Mileage reimbursement

[QTNurseBSN]

Hello everyone,

In regards to mileage reimbursement where you could be traveling to see clients outside of a 30 mile radius several time a weeks, would you rather take a company credit card for a set amount of $500 per month or receive mileage reimbursement at a rate of 51cents per mile?

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I don't get $500 per month in mileage reimbursement so I'd take that if it were offered to me. That would be the equivalent of 1,000 miles per month, 500 miles per pay period. I don't drive anywhere near that much for work... my farthest patient is only about 11 miles from my house and I'd say I get about half that in mileage reimbursement.

[LaRN]

i would take the per mile rate

[QTNurseBSN]

The travel can be extensive and the nurse has the option to choose the credit card or the mileage reimbursement. Ideally, most new nurses take the credit card while they are building up their caseload. Once the nurse has an established caseload, the nurse may see in the long room she benefits more financially from the reimbursement due to the excessive travel. However, to switch options can only happen twice a year. The pro of having the gas card is that if you don't have any money of your own (maybe you're between pay periods) you at least have a way of putting gas in your vehicle for travel. The con would be if you are filling up your vehicle more than expected because of the excessive travel ($100+/wk for gas), you may have to pay for gas out of pocket towards the end of the month that you won't get reimbursed for because of the credit card option that was chosen.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Did they give you an idea of how many patients per day you will be seeing and how far apart they typically are from one another? I work in a city and the immediate surrounding suburbs... I think the farthest I've ever gone from one patient to the next was 20 miles. Usually they are more like 2-5 miles apart. I fill up my gas tank (which costs about $40) once a week max. I can get between 250-350 miles per fill-up depending on how much highway driving I do. My mileage reimbursement is 40 cents/mile. I claim the rest on my taxes.

[mlbluvr]

The 'actual' cost to drive a vehicle is probably closer to $3 or $4 per mile. Gas, insurance, wear and tear, depreciation, oil changes, tires, tolls, tickets and citations, and so forth.