Using my own vehicle for my dog walking job.....

I am currently using my own vehicle for working as a dog walker/visitor even though I work for a company. The company owns vans, but their insurance only covers people ages 25 and over. I am 23.

Anyways, I have been working over a month for them now and it is really taking its toll on my car. Wages are practically paying for my fuel! Darting around town during lunch traffic is really depleting on the economy. All my visits are 20 mins, whether they are walks or visits.

So, my review is coming up. At the review, I can still walk away.

I have asked them if they can subsadise me for the use of my own vehicle. Not only am I using fuel, but I have had to pay for my own insurance and road tax, not to mention wear on the tyres and engine (my poor Jazz! Its dont over 100K).

If they cannot subsadise me, than it is not viable to stay in this job. I love dog walking, I really do, but I cannot live so poorly!

What sort of £ should I request? I am using £20 or so of petrol a week........

Many thanks for any guidance.

If you are a tax payer you can claim tax relief of 45p per mile for the first 10k miles of fuel if you use your own car for business. I emphasise its tax relief. HMRC will not pay for your fuel as some people think but will lover your tax bill.

I use between £50 and £70 a week, costs me about a tenner a day to get round all my lot!!

Because I dont have use of a company van, I dont do the group walks. Only visits and 1:1 walks. They (the owners) do the group walks in their vans.

I'm afraid I can't help with suggestions on how much to ask for towards fuel, etc, but there is one thing I just wanted to say because you might not have thought about it.

Does your insurance cover you for using your car for work purposes? If not, you will need to get this added to your policy. The last thing you need is to have an accident whilst working and your insurance company refuse to pay out.

many companies that are agreeable to subsidising fule costs do so by the mile. it can range from about 25p per mile up to about 45p per mile. Some will also pay a "retainer" for you to use your own vehcile but mainly these are companies that insist you have to use your own car to do the job. This also helps towards the extra wear and tear on teh vehicle.

It may be worth working out how many miles you travel each week (for work only of course) and divide the £20 by that many miles so that you have an idea of exactly how much per mile you are paying out for to do the job.

You could ask for a "retainer" also or possibly add 5-10p per mile to you calculation instead. Don't do both otherwise you'll appear greedy.

Also, please bear in mind that you will need business use on your car insurance and tbh I think the company should pay for that - assuming of course that you have had to pay extra for it. If not, then I don't see how or why they would offer anything towards your car insurance when you need it anyway to drive.

Also, remember that if you were working alone or self-employed and you set up on your own, you would have to swallow all of the costs anyway and it would cost a lot more to be able to do the job.

Good luck. I hope it works out for you and you can keep walking the dog and doing visits.