Insurance and Use of Personally-Owned Vehicles

Travelers authorized to travel on State business using their personal vehicle must submit to the Travel Office, prior to reimbursement, a copy of the Declaration Page of the insurance policy which covers the vehicle(s) to be used . The Declaration Page must show the policy limits, the names of the insured, and the effective dates of coverage, and must meet the minimum liability of insurance required by the State of Connecticut's regulations governing the use of personally owned vehicles used for State business as published by DAS Fleet Operations (General Letter 115).

Those minimums currently are:

• Bodily Injury Liability: $50,000 each person/$100,000 each occurrence; Property Damage: $5,000.
• Alternatively, in lieu of the above, a combined $105,000 minimum for bodily injury and property damage is acceptable.

Certain exceptions to these guidelines may apply depending upon the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Mileage reimbursements will not be processed without a copy of the Declaration Page of the appropriate insurance policy (that which covers the date(s) of travel) being on file with the Travel Office to establish that minimum liabilities have been satisfied. An insurance card is unacceptable proof of minimum liabilities since the limits of coverage are not shown on the card.

Rate of Reimbursement

The rate of reimbursement for personal mileage includes reimbursement for all costs of operation, including, but not limited to, gas, oil, and wear and tear. Parking fees and tolls necessarily paid by the traveler may be reimbursed separately. Charges for road service, repairs, towage and other similar expenses are not reimbursable.

In cases where air, bus or rail travel is utilized, personal mileage to and from the airport, depot or station will be reimbursed (provided that a copy of the Declaration Page of the employee's insurance policy is on file with the Travel Office and minimum insurance coverage requirements have been satisfied).

Mileage or rail reimbursement cannot exceed lowest available airfare to the same destination. Any comparisons to airfares, for any purpose, will be based upon assumed flight origin at Bradley International Airport. Additional meals and other travel expenses due to the use of an automobile or rail, in lieu of public transportation, are allowed up to the cost of airfare to the same destination; but will not be allowed if their inclusion would raise the cost of the automobile trip above the airfare or rail to the same destination.

Additional reimbursements may be made in accordance with applicable collective bargaining agreements.

Determination of Mileage

For all travel except that between the CSUS universities and the System Office, mileage from point-to-point will be determined through the use of MapQuest, Google Maps, or equivalent web site. A copy of the mileage (start to finish) must be printed and submitted with the travel reimbursement request, except for travel between the CSUS Universities and the System Office. Reimbursements will not be processed without this documentation.

For travel between the CSUS Universities and the System Office, the following mileage chart should be utilized:

For Western Connecticut State University travelers - travel between campuses is not reimbursable.

When submitting reimbursement requests which include travel to more than one location within a single town or city, each location within the town or city to which the traveler went must be identified and the mileage between the various locations must be disclosed.

Transportation of any kind between an employee's home and official duty station is not reimbursable, with the exception of part-time supervising faculty (e.g. student teaching supervisors, cooperating student supervisors, clinical education supervisors).

If the use of a personally-owned motor vehicle by an employee is authorized to be used for official state business on the employee's fixed regularly-scheduled work day, and the employee leaves from and returns to his/her home rather than his/her duty station, the employee shall be reimbursed at an established mileage rate for travel on official state business less his/her commute from home to his/her official duty station as per MapQuest, unless another method of calculating mileage has been provided under the applicable collective bargaining agreement.