Do you ever wonder how much time you spend on travelling?

According to the Corporate Travel Index compiled by Business Travel News, a businessman on average spends $319 traveling per meeting. For any small business, Travel Time is an important aspect and must be taken care of with utmost sincerity. Once you understand the true worth of your services it will help you get paid for them more appropriately. While you take steps to make a lot of your cost bearing services easier for clients, it is also important to realize the worth of money being spent on it. There are various methods that can be adopted while charging for travel time and one can choose the most appropriate one depending on the business requirements.

Every business owner has a variety of clients and one can understand the needs and requirements of each one properly, before choosing how much to charge them.

Here are some popular methods you can adapt to know how much to charge the clients for the travel time.

how to charge for travel time

Onsite Fees

One can charge the client a visiting fee for each of the onsite visits. This fee does not mention travel costs or costs of tasks per sec. It just mentions a price that will be charged for each onsite visit. This sort of fee leaves little room for confusion for the client. It gives a clear idea to the client, with respect to the visiting fee. As an alternative, one can use a combination of travel expenses and the cost of service, depending on the situation.

Hourly Rate

How much to charge for travel time? A flat hourly rate is a simple way to charge the client for an onsite visit. It can be a separate rate for traveling to a client site for work. Again, this type of model is simple for the client to understand. Return travel prices can be avoided in this case for making the client feel more comfortable with this model.

Progressive Rate

A progressive rate for time and distance of travel can be a very useful method as well. Lesser price for shorter distances and lesser time on the site and more price for longer distance and more time on the site is what is most appropriate. The client may not have a problem with this method because the more effort put in, the more will be the price. The only exception where the client may find it uncomfortable is where that time was taken is longer due to an unprecedented traffic jam where no real value is being added.

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Also Read: 5 Tips For Your Travel and Expense Policy

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Mile Based Fee

The mileage-based rate can be a useful way to charge clients. This can be sufficient to recover the costs of fuel along with the cost of the time spent while traveling and the onsite visit. One can create a suitable mile based fee so one can recover both the costs.

Create a Different Rate for On-Site

Creating a higher rate for onsite can be justified because it includes the cost of travel as well. One charges normal hourly pricing when working offsite. On the other hand, while working on-site, one can keep the hourly rate at 30% higher than the general rate. Some clients may object that the differential pricing is on the higher side. One has to make the client understand that the price is higher because it includes travel costs.

Use The Right Tools

Image result for invoicera invoice

Still, facing issues with calculating exact travel time? Manual calculations can be confusing and error-prone. Choosing the right tools can help you track your time accurately by minutes and convert them into invoices that look professional. Invoicera, the cloud-based time tracking software and an Invoicing tool that helps you in accurately calculating travel time charges and converting them into invoices instantly.

It is one of the most preferred time tracking and billing tool for small businesses.

Whichever method you choose, remember to analyze its rate structure that clients will be open competitively. Make an informed decision on how you charge travel expenses using any of the methods above. Let’s work with the effective support of online invoicing tool.

 

charging for travel time

Frequently Asked Question

Ques: How can I track my billable hours from clients?

Ans: Invoicera offers time tracking with its invoicing software to help businesses track every minute accurately they’re investing in a project. Simply activate time tracking in your device (PC or mobile app) while you’re working on a project to help your client be clearly aware of the time invested. Such precisely calculated invested time leads to perfectly calculated invoices, free from any dispute.

Ques: Does Invoicera includes time tracking to invoices automatically?

Ans: Yes, Invoicera lets you simply add pre-set values in monetary denominations of hours and minutes tracked in invoices. The automatically generated invoices can later be sent to clients directly via mail without the hassle of manual calculations.

Ques: Can I Directly invoice tracked time with Invoicera?

Ans: To directly invoice project hours, you can simply add values to the minutes and send them to clients. Sending billable hours with Invoicera is a one-step job Invoicera.

Ques: How to charge a travel fee?

Ans: The two methods of charging clients for business travel is-

  • Charges based on time
  • Charges based on miles. 

In both these cases, you can set pre-defined rates and include them in invoices to your clients with proper charge proof. 

Ques: Do you charge clients for travel time?

Ans: Yes, if you’re traveling on the behalf of your clients then you can raise receipts for reimbursement. Make sure to discuss this as a pre-requisite in your contract.

Ques: Do lawyers charge travel time?

Ans: Yes, if you’re traveling on the behalf of your clients to any site or court then you are eligible for charging travel charges from the client. 

Ques: Is Travel considered work time?

Ans: Yes, for all work-related travels, it is considered work time.