Job supposedly requires car
 

I am an architect in Cyprus and at the job interview I told them that I am used to going to work by bike.
They said that going to site visits and to meet a client somewhere requires a car.
I never had problems with this in the past.
Public transport in Cyprus is actually terrible (only bus with not many good connections) and that's why I use a bike to get around. Until now there was a company car for going out of town at previous offices.
I was even asked if I was thinking of buying a car! :fred:
How do I deal with this one?

IME, look for another interview.

I have had this happen both in the case of being car free, and while riding a motorcycle as my main transport. One of the jobs actually came out and told me it was "unprofessional" in their eyes to have an associate show up on a bicycle. I went on to work for another company that not only embraced my choice of conveyance, they allowed me to stow it inside. The funny thing was that I commonly passed my assistant on the way in while he was trapped in traffic. My commute took less than half the time.

The employer has a right to set the requirements as he/she sees fit. It's cool to be passionate about cycling, but you don't get to make the rules on this one.

This.

The job requires you to drive a client around sometimes. Or to go to a job site that may be 20 miles from the office.

You can't expect an employer to be happy about you taking 90 minutes for travel time (one way) in the middle of the day to bike to a job site every other employee can get to in 20 minutes.

If you don't want to buy a car, then this isn't the right job for you. No biggie. Go find one that doesn't require you to own a car. Or buy a cheap car that you only drive when you have to meet a client.

that is true and the potential employer has a point to worry about client's expectations and also time management (assuming cycling takes longer than driving, and having to carry models, plans etc.).
But if the employer requires car driving for the job - fine- the employer has to provide the car. teh same way the employer provides the computer, CAD licenses etc. that are needed for the architect job. alternatively the employer has to reimburse for mileage.

I don't think we have all the details, but it sounds like the employer expects the OP to drive the car on his own cost. Maybe OP can clarify.

Yeah, unless the employer is paying for the car to be used during business hours, I don't see how they can "require" a car. My wife commutes to work and isn't paid for it-- but any errands during work hours, trips to trainings/seminars,etc. are all reimbursed for mileage.

I've never heard of a job that said "bring your own car" and didn't compensate for said car. I delivered pizza for three years, and got per diem as well as reimbursement per delivery. An average day's reimbursement was about 5X what I had spent on gas. Most months, it covered insurance. And that was way back in the olden times.

This stuff is not cut and dry super simple. At least not in the USA.

An employer can absolutely require you to bring your own car. The pizza delivery is a great example. If you don't have a car, they will not hire you. Don't show up to Pizza Hut and ask them to give you a car to deliver pizzas in. If you want the employer to provide the delivery vehicle, get a job at UPS. They'll give you a truck.

Imagine applying to be an Uber driver and saying "...but I don't have my own car." It defeats the entire point of the business model.

Reimbursement for millage is standard. But it is NOT required in all areas. (The OP is in Cyrpus. I have no idea what the local laws are) Where it is not offered millage and depreciation can be deducted as an employment expense on your taxes. (Note, this is in the USA. Check your local tax laws elsewhere on the globe.)

Millage for a personal car ONLY counts for use on work time. It does not count for you transportation to and from the normal work place. If you live 100 miles away, that's your problem. You agreed to be at the office at 9am. How you get there is your business.

Pizza Hut will pay you for millage. It includes gas costs and depreciation / maintenance on the vehicle. It's usually about 50 cents a mile in the US, depending on where you live. UPS won't give you a dime for vehicle costs because it's their vehicle. They pay for the gas and maintenance.

Millage reimbursement ONLY applies to work related activities during the day. (Drive to this client. Drive to that job site. Go pick up stuff from our vendor. Etc) It does not cover going out to lunch or running personal errands. (I mean..there might be some employer that pays you to drive to Wal Mart at lunch, but it's not typical and it more likely just not paying attention to the expense reports). But if the UPS guy goes 5 miles of out his way to eat lunch, typically the employer just doesn't care about the added expense. Though they might care about their branded vehicle doing extra time on the road for liability reasons, as it adds to the chance of an accident they would be liable for.

