State of Arizona Accounting Manual
Travel by
Individually Operated Motor Vehicle
1.7.6. The use of a POV to conduct State business is allowed when urgency is required in
attending to an emergency and no facility for acquiring an SOV, FPV or CRV has yet
opened.
Example 1: A State employee working for a social services agency that provides emergency care
for endangered children receives a call from policy officials at 2 a.m. that they have arrested
parents suspected of child abuse. Two children, ages 3 and 5, need to be taken immediately into
protective custody by the State. Facilities from which the employee could otherwise acquire an
SOV, FPV or even a CRV are not yet open for business. The employee must use his POV to
collect the children and take them to a safe facility.
Example 2: An employee whose home and duty post are both in Phoenix must travel to Prescott
for a meeting that begins on a Monday at 8 a.m. His agency does not have an SOV or FPV at its
permanent disposal. Because of construction on I-17, the traveler must use AZ-87 for the trip. The
travel time will be approximately 3½ hours in each direction. The employee, to save the State the
money related to staying over in Prescott Sunday night, is willing to leave his home in Phoenix at
4:30 a.m. However, no facility that provides SOVs or FPVs is open that early in the morning. The
employee could have his agency arrange for a vehicle to be available before Monday’s departure,
i.e., acquire the vehicle on Friday for Monday’s use. This involves some additional cost to the
agency and, if domiciled, some tax consequences for the traveler. If not domiciled, the employee
has to unreasonably begin his trip even earlier so that he can travel to his agency to pick up the
SOV at the agency before departing for Prescott. Overall, it may be in the best interest of the
agency, the State and the traveler for him to use his POV to make the trip.
1.7.7. The use of a POV is allowed when the extended use of an SOV or FPV for a certain
purpose would impose significant operational difficulties upon an agency.
Example: A State employee who works and lives in Kingman is required to take a week’s training
in Tucson. Because of the distance between Kingman and Tucson, the employee will be staying in
Tucson for the entire week of training. The agency for which the employee works has one FPV
assigned to it and it is used by all agency employees at its Kingman location. If the employee uses
the FPV assigned to the agency’s Kingman location, operations there will be significantly
hampered. It is in the best interest of the State that the employee use his POV to travel to, from
and while in Tucson.
1.7.8. The use of a POV is allowed when the cost to rent a CRV is materially greater than the
cost related to the use of a POV and when no SOVs or FPVs are available.
Example: There are no SOVs or FPVs readily available at a remote agency location. There is,
however, a car rental company under contract with the State does have a facility in reasonable
proximity to the agency location—close enough that the rental car company will deliver a car to the
agency location. The cost to rent a car is $35 per day. The business that must be conducted by
the agency involves a round trip of 16 miles. The reimbursement to an employee for using his