Originally Posted by
chewybrian
The IRS says it costs something like 52 cents a mile.
56.5 cents, but IRS is including 23 cents per-mile as depreciation, and a tight maintenance schedule on a relatively new, (generally <3 years old) fairly nice vehicle, as well as standardizing across several types, from hybrids to 1-ton trucks. After all, people tracking their business mileage for tax purposes are often sales reps in nice, new (often leased) cars or skilled laborers in <10mpg trucks. Per-mile depreciation is nonexistent on a car that's bought 10 years or more old, with more than 100k miles on it, and maintenance is variable depending on the owner and their driving habits. (3,000 mile oil changes on a brand new car tend to turn into 5,000-7,500 mile oil changes on an aged, gently driven car, etc.) Most forms of depreciation become pretty much meaningless once either that age or mileage condition is passed. I don't think I've ever owned a car that actually depreciated more than 5% of what I paid for it until it ceased to be driveable. That makes for another advantage; with a car that gets 30+mpg, I can easily turn a tax-free profit on mileage reimbursed at the IRS rate.