How to Track Business and Personal Mileage with Global Trackers

How to Track Business and Personal Mileage with Global Trackers

How to Track Business and Personal Mileage with Global Trackers

Keep your business, personal and commuting journeys organised with GPS tracking — without relying on handwritten mileage records.

If you use the same vehicle for work and personal journeys, keeping track of your mileage can quickly become a headache.

Perhaps you're a self-employed electrician travelling between jobs, a small business owner managing several vans, or someone who uses a company vehicle outside working hours.

Knowing how your vehicle is being used is useful. But being able to separate business journeys from personal travel makes that information much easier to manage.

With Global Trackers, you can classify individual journeys, configure automatic time-based classification and generate reports showing recorded trip activity.

Here's how to get started.

What is trip classification?

Trip classification allows you to organise recorded journeys according to their purpose.

The Global Trackers tracking platform supports four categories:

  • Business: Journeys identified as business-related.

  • Personal: Journeys identified as private travel.

  • Commute: Journeys identified as commuting.

  • Unclassified: Journeys that haven't been assigned a category.

You can assign categories manually or configure time-based rules to classify journeys automatically.

Once journeys have been classified, you can use the Trip Logbook (Business & Personal) report to review the information.

Part 1: How to classify individual journeys

Step 1: Open your journey history

Log in to your Global Trackers tracking account.

From the orange menu on the left-hand side, select Trips.

At the top of the journey panel, choose Single Asset.

Select the vehicle you want to review.

Use the date selector to find the day you're interested in.

The platform will display recorded journey information for the selected vehicle and date.

Step 2: Find the journey you want to classify

Scroll through the journey list on the left.

Each recorded journey can include information such as:

  • Start and end locations

  • Journey times

  • Distance travelled

  • Journey duration

  • Route information

Find the completed journey you want to categorise.

Step 3: Choose the journey category

Click the three dots beside the journey.

A menu will appear with four options:

Unclassified

Business

Commute

Personal

Select the category that accurately describes the journey.

For example, travelling between two customer appointments might be classified as Business.

A private shopping trip might be classified as Personal.

A journey between home and your regular workplace might be classified as Commute.

The correct category depends on the actual purpose of the journey.

Step 4: Review your classifications

Repeat the process for other journeys you want to organise.

This is particularly useful when a vehicle is used for a mixture of business and personal travel.

Tip: Try reviewing your journeys regularly rather than leaving several months of mileage to classify at once.

Part 2: How to classify journeys automatically

If your journeys follow a relatively predictable weekly pattern, Global Trackers also provides an automatic classification feature.

This allows the platform to assign journey categories using rules based on the time of day.

Access to these settings may depend on your account permissions.

Step 5: Open Log Book Automation

From the account administration area, navigate to:

Client Settings → Asset Settings

Scroll down to Log Book Automation.

You'll see two options:

  • Off

  • By time of day

Select By time of day.

Step 6: Choose how the time rules are applied

The platform allows you to choose whether automatic classification uses the journey's:

  • Start time

  • End time

Select the option appropriate for how you want your classification rules applied.

For example, if you choose Trip End Time, the system uses the journey's ending time when applying the configured rules.

Step 7: Configure your weekly time rules

Click the green Configure Time Rules button.

A weekly timetable will open, displaying Monday through Sunday and time slots throughout the day.

You can assign periods to:

Business — Green

Commute — Yellow

Personal — Blue

Unclassified/Off — Grey

Select the category you want to configure, then assign the appropriate time periods on the timetable.

The platform also includes shortcuts labelled:

  • Daytime

  • Night-time

  • Weekends

  • Weekdays

  • Office Hours

  • Out Office Hours

These can help with selecting time periods, but check the resulting timetable carefully to make sure it matches your requirements.

Step 8: Save your automatic classification rules

Once you've configured your weekly timetable, click Save Changes.

Return to the Log Book Automation settings and click Update to save the configuration.

Your account will then be configured to apply the selected time-based classification rules.

Important: Automatic classification is based on the time rules you choose. It cannot independently determine the real purpose of every journey.

For example, a personal journey made during working hours could still be classified as Business.

Always review classifications before using them for expenses, tax records or other formal purposes.

Part 3: How to generate a Business & Personal Mileage Report

Once your journeys have been classified, you can use the reporting system to review them.

Step 9: Open the Reports section

From the orange menu, select Reports.

