as a regular carrier on a 107 mile route, i cannot come close to thinking about employee business expense-2106. i do just about all of my own maintenance, except transmission fluid change. if you take your car to the garage for all repairs, maybe if you needed a motor or tranny replaced.
in another thread there was talk about slowing down to help save on brakes and general wear. all i can tell you is that it has more to do with the car you drive, then how you drive it. - case in point is that i drove chevy blazers for years, before i had a full time route as well as a about 1.5 yrs. after. i had a 84, a 89, a 94, a 97, and an 01. any time that i was on a route steady, i could figure at between 3-4 months, i would need to replace the front brake pads, and every other time the back pads as well. if i was only working one day a week, they might last a year.
about 2 years ago i purchased a used rhd grand cherokee jeep that was built in austria. before i started on the route with it i replaced alot of the normal wear parts including all brake pads. now almost 2 years later - i have placed the pads once. the way i drive hasn't changed - only what i drive. the wheels ,pads, and rotors on the blazers where all smaller then what the jeep has on it. smaller pads make for higher heat and faster wear.
back to the topic though, you can only deduct for the miles used delivering mail, and if you have major repairs only the percentage of miles used on the route compared to the total miles put on in a year. if you put on 10000 miles delivering compared to 25-30000 miles on the vehicle in a years time, your looking at about 5500 dollars ema - at worst 1000 gallons of gas. ,and only 30-40% of insurance, repairs, and depreciation. if gas is at 2.50 a gallon, you might need 8-10000 of other expense to be able to have any expense to write off. - that my experience anyway.
