Company Mileage Log Free Template
Regardless of their group size, most companies are constantly looking for ways to optimize workforce processes and boost productivity. One often challenging aspect of record keeping is mileage tracking, a vital component for businesses with mobile workforces.
If you're still keeping mileage log books, using a free template for employee or company mileage tracking will greatly reduce your workload. These templates, available in Excel, Google Sheets, or PDF format, assist with calculations and electronic record-keeping. You can find a free mileage log template in this article.
For a more efficient and reliable approach to mileage tracking, consider using an automated mileage log app. This can make tracking your mileage more effortless and provide more accurate reports.
If you're reimbursing your team or employees for mileage, tools like Timeero can generate IRS-compliant logs and find the shortest routes to ensure you're not overpaying.
Free Mileage Log Template:
Download PDF Mileage Tracker Template
The Importance of Mileage Tracking
It's essential to understand why mileage tracking is so critical for businesses.
Many companies rely on accurate mileage records for various purposes. According to a 2022 ACFE report, one of the top three occupational fraud schemes in Canada and the United States is the reimbursement of expenses. The median loss in these cases is $120,000.
This indicates that businesses that depend significantly on a mobile workforce risk incurring unnecessary or inflated costs. To avoid financial inaccuracies, they must accurately and consistently track work-related mileage.
Accurate mileage tracking also ensures that employees are fairly reimbursed for their mileage expenses. Check out our article on reimbursing commuting mileage if you're unsure if you should reimburse employees for their commuting miles.
You can also use the Timeero mileage reimbursement policy template to create a customized policy that works for your company.
Additionally, tracking mileage helps businesses maintain compliance with tax laws and regulations. If you fail to provide adequate documentation to support your mileage claims for tax deductions, the IRS could fine you heavily.
Read about the IRS mileage rates for 2024 to stay updated on any adjustments to the standard mileage rate. If you're in Canada, check out the CRA 2024 mileage rate.
The Limitations of Using Manual/Paper Mileage Log Templates
The manual way of tracking mileage, especially for companies with many field employees, has many challenges and can be costly.
Even though using an Excel mileage log template allows electronic record-keeping and automates the calculations, it is still time-consuming. Your employees will need to keep a personal log and enter their data regularly into the spreadsheet.
An automated mileage logging app like Timeero is a more accurate and cost-efficient method. Let's look closer at why manual mileage log forms should be a thing of the past in your company.
Human Errors & Rounding Mistakes
Mileage tracking needs to be accurate. However, the entire manual mileage tracking process is based on self-reporting.
When self-reporting, humans are prone to errors and are not always honest in their actions. It is common to see employees round up their numbers or overestimate their miles in total mileage reports. Even if you switch to a spreadsheet template, all the calculations will still depend on the accuracy of the data they enter. This is why the opportunity for errors still remains high.
Overestimating mileage here and there starts to add up over time. It can harm your company’s bottom line, increasing fuel costs in the long run.
It doesn’t matter if your mileage log is a paper copy, Google Doc, or an Excel Spreadsheet. Tracking via these methods won't help improve accuracy, nor will it help you identify errors within reported mileage to lower your actual expenses.
Variations Between Actual Mileage Driven vs. Reported Mileage
Reported mileage sometimes goes up and down, even when your employees travel between the same start and destination points. Sometimes, they report fewer miles, and other times, far more than they did before.
A spreadsheet mileage tracking system or paper-based free mileage log template cannot provide the insight you need to determine the reasons for these mileage variations.
Let's face it: we all want to trust employees to do the right thing, but we must admit that over-reporting or underreporting mileage is too common. As the adage goes, "Trust but verify." - will a paper or Excel mileage template help you verify data? Unfortunately, it won't.
You Cannot Tell if Employees Took the Longest/Scenic Route Driven
Every mile counts if you are paying your team members per mile. But would you know if your employees were taking a longer and more scenic route to their appointments? Or if they were making stops off their course and still billing you for their off-route mileage?
An Excel mileage tracker will only tell you some of the details needed to verify the distance through a service like Google Maps or Bing Maps.
