Question about frequent travel to other offices

[v]

I am looking at two in-house opportunities that would require local travel.  (One is something I have simply applied for, but another is one that if the approval comes in for someone to be hired, I will likely have an offer -- but with both, they're tentative enough that I am definitely getting ahead of myself in anticipation of salary requirement questions early on).

Job 1 would be based in NY but would require travel about once a week to Hartford, CT or the southern suburbs of Philadelphia.  I imagine I'd take Amtrak to Hartford and would drive to Philly suburbs.  These trips would be to other offices of the company (where most of the people in the group would be located).

Job 2 would require travel to all sorts of places, but some of it would be local suburbs and such.  These trips would be to client offices.

I don't have a car.  For this kind of travel, would you expect the company to reimburse you for train travel and/or rental car, or is that (particularly for job 1) considered a normal daily commute that doesn't get reimbursed?

[aurora]

We have an explicit mileage policy for what is considered "travel." I can't actually remember, but I think it's either 30 or 50 miles from our primary office. Above that and we get reimbursed. I would guess that these companies also have a travel policy and it's perfectly fine to ask them about transportation policies for working in multiple locations.

[cheezer]

Yes. My company reimburses for any sort of travel. It could be a mile across town but they'll reimburse for the taxi.

I frequently rented cars to go to the suburbs at my old office location. We had a car but my husband was typically driving it. One the rare occasion (I think once) that I did drive, I put in for mileage.

I would definitely ask once you get an offer but I would expect it.

[spunkarella]

My current company reimburses mileage for everything.

My previous company has a minimum...maybe 30 miles from your home office? before being reimbursable.

Both cover travel between my home office and other non-client office locations.

ETA: I don't know if a rental car is reasonable or not. Your location could make it different. My previous company required that you have your own clean/reliable vehicle as a term of employment. With specific handbook requirements (lol) re: no fast food wrappers, etc. in the car in case clients/partner wanted to ride with you.

[raangoli]

For us, if it exceeds your normal mileage, then you can be reimbursed for that.

[y4m]

My company would reimburse both of these--either at the federal mileage reimbursement rate if you had a car, or for the public transportation used if you did not.

[msmerymac]

Not my experience, but I have a friend who travels from NYC to Philly weekly, and the company pays for his train tickets. They also own an apartment where he can stay if he needs to spend 2 days in the office.

[ESF]

I have no experience with this, but I'll share a horror story.

My friend's company's policy is that they reimburse for travel for anything not within a 50 mile radius of the office.

He lives about 40 miles from the office, and it really sucked for him when he had to work every day for two months out of an office fifty miles on the other side of the home office, as they wouldn't cover transportation or lodging for his 90 mile commute.

So just watch out for that kind of arrangement.

[v]

Oct 21, 2014 13:48:27 GMT -5 spunkarella said:

My current company reimburses mileage for everything.

My previous company has a minimum...maybe 30 miles from your home office? before being reimbursable.

Both cover travel between my home office and other non-client office locations.

ETA: I don't know if a rental car is reasonable or not. Your location could make it different. My previous company required that you have your own clean/reliable vehicle as a term of employment. With specific handbook requirements (lol) re: no fast food wrappers, etc. in the car in case clients/partner wanted to ride with you.

Main location would be midtown Manhattan so I certainly hope they wouldn't make me have a car!  Having a clean/reliable car of my own is something I'm trying to avoid because it would be really expensive (on top of buying the car and insuring it, parking would be at least $400 a month).  Which is kind of why I'm starting to think about this.  Having to buy a car might be a deal breaker.

[LoveTrains]

I once had a job that was a museum with multiple different sites. I normally took public transit to work, and if I had to drive that day because I needed to drive to a site, they would reimburse my commute and the mileage to the ohter site and the mileage home. But the mileage was only at half the federal rate (so like $0.25/mile instead of $0.56 or whatever it is).

My husband presently has a job at a university with two campuses. They are not covering his travel to the other campus and I am pissed about it. Especially since I used to work at that university and *I* was always reimbursed either mileage and parking or public transit fare when I had to make that trip.

[Deleted]

I'm reimbursed for mileage, tolls, and parking or public transportation expenses for any out of county travel. For in county it's parking only.

MH frequently travels to the NYC office and does not receive any reimbursement for either mileage/parking or public transportation expense.

[gt7301b]

My company would pay for a rental car or use of public transportation in either one of these situations. If I need to go to our office downtown I can either 1)get a company car 2) get reimbursed for miles/public transportation expenses in excess of my normal commute.

[AAM2012]

Rather than being reimbursed would a corporate card be an option? I'd imagine that you'd have to keep receipts for audit purposes but it's easier than having to keep track of everything and requesting reimbursement.

[vanillacourage]

If you're made an offer this would be something I'd find out and negotiate if necessary. Get it in writing in case there is a "change in policy".

if they won't cover it, before turning down the offer I'd check with an accountant. It's possible you could deduct the standard X cents/mile for trips outside your normal commute. It would be a PiTA to track, but it could save it from being a professional deal breaker. 

[tealblue]

Oct 21, 2014 20:44:15 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

if they won't cover it, before turning down the offer I'd check with an accountant. It's possible you could deduct the standard X cents/mile for trips outside your normal commute. It would be a PiTA to track, but it could save it from being a professional deal breaker. 

You can deduct non-reimbursed expenses like this but it's hard: 1) you must itemize. 2) these expenses have to exceed 2% of your AGI before you can deduct anything. So you make $100k, the expenses have to exceed $2,000 before you can start deducting dollars. So if you spend $2500 oop, then you can only deduct $500.


Op- not sure this applies to companies in NYC as I assume this would cost a lot of money but our company has several cars for employees to reserve if needed. We have a travel policy and if you drive over x miles, they rent a car for you. Less than that, you can take a company owned car or you can be reimbursed for mileage. I would assume most would reimburse for mileage and probably have corporate rates with rental cars. Our rentals at work are really cheap.

[Deleted]

Any time I travel for work that is longer than my normal commute, I am reimbursed or I put it on my company issued credit card irregardless if I am going to another office or not. To get to some locations I have had to take a plane, then a train and rent a car. It all goes on the company card. We also have a negotiated discount with a major rental car company and I get cars cheap. I would think for job 1 on days you travel to CT it would all be at the companies expense.

[v]

Oct 21, 2014 20:44:15 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

If you're made an offer this would be something I'd find out and negotiate if necessary. Get it in writing in case there is a "change in policy".

if they won't cover it, before turning down the offer I'd check with an accountant. It's possible you could deduct the standard X cents/mile for trips outside your normal commute. It would be a PiTA to track, but it could save it from being a professional deal breaker. 

The thing is -- I don't own a car.  So we'd be talking about buying a car (and paying $400+ a month to park it safely and accessibly) to be able to do this driving.  That's why I'm asking about a rental car.  It *would* likely be a deal breaker if I had to go out and buy a car for this because a company wouldn't pay for a rental car.  I have no other reason to own a car (nor do I have interest in owning one).

Perhaps I'd get mileage reimbursed or could deduct it (I doubt I could deduct it because of the floors), but the mileage is a very small expense compared to buying, housing, and maintaining a car.