I don't know how either agency arrived at the figure, but that's the same as the benchmark General Services Administration reimbursement rate for use of a personally owned vehicle on Uncle Sam's business.
Triple-A says that the average cost of owning and operating a newish vehicle is actually more like 56.1 cents per mile, taking into account depreciation and financing as well as operating costs:
Need buttistance with auto expenses 2295For maintenance and repair related costs, you can just go through your service records. Add up the costs for a full cycle of services and divide by the mileage to get a...
I can't imagine that at 30 cents a mile the original poster is "making money" on anything that doesn't have pedals, not if you look even a little beyond the most immediate costs of operation such as gasoline and try to buttign a value to wear and tear, etc.
Be thee warned, though: a glance around the Web indicates that some organizations (especially stereotypical skinflints like colleges and state agencies) do indeed reimburse you somewhere around 30 cents a mile. Presumably their argument is that unless a car of a certain grade is required as part of the job, the hidden costs are on you because you'd be paying them anyway, and the insbreastution is responsible only for the immediate cost, take it or leave it.
Basically, underneath the detailed calculations there's a philosophical decision about whether to truly cover your costs or just sort of meet you halfway...
Cheers, --Joe
