Charging for mileage

kev.s

if i remember correctly i'm sure the government say milage is set a £0.42 per mile, not sur if this would fall under that umberella though

sujman

kev.s wrote: »

if i remember correctly i'm sure the government say milage is set a £0.42 per mile, not sur if this would fall under that umberella though

I think it has something to do with you can claim £0.40 (or £0.42) per mile, tax free. Anything above, you have to pay tax on.

sparky883

Seems silly to me that the tradesmen did not just up his hourly rate as baldy says-Charging milage is a blantant rip off-Might there be more to this story?? As otherwise the tradesman in question must be stupid!! all for £16-00-We operate No Call Out,Free Quotes etc but to compenstate our hourly rate is set to accomodate this.. Its all the same.

Which is cheaper???
£65 per hour-No Call Out Charge-Free 1 hr Response or
£30 Call Out Fee-£35 per hour-£20 1 hr response Surcharge
Can be confusing especially when the job may take 1 or 2 hrs or maybe 2hrs 20 mins when you will be charged for 3 hrs

sujman

sparky883 wrote: »

Might there be more to this story??

There really isn't any more to this story. Just a simple incidence of a plumber who quoted for some work and then added charges not mentioned before.

He seemed a decent bloke, quite chatty, telling me about how he started off in the RAF, used to work for the maintenance team of the royal family, worked a number of companies over the years. He said he contracted cancer 4 years ago, which he beat but couldn't get permanent work due to his prior health problem.

So he started his own company. He openly admitted times were hard, that of late he was struggling to fill a whole week with work etc etc.

In hindsight, the only clue that hinted at a possible issue (I did notice at the time) was that he mentioned a few times that he was an honest tradesman.

He also made the point several times that he had already written out my invoice (it is at this point he mentioned he assumed a 1.5hrs time period) and that if it took longer, he would swallow it, as is the nature of his job!

Now, there has only ever been 2 times that a tradesperson has gushed to me about how honest they are... they both ripped me off (albeit small amounts! i.e. paid in advance and they disappeared or did a rubbish job and never rectified it).

The best trades people in my experience, tend to be the ones that come in, do a good job and then go, that’s it. No overly long sessions of chit chat and constant talk of how trustworthy they are, offer personal guarantees etc etc.

Debt_Free_Chick

In principle, whether or not a tradesman makes a specific charge for mileage depends on how he costs his labour. Take an example of a plumber charging a flat £50ph an no added costs e.g. mileage. That £50 is not his profit - it includes all his overheads e.g. rent, heat light & power, vehicle costs etc etc. In order to get to allowance in the labour rate for vehicle costs, he will have to make an assumption about the average journey for any particular job. Some jobs will be a shorter trip and some will be longer. Here, those with a trip shorter than the average will technically pay more than the "true" mileage costs and those with a longer trip will pay less. But you don't know that, as it's covered in the all-inclusive rate of £50 ph

As an alternative, that same plumber could charge, say £48 ph, but then charge mileage in addition. You could argue that this actually a fairer system, as those who live further away pay for the mileage for that job - rather than those who live closer actually subsidising mileage costs, where the flat-rate all-inclusive applies.

So - whether or not you are charged separately for mileage or whether it's included in the hourly rate makes no real difference.

But the point here is that the plumber wasn't transparent about the full costs when he quoted for the job - and he should have been.

So Sujman, avoid any discussions about the fairness of the charge - you're right, you're complaint is that the quote didn't state all the charges that the plumber has now invoiced for.