Compensating Nanny for Driving
Related Pages: Concerns about Nanny Driving ... Babysitter for School Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs
Parent Q&A
Archived Q&A and Reviews
- Nanny mileage rates for share
- Paying gas mileage for nanny who drives child to preschool?
- Hiring a Nanny for newborn and also to Drive Preschooler
- Nanny asking for extra money for school pick-ups
- Liability and Insurance for Nanny Driving?
- Cosigning car loan for nanny
Nanny mileage rates for share
Jan 2011
I am involved in a nanny share with one other family. Our nanny watches our two babies. Our contract with our nanny states that she is to get 60 cents per mile for driving our children in her car. The standard mileage rate published by the IRS for 2010 was 50 cents a mile. Our nanny said the extra 10 cents was to help pay for increased costs to her car insurance required as a nanny. She has not provided specifics on what that increased cost is.
After our contract was signed, our nanny said that her expectation was that each family would pay 60 cents per mile, which would amount to $1.20 per mile. The contract, however, does not say 60 cents per family per mile, so the two families believe this is more than we agreed upon.
I would like to be fair and pay the nanny a reasonable amount for mileage. I would like to hear from other families about what they pay in mileage.
Thank you.
nanny employer
I pay the federal mileage rate ($0.51 per mile in 2011) for my babysitter, who drives my kids to all their after school activities. I use Google maps to determine the mileage of where I'm askng her to drive my kids and add a bit extra for things like stops at the park, etc. If your nanny is asking for more money because her insurance is higher as a result of her job, I'd ask for proof of this expense and find a way to reimburse for it. I would be surprised if it comes to $1.20 per mile.
Paying Mileage
I think that your nanny either doesn't understand the concept of getting reimbursed for mileage driven or she is trying to take you for a ride, so to speak. The sixty cents per mile that you and the other family are paying her is to cover wear and tear on her vehicle, gas and insurance. She is reimbursed based on the mileage driven, NOT the number of kids in the car or the number of families she is providing a service for. So if she has to drive to one preschool to pick up your child and another preschool to pick up the other family's child, she gets sixty cents/mile for the total mileage driven not twice that.
anon
We pay our babysitter $.50 per mile to drive our three kids around.
william
I pay what the IRS pays so the amt has gone up and down. That's what my large employer does. I mimic their policy which seems fair and takes the negotiation out of my hands. I think it's completely unreasonable for each family to pay the full rate, what's the logic to that?
Mary in Oakland
Speaking as a nanny I can tell you that when I informed my insurance company that I would be using the car to transport children and that it was a part of my job, my monthly premiums jumped to double what I had been paying.
I am not sure if there is a legal privacy issue here, but I have always been willing to show my employers proof of insurance. Has she done that for you? An easy way to estimate her increased costs would be to call your own insurance company and ask for a quote. But beware, when I did this prior to accepting the job, my insurance company canceled my insurance based on the assumption that I had been doing it all along! I had to write a letter and get it notarized to have my insurance reinstated.
Good luck!
Nanny
Your nanny is making some mileage money off you. I'd say she's already getting a perfectly decent rate at 60c/mile. The point is to reimburse her mileage, not give her another way to make more money. I can't think of any reason that each family should have to pay that. It makes no sense other than that the nanny would enjoy the extra $$ - who wouldn't? Even at 60c/mile, and given her apparent proclivity to squeeze as much as possible out of you, I'd monitor her mileage, and make it clear which trips you'll pay for. Sounds like you should make it clear that her trips to the bank or store or anything else for her own purposes shouldn't be included in it. And maybe google all the trips and have a list of mileages for each place you anticipate her driving. I wouldn't be nuts about it, but if she's just making local trips to the park it's one thing, and/or if she's going to a specific place that the families have asked her to do with the kids, that's another. But I would feel very offended if she tried to weasel around like that after she already got a very generous mileage rate.
Paying gas mileage for nanny who drives child to preschool?
Jan 2008
My nanny drives my son to preschool. I am wondering what the standard is - do you pay for gas/mileage? If so, do you reimburse at a flat rate or use the federal business mileage (like 50 cents per mile)? Thanks.
