Business vehicle maintenance costs

Accounting
1

Hello people,

I’m trading as Sole Trader and I claim business mileage allowance, is there any point for me to register any maintenance that I do to the vehicle, I refer to when some repairs is needed … I mean it’s a business expense but since I’m claiming for the mileage … do I need to record this costs? I hope it makes sense my question !

Thanks in advance

2

If you are reclaiming mileage allowance for using a privately owned vehicle then the repairs are the responsibility of the owner, which means they aren’t business costs.

3

Thanks Lurch,

The vehicle it’s only for business porposes and never used for private trips, having said that … do I have to keep record of all the maintanence that I do to the vehicle or just the petrol tickets ?

4

For a given vehicle you can choose to either

  • record all the actual expenses (fuel, servicing, mot, cleaning, etc etc), and claim capital allowances on the purchase

or

  • claim the fixed rate per business mile which includes an element for maintenance and depreciation as well as fuel. You don’t need any receipts for this (not even fuel), just a record of mileage for business vs private use.

You can’t mix and match the two for the same vehicle.

5

Thanks Ian,

I am doing the latter , it’s just I wasn’t sure if I have to keep some records, but now it’s clear that I don’t need to.