making you drive your own car if it was to their advantage to provide you with a vehicle and pay for all car expenses. Salespeople seem to be the type who run these Copier companys now and they are the worst in this regard. They compensate themselves well at other employees expense. A terrible business, really. I should know.I was a Tech for 31 years. Retired now, and not breathing toner dust.

[bigdaddy]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Find another company, your getting screwed. I had to drive my personal car the first few weeks. My company gave me a gas card for "all" the gas my car would use. I sometimes dispatch from my house so that covers the gas to and from the office. They didn't pay for tires or oil. After about a month I stopped driving my car and they gave me a van. All of the techs in my company have company cars they drive home every night. They still pay us a comparable wages to other companies in the area.

Before I became a copier tech I was an operations manager for a small electronics recycler. Please listen to me: companies will screw you as hard as you will let them. Find a new job or it will get worse.

Just saying....

[atwageman]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

I have a company car with gas card and fleet maintenance card (towing included). My current car is a Toyota Yaris. We bought it new. Going on 3.5 years old and just turned 141,000 miles!!!!!! I guess that qualifies me as a road warrior.

Edit---- I forgot to mention. I'm allowed to smoke in it.

[bigdaddy]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

I have a company car with gas card and fleet maintenance card (towing included). My current car is a Toyota Yaris. We bought it new. Going on 3.5 years old and just turned 141,000 miles!!!!!! I guess that qualifies me as a road warrior.

Edit---- I forgot to mention. I'm allowed to smoke in it.

My personal car is a Toyota Yaris. It's not a show car but you can't beat the mileage that thing gets.

We have a couple of matrixs that we retired. They started buying Versas after that. I stick to my traditional work van, and we have a SUV for the service manager (it has cruise control and a CD player, perks for the top dog).

[tech28]

Re: Company Car or Bust?

Being self employed, hanging on to your car as long as possible is the way to go. Have a 2002 Ford focus 298,000 on it.(going to shop for struts Monday) We use two vehicles the other is a van to move machines, average about 20-25K per year, Mileage tax write off is the way to go(my opinion) Have a couple of car mechanics that always fix/keep vehicle going for fraction of normal shops. When I worked for a dealer(Sharp/Minolta) in 85-88, drove own car, got paid per mile though.