Judy
Getting mileage re-imbursement would just be one more headache I would like to avoid, as a nanny. One more thing to account for? No thanks. I have better things to do with my time, such as play with kids!
I've never been paid extra for mileage, but then I usually get paid enough to live on. If I'm being paid well, I consider driving part of the deal. If you're paying her just what you can afford and it's not much, ask her if she'd like a regular infusion of extra cash or something else, to account for the gas and wear and tear.
anon
Professional nanny here - You should always pay at least the IRS standard for all miles the nanny drives her car for the purpose of her work with you. The IRS uses that standard because it is a national average of actual costs of driving, not just of gas. If it is to much of a hassle to keep track of each and every mile then you and the nanny should come to an agreement of a lump-sum per week reimbursement that is at least as much as the IRS standard. Then, when extra miles are driven, you can add on the extra sum.
Nanny
Hiring a Nanny for newborn and also to Drive Preschooler
Aug 2006
In the fall, I will be returning to work full-time. My husband works full-time as well. Our 3-year-old will be in preschool and we are going to start looking for a nanny for our newborn. I am wondering what experiences other people have had in finding a nanny who drives and can pick up the older child while watching the younger child? Are nannies like this hard to find? Do you compensate them extra for their driving? Pay for insurance? Buy them a car? Let them drive your car? Thanks for your advice
We allow the nanny to use our car and we do the gassing up and ensure the routine maintenence on the car gets done. She is covered by our car insurance when driving our car. I think what nannies will require in this regard varies. We didn't find our nanny particularly hard to find, but she was referred by our neighbor. We do not compensate her extra for driving. Access to a car and free gas actually makes her job easier and more flexible. But we do not have any rules around how much driving she does in our car or where she is allowed to go. She can go anywhere and do anything as long as our child is being well cared for in the process
-Nanny User
Our nanny drives her own car, has car seats in the car for the kids. We don't pay extra for driving per se, but we pay her the hourly rate she asks for ($18 per hour for two kids) we've never had a problem. One thing I would recommend is a car seat inspection by the fire department. Most Bay Area cities do this, its free and VERY informative. Car seat installation and kid safety are not straight forward and the manufacturers instructions only apply to the seat, not to the car they go into. You do not have to be a resident of the city to make an appointment. Both Richmond and Pinole do this. We got the service twice - once when my son was a baby and once when my daughter was transitioning out of her infant car seat. We also got our nanny to do it on one of her regular work days when my husband could go with her and help with the kids during the appointment. She was skeptical and didn't really understand what it was for at first, I don't think she would have done it on her own. But afterward she was very happy with it and said she learned a lot
good luck
Nanny asking for extra money for school pickups
Aug 2006
Our nanny recently asked for extra money per month to pay for gas. So far, she does minimal driving for our infant son (maybe 1 or 2 trips to either Gymboree or the Park/week that is 10 miles tops per trip). However, she will be taking care of our 5 year old daughter in the afternoons after kindergarten starts in the fall and we would like to encourage her to go to different places. Because our nanny works 3 days a week we initally told her we would pay her 10/month for gas expenses, which we thought was reasonable for the amount of driving she does, but she didn't seem very happy about this amount. So, I told her to keep track of the mileage for a month or so and we would adjust accordingly. Two questions: 1) Do other folks with nannies give additional money for gas and if so, how much per month? 2) Do other folks allow their nannies to drive their (the employers) cars? If so, is there any insurance liability or other issues to take care of? Thanks for sharing any information
strapped for cash
GAS being $3.25 a gallon ten bucks is like 3 gallons of gas? Depending on her make and model of car she might get maybe 15 mpg driving stop and go around town?you can provide her with one of your cars-you'll have to add her to your policy but honestly if she has her own car, pays her own insurance and drives your kids around I'd give her at least $10 dollars a week for gas, minimum. Sydney
Our nanny uses our car. She meets me at work, where my car would be parked all day anyway, and then meets me again at the end of the day. This way, she doesn't have the wear and tear on her car, and I know that our car seats are in right, the car is relatively safe, etc. On the days that I need my car to run an errand, either the nanny meets me and we go together, or she plans on using her car for the day. When she uses her car, I do reimburse gas. We just estimate cost, but if you want something set, you can do this by keeping track of mileage and going by the reimbursement rate that is set for all companies. It is to cover gas and wear and tear. It's listed on the internet
j.
