If you drive your personal car for clinical visits, you are operating a small commercial vehicle by the time you cross thirty visits a month. Your insurer probably does not know that. Your accountant probably has a view. Your tax position quietly compounds. None of this is glamorous, and getting it wrong costs more than getting it right.
This guide is operational orientation, not advice. Talk to a registered tax agent and your insurer for anything that depends on your specific circumstance.
Insurance: tell your insurer the truth
Most personal vehicle policies cover commuting and 'occasional' business use. Daily clinical visits are generally not occasional. If you have a claim while driving between clients, an insurer that did not know about the use can decline the claim. The premium uplift for declared business use is usually modest; the cost of an undisclosed claim being declined is not.
Track kilometres from day one
The ATO accepts two methods for car expense claims for sole traders: cents-per-kilometre (capped) or logbook (proportional to business use). Both require you to know what you drove for work. Even if you never claim, knowing the number tells you what your travel actually costs and what your real billable rate looks like.
What counts as a work trip
- Home to a client visit, then to another client, then home — the inter-client legs are work; the home-to-first and last-to-home legs depend on whether your home is also your principal place of business.
- Travel to a clinic where you regularly work is generally commuting (not deductible), unless your circumstances make your home the base.
- Travel between two work locations on the same day is generally claimable.
Incidentals add up
Parking, tolls, and the occasional car-wash because a child got carsick are real costs. Keep the receipts (or a digital trail). Capping these into one ledger every quarter is faster than reconstructing them at EOFY.
Vehicle-as-equipment thinking
If your car is essential to clinical work, treat it like clinical equipment. Service it on schedule. Keep a small first-aid kit and a spare phone charger. Have a rule for the upper bound on how old the car gets before replacement — most allied health professionals we know hit that wall harder than they expect because they normalise the slow degradation.
EOFY moment
Once a year, sit down with the kilometre log, the fuel receipts, the tolls, the parking, and the service records. Total it. The number is usually surprising. It is also the cheapest piece of evidence for whether your billable rate is set correctly.