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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is a reasonable limit for off duty car use? This is one of our family vehicles and not an old beater that’s dedicated to au pair. It’s already relatively high mileage, but she is putting on probably three to four times as many miles per week as the total amount of our usual weekly family mileage. [/quote]

This question pops up so often... and the answer is "it depends".

For our AP there is really no need to use a car at all. Where we live public transportation is amazing and is something we pay for. We barely drive more than 3,000 miles a year as a family (and more like 300 last year, for many different reasons). To us 50 miles a week would already be unreasonable. However, if she wants to go somewhere where public transportation is unavailable (due to location or time), she can use the car if she asks.

When I was an AP (not in DC) driving 50 miles a week would have left me stuck at home. 
The closest AP lived 5 miles away. 
The closest movie theater was 12 miles away (the one we usually went to 15).
Classes? 10 miles away.
Library? 8 miles.
Mall? 15 miles.
LCC? 15 miles.
Closest grocery store? 5 miles.
Zoo? 10 miles.
Pool? 10 miles.
Gym? 5 miles.
Park? 5 miles.
Lake? 5 miles.
Heck, the closest Starbucks was 5 miles one way. And that was not the Starbucks where the APs typically met (12 miles, closest to where most APs lived).

Just going to classes (twice a week) would have meant maxing out a weekly 50-mile limit.
In an average week, not really doing anything out of the ordinary, I easily drove 100+ miles. Classes on Tuesday and Thursday - 50 miles. Movie and dinner on Friday night - 30 miles. Meeting a friend two suburbs away on Saturday - 35 miles. Library and meeting friends at the lake on Sunday - 20 miles. 
I am sure there were many weeks where I drove more than that. I had three close friends - 5/16/17 miles away from where I lived, respectively. Outlet mall? 100 mile round trip. Downtown for an activity? 40 miles round trip. Cluster meeting? 30 miles. Renaissance festival? 90 miles one way.

And it was totally reasonable. Because there simply were no other options (no public transportation, at all, long before Uber). We were out of the way, no APs in the neighborhood, everybody would have had to drive 10+ miles out of their way to pick me up (plus another 10 to drop me off?!), which was fine for long trips but somewhat unreasonable for a coffee. And as my HF chose to live there they figured it was their responsibility to make sure that I could get places, do things, meet friends... in return I drove my HD's 20 year old Honda Civic (which had what? 200,000 miles?), made sure to pay for my own gas and didn't drive further than an hour away (in case the car broke down and I had to be picked up). I am still extremely grateful to my HF that they made the year I had possible just by simple things like realizing that a 20 year old in a foreign country wants to experience things, see things, be active and out and about.

In your situation, a similar set-up might be totally unreasonable. Hence - it depends. And if she knew about the limit when she matched and if it's in your handbook and if you care to enforce it then this is a battle you chose to pick. Or not.[/quote]

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