We allow the nanny to use our car and we do the gassing up and ensure the routine maintenence on the car gets done. She is covered by our car insurance (USAA) when driving our car. We have no limits on the amount of driving she does in our car but it typically will not amount to more than a tank of gas every couple of weeks. This would be about an extra $60/mo. We don't really track her usage at all, though. The nanny takes my daughter to the Berkeley Little Farm, various parks and functions, the Oakland Zoo, her own house where friends live next door incl. my daughter's closest friend, etc. I am happy to provide the nanny with whatever gas money and car access she needs to do this. Her willingness to go places enriches my daughter's life immensely.
-Nanny User
Here's what I did with our nanny, who picks up my daughter from school and drives her to various activities. I tried to approach it the same way any employer would. I used Yahoo! Maps and figured out what the miles were for the typical trips they would take each week. For example, from my daughter's elementary school to our house to ballet class and back to our house is one trip they would do each week. Then multiply that weekly amount by 4 for the total miles for a month. Round it up a bit to cover any extra activities that may come up. You could then multiply that number of miles by the IRS reimbursement amount of .45 per mile, and pay her that. What I actually did instead was figure out that, based on a car that averages 20 miles per gallon and has a 15 gallon tank -- that she'd be using about a half a tank a month. So every other month I pay to fill up her gas tank, based on whatever the price of gas is at the time. She seems pretty happy with this arrangement, especially as the price of gas has been rising. I make sure to give it to her in a separate check so the amount ''extra'' she's getting is clear and not just all lumped together with her regular pay. Do NOT include the miles driving from her home to yours -- that is considered commute time, and should be covered by her. Again, this is how any employer would cover it -- when I use my personal car for business, I am reimbursed for the amount of driving I do that is above and beyond my normal commute. Nobody gets reimbursed for driving to ''the office.'' Make sure you show the nanny all the documentation and calculations about how much she's driving. Even though it may seem like a lot of driving, if it's mostly just around town, the miles really may not add up to all that much. I found that doing it this way made it very fair, objective and impossible to argue with. About your other question -- I do allow my nanny to drive my car whenever possible. It's kind of a perk for her. It's my understanding that your insurance covers other ''casual drivers''. It'd be no different than letting your brother or neighbor borrow your car occassionally
employer
What we did was have our nanny keep track of her mileage and then we reimbursed her at the current IRS reimbursement rates. Our nanny transported our son in her car (we provided the car seat)
K.D.
Liability and Insurance for Nanny Driving?
Jan 2005
My 18 month old boys are getting ready to start a pre-school program, that will require them to take a bus to the school at least one day a week. My wife and I are curious about getting car seats for our nanny, so that she can drive them to the school. What sort of concerns about liability and insurance is there? What other things could be involved. Thanks
Joel
Your insurance is responsible if your nanny is driving your car. Our nanny was driving our daughter home from Habitot and hit another car, and our insurance had to cover it, and we had to cover the deductible. Fortunately no one was hurt but our little girl still has a little fear of car crashes. Our nanny gave us a babysitting credit to help with the deductible, which was nice.
Michael
you need to make sure your nanny's insurance covers use of car while working as a nanny -- our nanny has AAA insurance and we pay about $100 or $150 a year for the addition to her insurance to include car usage while working as a nanny. without the rider re using car for work, there won't be insurance coverage in the case of an accident when she's caring for your kids. by the way, i found that some insurance companies didn't offer this at all and the prices for extra coverage varied wildly between companies so it's well worth it to do your homework.
Ioana
Cosigning car loan for nanny
Oct 2003
Our nanny has asked us to help buy her a car by cosigning on a loan so she can finance it. Does anyone have experience with doing this? Any concerns about liability? For instance if she were to get in an accident, could we be liable for just being on the title of the car? I would like to help this person who is wonderful at taking care of my kids but don't want to put us in a risky position either.
anon
in my personal opinion, i would not co-sign a loan for anyone but a family member. with my old nanny, we had a great relationship and we all were in love with her, and would never expect her to do anything to us or my family. well, situations can change, and to be financially tied/responsible for someone other than family is tricky. i've been burned in the past (can you tell?) i know how you feel wanting to help, but just remember your relationship is purely professional...can't a family member help her out? good luck to you...
anon
Co-signing a car loan should not put you at any risk of liability for an accident, but it does put you at risk of having to pay off the loan. Suppose your nanny simply doesn't have the money to pay and defaults on the loan, or suppose she has an accident that totals the car and she either hasn't maintained her insurance or the insurance money isn't enough to pay off the loan -- the lender could and would come after you for the full amount. Don't co-sign a loan unless you are willing to take the risk of having to pay it in full.