Historical Access to Mileage Driven
Record-keeping is essential in any business, so you must make room for historical records using paper-based mileage log sheets.
Maintaining an Excel spreadsheet means that you will have to create many sheets, which can result in clutter and prevent you from accessing records easily. What’s even worse is that many do not keep historical records when using a spreadsheet.
Additionally, these mileage logs can quickly get lost or ruined if they are not well managed or organized. You want to avoid losing important records like mileage covered on work trips.
Real-Time Access to Mileage Reports
Employees usually turn in their mileage reports on a weekly or biweekly basis. This is not an ideal situation for you as a business owner because you do not get to verify data immediately. When you get data at the very last minute, the employee may not be readily available to answer your questions.
After two weeks, most people do not remember where they drove or exactly which route they took. After all, their job is to focus on their primary job tasks, and accurately tracking their mileage is probably not at the top of their list of priorities.
As inaccurate reporting can ultimately hinder your IRS compliance and affect your bottom line, switching to a mileage log app like Timeero can be beneficial in numerous ways.
Overview of Timeero's Mileage Tracker
The manual way of tracking mileage using a mileage log template might seem easy and cheap. But, in reality, it's incredibly tedious and costly. You will spend more time and energy creating mileage logs and potentially risk entering mileage errors that the price you pay is greater than the reward. Not to mention, it can cost you a fortune if there is some form of lawsuit filed by a dissatisfied employee.
An automated mileage tracking system like Timeero is a great option to move away from manual mileage tracking and improve reporting accuracy with reduced costs.
Timeero gives you more insight into where your employees travel and how long they spend in different areas. If you always have to deal with employees who forget to track mileage, this is the solution for you.
Your employees' mileage tracking on Timeero starts as soon as they clock in and ends when they clock out. This differs from other apps where switching between personal and business trips is common; mileage tracking requires users to clock in and out manually.
The app does not track users when they are off the clock. You should make this clear to employees as soon as you introduce the app to ease privacy concerns and prevent employee pushback.
When an employee moves above a certain speed threshold, the mileage tracker app (which is motion-based) considers them to be driving. A GPS point is captured when they move more than 150 feet. All points are recorded, but not all are included in the mileage traveled.
The mileage calculation accounts for any speed above 4.5 miles per hour. This guarantees that walking or sitting in traffic time is not recorded for mileage purposes. Admins can also set up the speed threshold they want in their account, as it is customizable.
Besides its effective mileage tracking features, Timeero provides a unique and useful feature called "Commuter Mileage." Simplifying mileage classification is the goal of this feature.
This is how it works: Timeero takes into account your employees' commute distances when you delegate job destinations to them. When an employee reaches the commute threshold, the app starts tracking business mileage automatically. This guarantees that the mileage reported is solely associated with travel for work-related purposes.
Why Use Timeero's Mileage Tracker?
Mobile Accessibility
In today's mobile-centric world, accessing tools and resources on the go is crucial. According to Statistica, there will be a steady increase in the number of smartphone users worldwide between 2024 and 2028, reaching 5136.36 million users overall.
This suggests the significant role that mobile phones play in modern society. Timeero's Mileage Tracker offers mobile accessibility through a dedicated app.
Employees can log their mileage in real-time using their smartphones whenever they travel for business purposes. This adds to its convenience and ensures that mileage records are up-to-date and accurate.
Automated Mileage Calculation
Manually calculating mileage can be a time-consuming and error-prone task. Timeero's Mileage Tracker automates the mileage calculation process.
It ensures that the recorded total miles are accurate and consistent. This feature saves employees time and minimizes the risk of miscalculations that could lead to financial discrepancies.
GPS Tracking
One of the core functionalities of Timeero's Mileage Tracker is its GPS tracking capabilities. The software uses GPS technology to capture and record the distance traveled by employees accurately. This eliminates the need for manual entry and significantly reduces the chances of human error.
The real-time GPS tracking feature gives administrators a live view of their mobile workforce. It allows for better route optimization and monitoring of field activities. This enhances operational efficiency and contributes to fuel cost savings.
