Expert: Sherry Wallin - 7/13/2010

Question
How much should charge my boss for gas mileage? I'm interning for free and she's offering me to pay my gas mileage.

Gas: $3.11 gallon
30 MPG
Oil change: $32
Tires: $400 every 10,000 miles

Answer
Katherine~
    I don't know what state you reside in but in California the state pays about $.42 a mile to cover all of the above. If you want to calculate independently, it looks like it costs you 10.37 cents per mile for gas. If I assume you are changing your oil every 5000 miles then, the cost for the oil and service is about .64 cents a mile (which isn't even a penny a mile just slightly more than half a cent per mile). And finally tires every 10,000 miles at $400 means the wear and tear on your tires is about 4 cents per mile. All told you are spending about 15 cents per mile so charging the states rate of $.42 per mile would be a good bet. You have to consider the over all wear and tear on your car as well as you are tacking those miles on. Remember when you sell or buy a car you are always concerned with the amount of miles and too many miles = a lot less $ when you sell. A smart buyer would not pay full/fair price for a call with high mileage.

Math Prof