New, used or leased car?

My wife does home visitation health care. She is currently logging 2000 miles per month on her Honda CRV, which gets about 23 mpg on average. So her gas expenditure for work is around $260 per month out of pocket based on $3/gallon gas. She gets reimbursed about $425 per month on a "per mile" basis.

Two things we are thinking. First, we are piling up miles on the CRV. When coupled with errands and roadtrips, we will average around 30k miles a year (I know the Honda can take it!). Also, if we can get better MPG we can really save some money on gas.

So I am looking for some advice. A fuel friendly sedan could save $60 (30mpg) or more a month in fuel cost and a subcompact (40 mpg) could save $110 a month. So with $425 per month reimbursement and the money we could save in fuel, would it be wise to look at acquiring another vehicle for her job? Should I look at something new, used, or leased?

 

if she's reimbursed, then I assume she's not self-employed, so the lease isn't something she could write off, right?

 

She is not self employed. And she doesn't like to drive my 40 mpg 95 Civic hatchback which is PAID FOR and runs like a top! I can't blame her, it's like driving a glorified go kart! So we are thinking about something to lessen the mileage impact on the CRV.

Just kicking around ideas. Might be best to test the reliability of the CRV and just keep doing what she's doing.

 

what is her current per mileage pay, it ought to be around $.50 per mile.
if she is logging that many miles she is getting a bad deal.

mileage needs to factor in insurance, depreciation and maintenance. paying for the vehicle would be nice too.

Corollas are cheap and get great milage.

 

The 42 mpg corolla OR a VDub TDI. If thsoe are highway miles, get a stick, and you won't notice the slow pickup on either.

 

One thing to consider, with travelling, is you also want a safe car. Fuel milage is good but it is not the only consideration. Just my .02

 

She gets .40 per mile, AND she does not get to count the miles TO her first client or FROM her last client, as these are regular commuting miles. She drives on average a half hour to her first client and a half hour on the return, so that is an hour of non-reimbursable miles.

 

Corolla, stick. Uses a timing chain not a belt. Mine hits 44mpg hwy.

 

The current rate is set by the government and is .485 per mile. That is up from .445, so her company is ripping her off. Also, does she report to a central location? If so, they should allow her to count the mileage from that location to the first house.

 

That's for a write off, not reimbursment.