Cost an Assessment Day's Travel Before You Accept the Interview Slot — Free
An assessment centre 46 miles away is not a two-hour commitment, and an unpaid travel day is a real cost that nobody quotes you. This gauge runs the legs in order — home to station, station to the centre, centre to the second site, home again — and bands each one in distance, hours and fuel, so the day you are being asked to give is visible before you say yes to the slot.
The proof surface
Free path: the gauge computes locally in the browser with no key and no account. Where an AI step helps, any free chat assistant works — Google AI Studio's free tier and Groq's free tier were both no-card and rate-limited when this page was reviewed on 2026-09-13 (limits change; check before you rely on them).
Why the flat version breaks
A journey planner gives you one leg at a time and an arrival time for a trip that has not happened yet. What you actually need to decide is the shape of the whole day: how many hours it consumes, what the fuel costs, and which leg is long enough to need a break or an overnight. Running the legs as one gauge answers all three at once.
How to use the interview day travel gauge in four passes
The park-and-ride, the taxi from the station, the tube between two sites and the walk back. They are short, they add up, and they are the legs that decide whether you arrive early or flustered.
Fuel at today's pump price divided by your car's real mpg is the minimum. Add wear, insurance and the fact that an assessment day is not a commute if you want the figure that reflects what the day costs you.
A mixed day of city roads, a train with a connection and a taxi averages 30 to 35 mph, not 60. The hours figure on the gauge is only useful if the speed is honest.
Some employers reimburse travel for assessment days and some do not, and few volunteer it. A gauge with a mileage total is a reasonable, unemotional way to ask.
SAMPLE DATA, NOT A VERIFIED CLAIM: Graduate engineer assessment, Northside Plant · 8 Oct 2026 · six legs, 121 miles · 18p a mile · average 34 mph · the York leg is 46 miles on its own. Replace these values with your own source before you rely on anything.
What breaks first
Costing the fastest route instead of the likely one
A journey planner assumes a connection that exists. If the 09:00 start means a 06:12 departure and a replacement bus service, put those miles and that speed in.
Forgetting the day, not just the distance
A 121-mile day is also a nine-hour day with an assessment in the middle of it. The hours column is the number that tells you whether to travel the night before.
Assuming travel is reimbursed because it is an interview
It often is not, particularly for assessment centres and trial tasks. Asking in advance with a figure attached is a professional question, not an awkward one.
What you pay otherwise
| The usual route | What it leaves out | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| An overnight stay to make the start time | Sensible, and a cost that belongs in the comparison | a hotel night plus an early-morning taxi |
| A mileage-claim app | Tracks your trips automatically, if you drive for work often | a subscription, and your location history on their servers |
| Accepting the slot without costing it | A nine-hour unpaid day you agreed to before you knew its size | a day of earnings and the fuel |
| This page + the free interview day travel gauge | Computed in your tab, result on screen before you type anything | $0 |
Try the free interview day travel gauge
Six legs of an assessment day are already priced at 18p a mile and an average of 34 mph, with the 46-mile rail leg drawn as the widest band. Change the rate to 0.21 and every fuel figure on the gauge moves with it.
Open the free interview day travel gauge →Keep the work if you will use it again
Every leg, the cumulative distance, the hours and the fuel total, plus copy and share-link, with no account.
The on-screen result is free and repeatable forever. The one-time tier adds a tangible file you keep and the saved history that comes with it; it never removes or degrades the free result.
Boundary: This prices the legs you type in; it is not a journey planner, it cannot check timetables, traffic, fares or ticket availability, and its hours are estimates based on the average speed you enter. Check real times with the operator before you travel, and confirm any reimbursement with the employer in writing.