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So I work at Location A in the UK and have done for 2 years, it is about 10 miles from home so each week my commute is roughly 100 miles.

I have been told for 1 week I need to go and work at a different site at Location B which is 40 miles from my home so the commute would be around 400 miles.

Can I ask my company for a company car for 1 week so that I am not adding extra wear and tear to my vehicle and adding extra mileage? Can I ask my company to reimburse the fuel costs for the extra 300 miles I will be travelling as well?

Location B is another company which is unrelated to my company. During this week my company at Location A will still continue to pay my salary with no input from the company at Location B.

My contract says that I will be based at Location A most of the time but it may be required for me to travel to other locations as part of my job.

I don't have an issue with going to Location B but I'd would rather not have to use my vehicle for it.

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    Is there any reason why they woudn't reimburse the travel cost? Or is that strange in the place where you are from? In my country anyone not stocking shelves in a supermarket could ask for them to reimburse them for every kilometre extra and nobody would bat an eye.
    – Borgh
    Sep 16, 2019 at 10:26
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    @Borgh From my understanding, they would only reimburse the travel cost if I was going from Location A to Location B. If I was going from my home to Location B they would not reimburse it.
    – Jaun892
    Sep 16, 2019 at 10:28
  • Yes, but is there a line in the contract that says "you will not be reimbursed for travel to outside locations" because that would be strange.
    – Borgh
    Sep 16, 2019 at 10:32
  • @Borgh Nope. But it does say I would be "reimbursed for reasonable expenses"
    – Jaun892
    Sep 16, 2019 at 10:35
  • Is there public transport to Location B, and would your employer reimburse this?
    – ItWasLikeThatWhenIGotHere
    Sep 16, 2019 at 10:37

3 Answers 3

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It's not practical to ask for a company car for a week.

The distance could, depending on travel time, be considered beyond what might be expected as reasonable. For example, a 40-mile drive from say St Albans to Reading, that's a lot of heavy traffic and very busy roads and would easily take 90 minutes or more each way, more if there was a problem en route. That's 3 hours added onto your day which could be considered unreasonable.

You should either:

  • Stay in a local hotel during the week and the company pays for it.
  • Drive your own car, but claim mileage on your expenses of up to 45p per mile for each trip - under HMRC guidelines (see here), as the travel is to a temporary workplace you are allowed to claim expenses for it (note this would work out at around £360 for the week in expenses, not including sustenance (ie lunch etc) which you would also qualify for);
  • Request that your employer provides you with a Hire Car for the week, and you claim back fuel used as an expense;
  • Request use of the company pool car for the week, if they have one;

If you are there to support a customer (as could be the case here), then the customer should be billed for any expenses you incur, by your employer.

Edit: Need to add the excellent comment by Smock which I meant to include and forgot: If using your own car, check that your car insurance covers you commuting to a place of work that is not your primary place of work. (It may be classed as business use). If it doesn't cover you or is prohibitively expensive to add this to your policy, then your workplace will definitely need to sort out an alternative option as listed above.

Best option is talk to your manager about it.

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  • 40 miles. That's what... 40 minutes of driving? Is that considered an excessive amount in the UK (so much so it's better to book a hotel?)
    – Gregory Currie
    Sep 16, 2019 at 12:39
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    @GregoryCurrie depends where in the UK. My daily commute until two weeks ago was 46 miles and that took between 1.25hr and 2.5hr in occasional worst cases. Coming back (same distance) was a bit more predictable. Google Maps' drive time has this route as 1hr 6min.
    – Justin
    Sep 16, 2019 at 13:20
  • @GregoryCurrie The commute would be around 1.5 hrs - 2 hrs each way due to traffic, I would leave slightly earlier to try and avoid as much traffic as possible
    – Jaun892
    Sep 16, 2019 at 14:10
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    I'd say that was reasonable to request a hotel for the week, 3 hours a day is a long time in the UK
    – Gamora
    Sep 16, 2019 at 15:46
  • @Bee 3 hours a day is the same amount of time in any country.
    – さりげない告白
    Sep 17, 2019 at 8:10
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You forgot to mention your country, so I assume it is the U.K. Your company should reimburse your travelling cost which is 45p per mile driven, tax free.

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    Mileage plus "subsistence" or receipted items (lunch, basically, as you're not in the normal place of work). And 45p is only for the first 10,000 miles, although that's not an issue for a week of 80 miles per day.
    – Justin
    Sep 16, 2019 at 13:23
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In this scenario in the UK it would be common for your employer to provide you with a rental car (either they have an account with a rental company or you pay and claim back through expenses).

They may offer to reimburse at 45p/mile providing you have business insurance (commuting to another a place of work other than your usual fixed location may require you to have business level insurance and your employer may request a copy of your insurance certificate before paying.)

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  • They can reimburse any amount up to 45p per mile (without tax consequences) but many employers don't offer the full 45p and reimburse e.g. 30p instead.
    – seventyeightist
    Sep 17, 2019 at 19:01

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