Members travelling in a A vehicle you own, hire or borrow. When you're moving homes, it also includes a vehicle that your resident family owns. may get vehicle allowance to help with the costs of their trip.
If you choose to travel by private vehicle and it's not the Based on where you're travelling to, the types of transport available, the actual cost and the estimated value of your pay and allowances for travel time. , you usually won't be able to claim meals and other travel costs.
On duty
You may get vehicle allowance to travel by private vehicle while on duty.
Your Your Commanding Officer at Major (equivalent) or APS 6 and above. In some circumstances, you’ll need to get approval from your Service headquarters. will make the decision based on whether it saves time and money and there's no disadvantage to Defence.
Recalled to duty
You may be able to claim costs if you're recalled to duty while you're on leave. This may include vehicle allowance if you travel from your leave location to your place of duty in a private vehicle.
You may also get the allowance if you're recalled to duty outside of your usual working hours and approved to travel in a private vehicle.
Travel to a new housing benefit location
If you’re travelling between your old and new housing benefit location, you may get vehicle allowance as part of vehicle removal assistance.
Public transport stoppages
If you usually take public transport to get to your primary service location (or service location for the day if you're a member of the Reserves), you can get the allowance during a stoppage if either:
- there's no other public transport where you live
- the public transport available isn't practical for you to use.
You may get an increased rate of allowance if other members are travelling with you in the vehicle.
Recreation leave
You may get vehicle allowance if you're travelling on recreation leave.
You'll need to pay for any accommodation, meals and incidentals.
Relationship status change
If you begin a relationship or marriage, you may get vehicle allowance for your partner to travel to you.
When you're not eligible
You won't usually be eligible for vehicle allowance if you receive travel costs when you stop continuous full-time service. You may still get vehicle allowance if it would be cheaper to travel in a private vehicle.
You’re also not eligible if your rank is Brigadier (or equivalent) or higher, unless travelling by private vehicle is the Based on where you're travelling to, the types of transport available, the actual cost and the estimated value of your pay and allowances for travel time. for you to travel.
How much you get
You'll get an amount for the distance you travel, worked out using the formula:
road distance (km) × rate (cents per km) ÷ 100
The rate per km depends on the size of your vehicle's engine.
The Defence travel matrix (PDF 80KB) shows the distance from Australian capital cities to Defence bases.
You may get additional costs in some circumstances.
Increased rate of allowance
The rate will increase by 1.12 cents for each kilometre if you also take passengers, vehicles or equipment Defence would have to pay to transport.
The amount you get for the increased rate must be less than what you would've been paid if you travelled in the most economical way.
Additional vehicle allowance
If your travel costs are higher than the amount you'd get paid for vehicle allowance, you may be eligible for additional vehicle allowance.
You'll need to provide evidence to support your claim.
Make a claim
To claim vehicle allowance:
- Complete the MVA Duty Calculator with your trip details.
- Submit a request for vehicle allowance through PMKeyS Self Service (PSS).
You can download the MVA Duty Calculator from the Travel section of the DPN.
Use the ReimburseMe App to claim other costs. You can access the ReimburseMe App via the My Finance (MyFi) Portal on the DPN.