The bottom line though is that an employer can absolutely say "You need your own car for this job. If you don't have one, we can't hire you." (At least in the USA. I'm not up to date on Cyprus employment law)

The employer can require an employee bring a car to work. In the vast majority of cases, if the car is used for work (not just commuting) then they will reimburse on a per-mile basis at whatever the IRS reimbursement schedule is this year.

I don't think the comparison to Uber and Pizza delivery are applicable here. For those professions delivery/driving is the only part the job is. For an architect the job is designing etc. A car, a chair, a computer etc. are just tools to accomplish that. Unless the salary is huge (and car driving expense is negligible) or there is mileage reimbursement, this sounds like a scammy job. Maybe this ia a depressed area and the market for architects is bad, so he may be forced to do that. But that doesn't make it right nor fair. and he may only have meetings once a week, so buying a car just for that is expensive compared to someone who has a car anyway.

Not sure about cyprus, but here in the US there is not much money in architecture unless you are licensed. If this is an entry job, it is likely not making much more money than delivering pizza...

is the travel infrequent enough that you can rent a car?

There is no law that says "Pizza Hut can require you to have a car but office jobs can't"

If the employer says "Transportation is required" then it's required. They can set any job requirements they want as long as the requirement doesn't discriminate against applicants due to age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or race. They can discriminate against applicants for just about anything else, including "Not having a car"

I'm a good example of this. I bike to work 3 days a week on average. I'd bike all 5 but I routinely have to go out during the day for job related stuff where I need a car. Usually it's a short trip near the office, but I can't take an hour to go 10 miles. And I can't be sweaty when I get there. And I often have to take materials with me that I can't carry on a bike. A car is required for the job. The job does not provide me with one if I don't have one. If I wanted to bike 5 days a week no matter what, this wouldn't be the right job for me.

Doesn't sound unreasonable as long as you get reimbursed for miles. To see the upside, you can use those 2 days for grocery shopping and all other errands that just work better with car. Lemon --> lemonade

I am the part-owner of an architectural firm in the US and still must deal with **** about my bike-riding from my partners (who are more "corporate" and concerned about "decorum" than I am, and less concerned about visibly sustainable life-style):
- Showing up and being briefly visible in bike clothes in the morning
- Being visibly hot in the studio after the morning shower (the new office has bike storage, lockers and showers, per my instigation)
- Riding cycle to local client meetings.
These are all areas of some occasional tension.

Cycling in my city saves time (I can be at my clients in half the time of my colleagues taking public transit or a cab) and my clients are very progressive about sustainable transportation choices, which I do point out when needed..

Perhaps the OP actually needs a car for potentially remote client meetings, but I think it is likely that his/her potential employer is being somewhat somewhat regressive and dickish like my partners. Therefore I agree with others that the OP will need to be practical and either suck it up and get the car, or find a different job. If the gig has merit, I would take the job, prove worthy, then gradually try to change the firm culture.

I would get reimbursed if I bothered to ever turn in my expense reports. Honestly for the $20 a month I'd get it's never seemed worth it. It takes more than $20 worth of my time to do the reporting and cataloging receipts and stuff.

Now occasionally I'll drive 100 miles for a client and I'll turn in that expense report.

And yes, it is nice to be able to do all my other stuff on the days when I have a car. If I need to pick up something on the way home at a store that's 5 miles out of the way, MUCH easier in a car so I can actually be home in time to see my kids before they go to bed.

Just saying ... working architects aren't generally considered to be stupid. I think the o.p. understands that potential employers CAN require car ownership (or not) of job candidates. I expect they thought they might find a sympathetic ear on a bicycle commuting forum. Go figure. Maybe architects aren't that smart after all.

