How much to charge for carpooling?

Question

I carpool with 2 other people, with one of them being the main driver. We drive 200 miles each week and the driver claims that gas is 75/week....so we should each pay $25 in gas.

According to current gas prices ($4/gallon) it should be $40/week if the car gets 20miles/gallon....AND this person drives a hybrid car, so we would already be paying a lot more than the cost of gas if we calculate the mileage as 20/gallon because the car gets closer to 50 miles/gallon (it shows the current mileage on the dash)!

Is it reasonable to pay what the driver is asking or not?

Answer 1

$25 a week sounds good to me.

Answer 2

You may want to check into this situation because if a person/driver starts charging fees for driving people around, that is considered against the law unless they have a license to taxi people. Riders can volunteer to pay an amount, but the driver cannot set a fee. Call your car insurance company to find out if this is true where you live.  Good luck! And if you do decide to voluntary pay for a ride, do remember the wear & tear on the vehicle and tires, not just the gas price.

Answer 3

You are only thinking about the gas.  What about the wear and tear of the vehicle.  I believe that the person's driving with me should pay for the gas.  Yes, $25.00 a week for gas is nothing.

Answer 4

you also have to calculate the cost of maintenance and depreciation on the car.  The IRS says that cost is 51 cents a mile.  So the actual cost is about $102 a week....or about  $34 per person

Answer 5

I think what he is asking is more than reasonable.  You are getting a fantastic deal.  As someone else said, the total average cost of driving is around 50 cents a mile, of which gas is only a small portion.