How much to charge for fuel

[Ahrena]

I have no idea how much fuel costs per mileage to be honest. I'm starting to do some freelancing and someone contacted me, who is 40 miles (hour drive according to sat nav) away.

I rang her and said as I'm just starting to do it, I'm not hugely busy yet so I would have time to fit her in for the moment, although if i get very busy I may not have time. However, obviously its going to be a fair bit of fuel so would need to charge more. She asked me to text her what I would need to charge

Any idea what's reasonable? Google maps says it will cost me £9.93 per trip so I was thinking £15 per session (on top of my hourly rate), I don't need to cover all my fuel costs as budgeted for using more but I would make a loss if I just charged her like normal.

 

[GLW]

There are two ways of doing it I would say. Either charge travel by the hour (at a lower hourly rate) or charge by mileage. Most professionals would charge either 40p or 45p per mile so for an 80 mile round trip at 40p per mile it would be £32 (or if I have the wrong end of the stick and it's a 40 mile round trip, £16 so £15 not far off).

 

[Nicnac]

Around the South East, Saddle Fitters/physios etc charge a per visit charge on a banding rate so for instance up to 10 miles round trip it's £5 per visit, 10-20 miles 7.50 20-30 miles £10.00 and so on.

It makes it easier both for you and client as you don't have to calculate mileage to the enth degree each time.

(BTW the above amounts are for example; not actual ones ) although not bad if I say so myself!

 

[Ahrena]

Unfortunately it's 40 miles each way. That sounds like a lot!

I'm quite keen to get business ATM, I'm leaving my full time yard job in October which is when I'm aiming to start doing this, I have a couple of other people lined up but not masses yet..so I'm not that bothered about charging for my time as its not being battled for, just covering my costs.

I think I need to toughen up, I feel guilty about asking that much! But then if I charged by the hour then it would be just a bit more over £15 which would be a bit more reasonable for the service I'm producing..hmmm

 

[Mongoose11]

Unfortunately it's 40 miles each way. That sounds like a lot!

I'm quite keen to get business ATM, I'm leaving my full time yard job in October which is when I'm aiming to start doing this, I have a couple of other people lined up but not masses yet..so I'm not that bothered about charging for my time as its not being battled for, just covering my costs.

I think I need to toughen up, I feel guilty about asking that much! But then if I charged by the hour then it would be just a bit more over £15 which would be a bit more reasonable for the service I'm producing..hmmm

How much are you charging for the lesson? I would perhaps use that figure to work out a suitable cost for an hours drive + petrol. She should be paying for your driving time and your petrol (not all of your petrol for the hour becuase if she was only 10 miles away then you probably wouldn't charge?).

So, for example - if my lesson cost was 30 quid - I would expect to pay at least 15 for your travelling time and then a little more for your petrol. So for example if the net told you your petrol would cost 15 quid.... I would charge her 11. So for the travelling I would put an extra charge of 25-26 pounds on top 0f her lesson cost.

 

[Ahrena]

I would be schooling her 3yo for her, and I'm charging £10 per hour (which in my area seems to be the lower end of freelance hourly rates).

Internet says just under £10 each way so £15 would be a bit less?

I'm just concerned if I charge too much she won't be interested and building up a client base is quite high on my priority list ATM?

 

[Mongoose11]

I would be schooling her 3yo for her, and I'm charging £10 per hour (which in my area seems to be the lower end of freelance hourly rates).

Internet says just under £10 each way so £15 would be a bit less?

I'm just concerned if I charge too much she won't be interested and building up a client base is quite high on my priority list ATM?

OK, so that would work out that she was going to pay you £25 total for 3 hours of your time Then take off your actual petrol costs which would be just under £20 to travel 80 miles. So - you would earn about £6 for three hours work!

You need to turn this work down!