I can't walk around my office in shorts and a high vis yellow t shirt. But no one cares that I get off the elevator that way and change in my office. That's just reasonable on both sides. My employer has every right to expect me to dress professionally for my customer facing job and I have every right to say I'll look professional by the time the work day starts but I need to change real quick. I also make sure I'm here 5 minutes early so I'm changing on my time.

The part about being hot and sweaty on a summer morning....that's tough. I just have to suck it up and get cooled off faster. I find a fan helps. And not pushing to hard on the ride in when it's really muggy out. No matter how good biking is for anything...no one wants to sit next to a sweaty smelly mess at a meeting.

But I figure out how to manage those things so they don't interrupt business operations and no one cars how I get to and from work.

You're in Boston. I've driven in Boston. It was awful. I imagine you could do cartwheels down the street and get to places faster than driving. That just makes sense to bike. Why spend an hour getting to a client meeting 5 miles away when you can be there in 30 minutes?

If your client loves the fact that you bike, your partners are morons for not biking. This is a 'know your audience' situation. In any business situation you're selling yourself just as much as your product/service. If your biking impresses the client, score!

Your last point is the best one. If the OP wants this job, accept it on their terms. If it's not a great job, look elsewhere.

Trying to dictate what the employers will and won't accept in the interview process is not starting out on the right foot. It's setting up a bad relationship from the start. They want to give you money to perform a task. If that task requires a car, you are being unreasonable to show up to the interview and tell them that their business model is wrong even if it is. If it's a good job, take the job, establish some credibility, THEN show them how you can bike 100% of the time.

Hi!

You're getting a lot of answers from the US above.

Not so useful in Cyprus.

Don't mention the car again and continue with the interview process. Don't offer to buy a car. Accept the position/sign the contract while ensuring that it states that you don't need to provide a car and have them cover the lease/insurance on a motorbike/scooter when push comes to shove.

I'm a little surprised that a decent sized firm won't provide a lease car. The cost of personal reimbursement per mi/km is much more prohibitive and a lease car is a simple business expense.

Is this a rinky dink firm?

+1, the pleasures of *owning* a car compared to the cost and headaches are debatable. My household is dropping a car this fall and we will use Ubers/rentals/Zipcars when needed, which will save a lot of $$ in the long-term.

A rental can get cost prohibitive.

My company rents cars all the time for various reasons. With a corporate discount I think we spend $90 - $130 a day depending on a few variables.

If you rented twice a month would could buy a cheap car for the rental money. And that doesn't even take into account the hassle of going to the rental place, picking up the car, returning it with the same level of gas they gave you...etc etc

Now an Uber is a different story. $20 to get where you're going twice a month is a lower cost option with none of the liability. (Wreck a rental car sometime. Your insurance will cover the repairs, but not the loss of use of the car for the 2 weeks its in the shop.)

Couldn't agree more. Some employers are OK with it, while others are more formal. For example, hospitality has complete locker room facilities for its employee so that's not something they would care about. However, with other professions how you arrive at the sight matters.

Some employee are smart enough to know when they're not presentable to a client, but I've me others that are breathing hard, are sweaty and smelly and try to sell me something. All I want to do is get away from them.

If that potential employer is too stodgy for you, its best to keep searching for one where your interests and values are a better match for both your sakes.

In some countries/areas/cultures, using a bicycle (i.e. not having/using a car) for transport is taken as a signt of "I'm poor, not successful"

If that's the case, employer probably doesn't want to invest in re-educating people they need to do business width, but show them what they want to see.

Tradition, but that's changing. Notice all the CEOs making presentation wearing jeans and sneakers? And the tie is also becoming obsolete. However, in those cases its more of a sign of being eccentric rather than impoverished.

I actually got a Lyft ride from a driver who told me the car was a rental, and Lyft has a program where he doesn't need a car to be a driver, they provide the rental, and he gets to use it for personal use as well. Maybe this is the program?

(I'm not saying you're wrong, I think it absolutely makes sense that some jobs include requirements to drive a car, and your own car, but I was surprised to learn about this Lyft/rental program)