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Hi, I am looking at renting my van camper to friends and family, and am looking at a fair rate to charge. The way I see it is that accidents/damages can be covered via insurance, so the main factor is unplanned mechanical breakdowns, repairs and routine maintenance, etc.

The vehicle is a 2008 Mitsubishi L300 LWB Manual 2.8L Petrol with Commercial Grade tyres and 320,000 km on the clock. The driver will pay for their own fuel (and I've calculated the efficiency to be 11.34L/100km, or 23c/km).

With the IRD standard business rate for vehicles being 77c/km, might 54c/km be a reasonable fee I could charge to cover my maintenance costs? The other alternative I can think of is a daily charge but this doesn't seem as suitable.

Being a specialized vehicle the rate may not be suitable currently the standard IRD rate is 72c per K, You may be better off calling a rental van company up for a quote, this may give you a better reference point too start negotiating.

Hi Ian, thanks for the reply.

I guess to be more specific, I'm interested to know what is the basis/make-up of the the IRD rate? Is it a reasonable cost per km for the lifespan of a vehicle? I expect a new vehicle would depreciate much faster than an old vehicle. An old vehicle may have higher maintenance costs than a new vehicle. But do these balance out?

What I'm getting at is for the model/age/mileage of my van in particular, what would be a reasonable "cover my costs" rate per km?

I would be interested in any factors and reasoning behind a number as well if you are able to advise this? - so as to be able to judge for myself whether it is fair to include that in my "rate for friends and family", or justify to them why it is included.

Thank you, I appreciate your expert advice on this.