Under My Reports, find:

Trip Logbook (Business & Personal)

You can use the Search Reports box to locate it quickly.

Click the report to open its settings.

Step 10: Select your vehicles

Under Select Asset Type, choose Vehicle.

Select the vehicle or vehicles you want included.

You can tick individual vehicles or use Select All.

Step 11: Choose your reporting period

Under Report Time Period, choose the period you want to review.

For example, select Last 7 Days to review recent journeys.

Other available reporting periods may include custom date selections.

Step 12: Filter by journey category

Find Select Trip Category.

The available options are:

  • All Trips Types

  • Unclassified Trips

  • Business Trips

  • Commute Trips

  • Personal Trips

Select Business Trips if you only want to review journeys assigned to that category.

Alternatively, choose All Trips Types to review the categories together.

Step 13: Apply optional time filters

If you want to restrict the report to particular hours, enable Enable time range filters.

Enter your required From and To times.

The platform provides options for showing data within or outside the specified time range.

Only enable these filters when they're relevant to the information you need.

Tip: If your report unexpectedly returns no records, check the selected vehicles, dates, time filters and journey classifications.

Step 14: Generate your report

Click the orange Generate Report button.

The platform will open the Trip Logbook report viewer.

The report is designed to display recorded journey information according to the selected classification and filtering settings.

Depending on the data available, the report can also provide category summaries for Business, Personal, Commute and Unclassified journeys.

If no matching records are available, the report may display No Records Found.

Step 15: Download your mileage report

Use the download menu at the top of the report viewer to select an available export format.

The platform's standard report viewer supports formats including PDF, Excel and CSV, alongside other document formats.

For reviewing mileage information in a spreadsheet, Excel or CSV may be useful.

For keeping a readable copy, PDF is often convenient.

Check that the exported information is complete and accurate before using it for business records.

Why is this useful for small businesses?

Less manual administration

Rather than relying entirely on handwritten mileage notes, you can review journeys recorded by your tracking system.

Better visibility of vehicle use

Understand how vehicles are being used across business, personal and commuting journeys.

More organised records

Keep relevant journey information available for reviewing mileage and vehicle activity.

Easier management of mixed-use vehicles

For vehicles used both privately and for work, trip classification can help separate different types of travel.

Useful information for business decisions

Mileage information can help businesses review vehicle usage, maintenance requirements and running costs.

Can I use these reports for HMRC mileage claims?

GPS tracking reports can provide useful supporting information when preparing business mileage records.

However, a GPS report is not automatically an HMRC-compliant mileage claim.

HMRC rules distinguish between qualifying business travel, ordinary commuting and private journeys. The rules also depend on whether you're self-employed, an employee or using a company vehicle.

Automatic time-based classification cannot determine whether a particular journey qualifies for tax relief.

You may need additional records showing the business purpose of a journey, and you should check the applicable HMRC requirements or speak to your accountant.

For official guidance, visit GOV.UK.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change a journey from Business to Personal?

Yes. Open the relevant journey in Trips → Single Asset, click the three-dot menu and select the appropriate category.

Can journeys be classified automatically?

Yes. The platform supports automatic classification using configured time-of-day rules.

Does the platform know whether a journey is genuinely business-related?

No. Automatic time-based classification uses the rules you've configured, not an independent assessment of the journey's purpose.

Can I view business and personal journeys separately?

Yes. The Trip Logbook report provides filters for Business, Personal, Commute and Unclassified journeys.

Can I generate reports for multiple vehicles?

Yes. You can select multiple vehicles when configuring the report.

What if my report shows no records?

Check your selected date range, vehicles, journey categories and any time filters. Also confirm that relevant journeys have been recorded.

How much tracking history is available?

Global Trackers includes up to six months of tracking history under the standard subscription.

Do I need to pay extra for trip classification and reporting?

These are features of the Global Trackers tracking platform included in the standard subscription, subject to account permissions and the data available.

Make more of your Global Trackers subscription

Your GPS tracker can do much more than show where your vehicle is.

By classifying journeys and using the reporting tools, you can organise vehicle activity, review mileage and make everyday administration easier.

Whether you use one vehicle for work and personal travel or manage several business vans, it's worth exploring the features already available in your account.

Want to discover more about GPS tracking reports?

Read our guide: How to Generate, View and Download GPS Tracking Reports

Need help with trip classification?

Contact the Global Trackers team and we'll be happy to help you get started.

Global Trackers

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