what am I worth?

[Tonyz]

Being older and on a pension but very fit and capable Ive been asked to help a guy out occasionally getting from home to his mobile place of work,

meaning his truck will be moved from farm to farm and its often a long drive in a specialised farm machinery. therefore its quicker to run a courier driver (me) to & from the driving the rig.
the run could be from 40 minutes -1.5 hours one way. Sometimes I'll drive his ute sometimes mine

What the heck do I charge?

[KBs PensNmore]

Hi Tony,
Some charge per hour or per kilometre, which in 2017-18 was 66c per km. If you were to charge per hour it varies, have attached a link for you.
https://www.google.com/search?q=hourly+rate+for+driver&rlz=1C1GGRV_enAU748AU748&oq=hourly+rate+for+driving&aqs=chrome.5.0j69i57j0l4.13091j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Just remember that you can only earn so much extra on a pension. From memory it's about $340 per fortnight per couple.
Depending on how often and distance etc, you could get payment in fuel, saves messing with Centalink etc, and he can claim the fuel on his Tax. Trying to hide cash payments, is difficult, as he would have to put it down as his income. DAMHIKT.
Kryn

[rrich]

I would say figure the normal hourly rate for a courier / driver. Then if paid in cash, cut the rate in about half. I'm assuming that situation is more than just business but friendship too.

This is not a "Make this for me and I'll buy the timber . . " kind of thing.

[LanceC]

Just a thought with respect to using your own vehicle, the running costs of a 4cyl vehicle is considered to be 68c/km (source ATO), so any less than that and you're loosing money on vehicle wear and tear. You can also claim that on your taxes as a legitimate expense against the income you'll be earning.

With respect to an hourly rate, just ask him what other drivers charged. Don't forget that you offer increased value to him as he already knows and trusts you.

Lance

[rustynail]

You are already being paid - pension. So long as your costs are covered you're not out of pocket. Ask yourself what you would be doing otherwise, if the answer is making a quid you would be justified in saying that represents part of my costs. A bit of charity never hurt anyone.

[Sturdee]

If using your own car, and you're being paid, check on your registration and insurances as it now becomes a business car and no longer for private use.

Peter.

[BobL]

You are already being paid - pension. So long as your costs are covered you're not out of pocket. Ask yourself what you would be doing otherwise, if the answer is making a quid you would be justified in saying that represents part of my costs. A bit of charity never hurt anyone.

In general I agree, but it depends how much total time this takes up each week and what that time loss means to you.
Do you have to drive him over and then wait around and then bring him back - can you bring something along that you can usefully do during that time?
Even if you are retired you're presumably not just sitting around and trying to get your own projects done and no matter how small or irrelevant to us they will have some intrinsic value to you.
If the total time involved in transporting this bloke detracts substantially from your own project time I would charge a small hourly fee, even if it's just something like $10 an hour.
Best to do that right up front - you can always drop it if your feel its too much but bringing it in once you've been doing it for a while will be harder.

[Boringgeoff]

What about looking into an A frame tow bar on the front of his ute and a tail light board?