1. Cars home
  2. Fuel & economy

Ask an expert

afredatovich
By afredatovich | AA Member | 1 Post | 18 March 2013 at 2:38pm

Hi there I have been using my personal vehicle to run work errands and have been told to claim back the petrol expenses - I have a Nissan Pulsar Euro and dont know what to charge per k. I've looked at the govt.mileage answers but it doesnt seem right to only claim back 77cents per k given that's probably not full reimbursement.

Can you please tell me how this works and if this is how I should be calculating it.

Cheers

ABayliss
By ABayliss | AA Expert | 2169 Posts | 18 March 2013 at 3:13pm

The AA calculates running costs on an annual basis. The actual running cost for a 1.8 litre car is 63.9c per km, based on a vehicle at the 3rd year of age, with the biggest component being depreciation. As a vehicle ages, the depreciation reduces and so does the annual running cost.
The AA breaks down running costs dependant on size/engine capacity, so a small 1.3 litre car may only be 52c per km and a large V8 powered expensive car car may be $1.07 per km.
The IRD allows 77c per km for any car, regardless of age, engine size or value (or they will also accept the AA's rate). The IRD rate is more than generous for your Nissan Pulsar as it is only 1.8 litres and I'm assuming it's considerably more than 3 years.