Segmented Tracking for Accountability
The Segmented Tracking feature of Timeero offers valuable insight into how your staff members spend their working hours. It breaks down an employee's work day into smaller segments that are easy to understand. This includes information about the locations visited, the mileage, and the time spent at particular sites or jobs.
The most significant benefit of segmented tracking is that these reports are generated automatically without requiring extra effort from your staff. The method is hassle-free because employees only need to clock in once at the beginning of their shift and out at the end of the workday.
With this level of detail, segmented tracking is a powerful tool for efficiency optimization because it makes it easier to manage and analyze the activities of your employees. It eases mileage tracking as you get all the specific details about each trip at a glance.
Timesheets With Timestamps
Since workforce tracking relies heavily on time and mileage, we at Timeero take these responsibilities very seriously. You don't need to use two different apps to track time and distance because our software has robust time-tracking features.
With its reporting features, Timeero makes tracking of overtime, lunch breaks, and hours worked simpler. This means you can easily monitor your employees while keeping track of mileage.
Suggested Route
Timeero's Suggested Route feature increases efficiency and accountability even more. Workers can view a suggested route to follow to get to their destination.
This encourages employees to follow the most optimal routes and promotes effective time management. You also get to save significantly on fuel costs as team members will be taking the shortest paths possible.
Route Replay
Managers can retrace the exact routes of their field employees using Timeero's Route Replay feature, which offers complete playback of the entire trip. Businesses can use this to gain unmatched insight and understanding into travel patterns.
This feature guarantees accurate mileage records and makes proactive decision-making easier by pointing out possible inefficiencies. You can see the paths taken by each employee using the breadcrumbs path with timestamps. It also provides other information that allows you to see employees' traveling speed and location at any time.
Offline Capabilities
It's possible that your employees won't always have internet access while working on the road. Timeero continues to collect data even when there's no internet connection and syncs it when the connection is restored.
This mileage tracking app stores GPS location and time information on the device. When the employee is back online, it becomes accessible in the cloud. You can still track location, time, distance traveled, and more, even without a connection to the internet.
Geofencing
Do you want your employees to track mileage only within specified work areas? Geofencing on Timeero allows businesses to create virtual boundaries around specific geographical areas.
You can set up your account to ensure employees can only clock in when they are within the geofence boundaries. This means they can only log mileage if the employee is where they are supposed to be.
Reporting
Understanding how your staff members handle business travel and time is critical. You could run a mileage report to determine how many trips a certain employee has taken.
With Timeero, you get timesheets and other useful reports for your business in addition to mileage tracking reports. You can use these reports outside of the Timeero app by exporting them in PDF, Excel, or CSV format. They can be handy for tax purposes like mileage deductions.
Integrations
You can automate mileage reimbursement calculations with Timeero to get rid of tedious, repetitive tasks.
Several payroll and invoicing platforms can be integrated to eliminate human error, reduce paperwork, and simplify payroll calculations. These include QuickBooks, Gusto, Xero, ADP, Paychex, Rippling, Zapier, Vieventium, and Paylocity.
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Get Your Free Mileage Log Template
Timeero's Mileage Tracker is a solution that simplifies and automates business mileage tracking. Whether you have a fleet of vehicles or a team of mobile workers, it provides a user-friendly and efficient way to manage and track mileage.
You can look at the features of some of the best mileage-tracking apps that are currently on the market in our article here. But keep in mind that no other mileage tracking software compares to the level of detail that Timeero offers when it comes to tracking your team's mileage and activities. Read this detailed Timeero review to learn how to make the most of our product offerings.
In the meantime, if you need more time to make the right decision for your business, download our free printable mileage log pdf to improve mileage recording for your team.
FAQs
How Do I Create a Mileage Log?
To create a mileage log, document essential details for each trip. Note the date, the start and finish points of the trip, the beginning and ending odometer readings, and the total number of business miles driven. Add any extra travel expenses, such as parking fees or tolls. To ensure accuracy, update the log after every trip regularly. This detailed record will help with reimbursements or tax return records.
