Question about negotiating a corpoarte car or auto allowance

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negotiate a car allowance

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Get a maintenance budget as well

Yeah, I'm renting a car every week now anyways because I fly 100% of the time. Going forward it'll be 50/50 driving and flying.

I'd let them pay for the rental. Make friends with the branch manager near you and he/she should give you the hook-up since you're renting from them all the time. You'll always have the best vehicle, even if it isn't in your booking class.

I have to rent a car about every 2-3 weeks from the same branch and they flag my request each time...usually in an SUV or a full-size car that's loaded.

Ok so they will rent a car every week either out of town or in town. If you go this route then you need a second car for the weekend don’t you? That’s assuming you normally work Monday – Friday. That also means they still need to rent you a car the 50% of the time you fly out of town.

For me it would come down to what Golfer said. If you can get a deal with your local rental branch then that might be the way to go. You should be able to get an upgrade if you are renting from them an average of every other week and maybe you’re using the same rental company when you fly. Plus your company probably lets you expense gasoline for a rental whether in town or not.

If you decide to go the mileage route make sure you know what the rate is. The government allows $.565 per mile for business miles in 2013. I have a company car but some in my company who don’t (mostly part timers) have to use their own cars and my company doesn’t pay the full rate. Another problem with the mileage route is that you usually can’t count the mileage from home to your first stop as business miles. In all likelihood you will have to keep a log.

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Renting a car that often is brutal. Our company did that for awhile, but was changed pretty quickly.

If you chose that route make sure you have someone you can count on to drop off and pick up,

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Yeah it is. Plus it's just another expense I have to track, receipts, etc.

Go for either the car allowance or getting paid mileage(if gov rate). Unless your car eats gas or is a complete money pit, you will net gain making .55/mile and the benefits of the car allowance are obvious. You don't personally gain much from renting a car every week and it's probably more expensive to your employer as well.