Mileage question

[Birdy]

Sorry for such a formal format, but I need this information to be quite clear cut.

How do you charge for mileage? Do you

A) charge mileage portal to portal on all jobs regardless of where the location is?

B) charge mileage portal to portal only on jobs outside of your "local" range?

C) charge mileage only for jobs outside of your "local" range, but give so many miles "free" to account for the "free" mileage you would give on a "local" shoot? If this is your option, how many "free" miles do you give?

D) other - please explain

[Flaca Productions]

I'll take "C" for 50....chuck. er...birdy.

for me, the first 50 are free. if we go 51, i charge for 51 - not 1.

[freedom]

I tend to go with what my clients want to do, within reason. Some want the first 30 free, others pay from the get-go, others want 50 free. I don't quibble over the small stuff. Same for the rate, some are .45, others are .44 others are .40. Not worth fighting over a few bucks.
If they ask me, I'll go for .45 door to door.

[Run&Gun]

Depends. Usually "a". If it's a really good client and it's a close shoot, only 20-30 mins away, sometimes I won't charge, partly less to do on the invoice and partly good faith, but as a good rule of thumb with gas prices now, there is no free "mileage". Portal-to-portal the whole time. i.e.: When I'm gone on a multi-day out of town shoot, I'll write down my begining mileage in my log book and write down the ending mileage when I return home. If i'm driving to eat dinner after were wrapped, while I'm out of town on a shoot, it counts. I've never had mileage questioned.

EDIT: example of when I don't charge, Panther games, the stadium is only about 20-25 mins. away and my truck is parked all day. I'll usually end up with at least one or two hrs. of OT and I'm not driving around all day to different locations.

I have heard of co's not just wanting the first 50 free, but wanting the mileage free if you were shooting within a 50 mile radius of home, so you could concievably end up with hundreds of free miles if you're driving around a lot and to multiple locations in your "home area".

[Baltimore Shooter]

I tend to go with what my clients want to do, within reason. Some want the first 30 free, others pay from the get-go, others want 50 free. I don't quibble over the small stuff.

What if you were cutting your rate, would you include "first xx miles free" then or charge extra for mileage from portal to portal.

I have been doing first 50 miles included in the ray rate, but it's really eating into my profit so I may go with what Run&Gun is doing and charge portal to portal the whole time.

Warren

[F4 Fan]

Some newspapers are paying something like 44 cents a mile to their photographers if they are using their own vehicles. The rate is based on the federal governments’ recommendation which does vary – based largely on what the price of gas is but is suppose to include wear and tear etc. on a vehicle.

Portal to portal sounds to be the most favorable to crews, but one guy I use to work for was pretty savvy about the tax codes and wouldn’t pay for the first half hour of driving time – it was considered “commute time.” I believe he was correct too, but after 30 minutes the clock started. This of course was on shoots that required more than 30 minutes of driving time, anything less than that I didn’t normally charge for. Heck I drove a Honda to most shoots. Parking fees and bridge tolls were always included in my invoice.

I don’t know if there is a clear cut answer for this, but it’s good to have a policy in place and stick to it.

[BluesCam]

I usually charge 44.5 cents a mile portal to portal, but sometimes I will throw mileage in if I really want the job and I can tell they are going to call other companies. But that is very rare. I don't usually charge mileage for in town jobs.

[Skipcam]

I charge whatever the current IRS mileage rate is (you can find it at www.irs.gov). That is the standard used by most every business for reimbursing employees. I charge portal to portal, telling my clients that I will provide the vehicle for moving the crew and equipment they are hiring to their shoot locale. I tell them if they object to that rate, they can pick up the crew and equipment at my place of business, and drive us to and from the location. My vehicle is a full sized 15 passenger van, and essentially renting it for current rate of .445 cents a mile is a bargain! Try renting one of those for less than 80 or 90 bucks a day plus the same mileage! If I'm going to be on the road for a few days and/or out of state I generally quote an additiona rate of 25 to 30 dollars a day, again telling the client I'm just trying to break even on transportation costs, and if they prefer they can rent a full size van and pay for it themselves. I have never had anyone opt for this once they find out how much more it costs to pay a rental company for this large a vehicle.

[Mike]

The networks pay portal to portal. For example, if I log 28 or 280 miles for a given day while on-assignment for NBC, I get .485 cents/mile. Along with this, they also pay $35.00/day for van/SUV rental.

[Cameradude]

Mileage starts at the end of my driveway, so I guess they get the first 100 yards free.

[A Step Above Productions]

I charge .445 cents a mile portal to portal - with the one exception being if the total miles totals less than 60 miles I don't charge. If it hits 60.1 miles the clock goes on .445 X 60.1.

I also charge 40.00 bucks a day if I am out of town for meals.

I just leased a new car and am thinking af charging a rental fee to cover any miles i may go over when my lease is up. i have had the car 2 months and all ready hav over 4,000 miles on it... when all I get is 15,000 a year.