If you are able, you might be better off simply making a loan to the nanny yourself, which you could document and secure in any way you and she agreed.
anon
My nanny needed a car, and I told her I could lend her up to $4000 to buy a car. She found a good used car, I went to look at it, and then I wrote a check to her for the amount. I had to move some money around to get the cash, but it was worth it to me because she didn't have to take the bus everyday, and could drive my child to the park, etc. She was sooo happy to get a car and it really strengthened our relationship. By lending her the money so she could pay for the car in full, instead of co-signing for the car loan, the car is in her name, not mine, it's paid for, she doesn't have interest to pay, etc. The car dealer was happy to take cash from her without much of a credit history (she did have a Visa and a checking account but hadn't been here long.) We agreed on a monthly payment that would repay in the amount of time I thought she'd be caring for my child, and I just deduct it from her wages every week. That was two years ago, and the loan is almost repaid.
anon
We have a sitter who picks kids up from school twice a week, takes to activities, and brings them home. We pay from pickup to dropoff, excluding time in transit. It's a set number of hours and overall cost each week, which we negotiated very clearly up front. We also pay a couple extra dollars an hour because of driving them around. We've made other arrangements in the past, especially if we ask the sitter to pick our kids up and move them around on public transit, walking, or by bike.
Hi, we just started doing this and I’ve been paying the sitter for the time it takes to get from our house to the school. So she comes here and then goes to get the kiddo. We don’t pay for the time from her place to ours. I think this works because she is sitting after school, so it is just like paying for the time at our house for a date night or something, except at the front end it includes going to the school and back. In other words, we don’t pay for her commute to our house normally, so we don’t for a school pick-up, but we allow enough paid time for her to drop her things in our house and get to the school before dismissal. If she weren’t sitting afterwards for a couple hours but merely transporting the kid to us or an activity, I’d probably pay for her commute time or pay a premium. Hope this helps!
My daughter (age 17) drives for several families (usually to or from sports practices after school) and she has always been paid a flat rate. When she is deciding whether or not to take a job, she weighs the total amount of time it will take her in order to decide whether or not it's worth it. She uses her own car and pays for her own gas, so she factors that in too. There are other factors too.
One family paid her $20 per trip (two kids) for about an hour start to finish. She ended up deciding that it wasn't worth it because the kids whined and fought the entire ride, traffic was awful, and it just wasn't worth it.
I would say in general, you should expect to pay a driver more than a babysitter since they are stuck with kids (sometimes tired and hungry kids) in a car in traffic (yuck) and they have a specific skill you need. I would suggest you offer a flat rate. If the driver is willing to do it for that, then you are probably paying enough. It seems like for my daughter, if it's less than $20 for an hour of her time, she probably would decide not to do it. If the kids are difficult, she wouldn't even do it for $20.
I'm not sure about morning drop-offs. We don't have any experience with that.
Regarding the 17-year-old who is driving other kids, or if you are considering hiring a teen for this job, according to the DMV handbook: Minors may not work as a driver for pay.
There are some situations when 17 year olds may drive as an incidental part of the job, but not driving passengers for hire. U.S. Department of labor rules permit driving by 17 year olds only when (among other rules), "Such driving is only occasional and incidental to the 17 year-old’s employment. This means that the youth may spend no more than 1/3 of the work time in any workday and no more than 20% of the work time in any workweek driving." and "The driving is limited to daylight hours." The rules prohibit "Transportation for hire of property, goods, or passengers.
Also keep in mind that for the first 12 months of their driving license (unless they turn 18 first, or are an emancipated minor), teens in California may not drive anyone under age 20 except in very limited circumstances.