A visit runs on two clocks. One runs inside the house, where the work you bought actually happens. The other runs in the car, from the agency's door to yours and back. If the second clock is not written on the quote, you are paying for the visit and hoping the drive is free.
Local option: New Plan Care gives families in the St. Louis area in-home help so a parent can stay home: companionship, help with bathing and dressing, meals, and overnight care. Call (314) 405-0887.
Find out where the shift starts
Ask where the caregiver begins the day. Some agencies send workers out from a central office, so every first visit starts with a trip across town. Others assign people by neighborhood, so a caregiver who lives close to you may be the one who arrives. Ask for the starting point in writing, and ask whether the same worker keeps the same starting point on a regular schedule.
Ask whether the drive is paid time
Two answers matter. Is travel time between homes counted as working time on your bill? And is there a separate mileage or travel line? Either practice can be fair. What is not fair is a quote that says nothing, followed by an invoice with a line nobody explained. Read the quote the way you would read any bid, line by line, and mark every place the drive could show up. For how travel and visit lines usually appear, see How to read a home care quote.
Match the shift to the distance
A short visit at a far address is mostly travel. If the agency's minimum shift is short, the caregiver may spend more of the paid time on the road than in your kitchen. One longer block at a distant home often makes more sense than several short blocks spread through the day. Ask the agency to plan a week for your actual address, not a generic one, and check whether the plan puts a single caregiver on back-to-back visits that sit close together.
Plan for the late drive
Traffic on the big highways and at the river crossings is not steady. A caregiver stuck on a bridge arrives late, and a late arrival changes the whole day for the person waiting. Ask what happens when the drive runs long. Does the agency send a backup from a closer neighborhood? Does it call you before the arrival window closes? Is the late time billed, and if so, is it the caregiver's lateness or the road's? Get those answers before the first shift, not after the first missed one.
Check the coverage line
Every agency draws a service area. Ask where the line sits. Some agencies will not take a home past a certain point. Others take it but staff it from a distant office, which means a longer drive every day. If you live near the edge of an area, ask which caregivers actually live close enough to reach you on a normal morning.
What to bring to the call
Bring your exact address, the time window you need, the days of the week, and the route you would drive if you were the caregiver. Note the time of day when that route is at its worst. Then ask the agency for the drive time it assumed when it quoted you. A vague answer is a finding. A specific answer you can check against a map is a good sign. For how each agency states its method, see How We Rate.