Van Mileage and Fuel Receipts: What Self-Employed Tradespeople Should Track Before Tax Time

Most tradespeople know the van costs money.

Fuel. Insurance. Repairs. MOT. Tyres. Parking. Tools in the back. Time wasted driving between suppliers, jobs and the tip.

But knowing the van costs money is not the same as having clean records.

That is where a lot of self-employed tradespeople get caught out. They spend all year paying for fuel and running around for jobs, then January arrives and the accounts are built from half a shoebox of receipts, a few bank transactions and a rough guess.

That is not a system. That is a gamble.

Mileage and fuel are not the same record

The first mistake is thinking fuel receipts tell the full story.

They do not.

A fuel receipt proves you bought fuel. It does not prove how much of that fuel was for business, which jobs it related to, or whether the journey was allowable as a business expense.

Mileage fills that gap.

A mileage record shows where you went, why you went there, and how far you travelled. That is much stronger than a pile of petrol station receipts with no context.

For tradespeople, mileage records are especially important because the van is often used constantly. Site visits, merchants, customer quotes, emergency callouts, waste runs, collecting parts and moving between jobs can all blur into one.

If you do not record it as you go, it becomes almost impossible to rebuild later.

Simplified mileage or actual costs?

Many self-employed people can use simplified expenses for vehicles. That means using a flat mileage rate instead of adding up actual running costs for that vehicle.

The attraction is obvious. It is cleaner, easier and less admin-heavy.

But it is not always best for everyone.

Some tradespeople may be better off using actual vehicle costs, especially if the van is expensive to run, heavily used for business, or financed in a way that changes the numbers. Others may prefer simplified mileage because it is easier to track and explain.

The point is not to guess.

The point is to record enough information so your accountant can tell you which route makes sense.

What should you record for each journey?

A useful mileage log should include:

date
start location
destination
reason for the journey
customer or job name
business miles
notes if the journey was unusual

You do not need to write an essay for every trip. But you do need enough detail to prove it was business travel.

For example:

12 March — home to Smith job, then Screwfix, then back to Smith job — bathroom first fix — 28 business miles.

That is far better than fuel £82.14.

Watch regular site travel

Tradespeople often move between different jobs, but some contracts involve going to the same site for weeks or months.

That can make travel records more important, not less.

If you are travelling to one regular place for a long stretch, ask your accountant how it should be treated. Do not assume every mile is automatically claimable just because you were wearing work boots.

The more repetitive the journey, the more you need proper advice and proper records.

Keep parking, tolls and other travel costs

Mileage is only one part of travel admin.

You may also have:

parking charges
congestion or clean air zone charges
tolls
train journeys
taxi fares
hotel stays for work away
van washing linked to work use
merchant delivery charges

Some of these may be business expenses, depending on the circumstances. The important thing is to keep the receipt and note which job it relates to.

A parking receipt with no job name is easy to forget. A parking receipt attached to the right customer and date makes sense later.

Do not rely on your bank feed alone

Bank transactions help, but they are not enough.

A bank feed might show Shell, BP, Tesco or Asda. It does not explain the business purpose. It does not show mileage. It does not split personal and business use. It does not tell your accountant why you were travelling.

Bank data is useful evidence. It is not a complete record.

How Dayrates helps

Dayrates is built for tradespeople who want their paperwork kept close to the job.

Instead of leaving expenses, receipts and invoices scattered across the van, WhatsApp, your bank app and memory, you can keep records together as the work happens.

That matters because vehicle costs are not just tax admin. They are part of knowing whether jobs are actually profitable.

If you spend half a day driving, collecting parts and returning to site, that cost needs to be visible.

Final word

The van is one of the biggest costs in a trade business, but it is also one of the easiest to track badly.

Do not wait until tax return season to work out where you went.

Track mileage. Keep fuel receipts. Record job names. Separate business and personal use. Ask your accountant before choosing simplified mileage or actual costs.

The work starts when you turn the key. Your records should too.