Car allowance

[fishmunkee]

i still absolutely despise the inside facing camera

Can't you put a hula dancer or a fast food bag in front of the lens? Wipe it with vaseline?

 

[Porter Bayou]

My dad's company made the swap from company trucks to allowances back in the mid 90s for "liability" reasons. Paid my dad a monthly stipend for the note and a millage reimbursement for fuel and maintenance cost. Had to be a 1/2 ton, 4x4, no more than 5 yrs old, less than 150k miles, yada yada yada. Worked out great for the first truck, but started taking money out of his pocket by the 2nd truck. He worked for a logging company and put a ton of hard miles on the trucks. He would never get one paid off before hitting the millage cap and have to trade in. What you think the dealership offered on a trade in that had 150k miles in under 3 years and probably spent more of its life in mud than on pavement?

 

[Scobrey]

I've had a company vehicle a long time. Last year the company decided to install dash cams in all the vehicles that included a camera facing inside the vehicle. I was given the option of turning in my company vehicle and taking a vehicle allowance. Going from a vehicle where my employer pays for everything to an allowance that is taxed would have cost me money. Ultimately i'm working on a plan to take the allowance as i still absolutely despise the inside facing camera. I just can't shake the feeling of being spyed on down to if i stop at the grocery store on the way home.

Does it constantly record or only after triggered by an event. The ones I've had were always "recording" in a loop but did not actually save video unless triggered by an event. Events were speed over xx, rapid change in acceleration, manually triggered etc. Wasn't a problem once I knew how it really worked. If it saves constantly I'd not be a fan at all.

I should add, those events backed the saved video up 30 seconds, audio at trigger point.

 

[HaydenHunter]

Can’t speak to the car allowance question but I did have a company car for 32 years. While I did either pay a bit or get taxed a bit for personal use it was, IMO, an incredible deal. What does it cost to buy / insure / maintain and fuel a car per month? A lot. I figured on average $8K per year conservatively. With what I saved by driving a company car over 32 years I could have bought a house.

 

[Dirk Van Schmaldlerson]

Can't you put a hula dancer or a fast food bag in front of the lens? Wipe it with vaseline?

I can think of a much more fun idea for posing in front of the camera…

 

[Valleyhonker]

Does it constantly record or only after triggered by an event. The ones I've had were always "recording" in a loop but did not actually save video unless triggered by an event. Events were speed over xx, rapid change in acceleration, manually triggered etc. Wasn't a problem once I knew how it really worked. If it saves constantly I'd not be a fan at all.

I should add, those events backed the saved video up 30 seconds, audio at trigger point.

My company truck operates as you mentioned. We all hated it at first but have learned to live with it since the implementation. Our company doesn’t really do allowances, so it was either learn to live with that or drive your personal vehicle at your own expense, or quit. I don’t mind it, I take it home daily and it saves my personal truck wear and tear and fuel.

I will say our company takes tampering with those cameras very seriously, and have made examples out of several who tried to dupe it, cover it, etc.

 

[Powder]

My monthly vehicle plan is comprised of a fixed amount, plus a variable mileage amount based on the average price of 89 octane fuel at my garaging zip code. I am required to insure my vehicle as “business” use, and have certain coverage requirements…which can get costly. Vehicle cannot have more than 150,000 miles or 10 years old.

 

[Timber Hole]

In my opinion an employee takes on a lot of liability when the vehicle is in their own name. I’m not sure the allowance deal would look very good if you had a serious accident and the lawsuits started flying. I worked for smaller companies so company trucks were pretty common.