A Guide to Car Sharing

Transcription

1 A Guide to Car Sharing Frequently Asked Questions We ve prepared a list of frequently asked questions about car sharing and also a best practice guide (some dos and don ts) for those participating in the scheme. If you have any other questions, them to the group and we ll do our best to answer them. Q. Why should I even consider car sharing? What are the benefits? A. For a start you can save a fortune on travel costs. Proven savings for people travelling 20 miles to and from work each day and sharing with another 2 people can range from 500 to over 1000 a year, depending upon the costs of running your car. Remember that the true costs of motoring have to be spread over every mile travelled. There are also likely to be benefits or incentives given to registered car sharing groups. For example, as the demand for car-parking spaces continues to grow, the Council may have to consider priority allocations. Reserving spaces for registered car sharers could be seen as a sound way of reducing the parking demands. Q. Do I have to have a car in order to car share? A. No, the scheme is open to everyone. You just enter your car status in the database and you ll hopefully be put in touch with potential sharers who can provide the wheels. Your group can then choose a cost splitting option that takes account of the fact that you do not have a car. Q. What happens if the person I am sharing my lift with unexpectedly needs to stay late at work and is unable to drive me home? A. You will be able to use the database to search for a one-off lift at short notice. You can also have your journey home by public transport planned by our own Transportation Helpline on (Mon-Fri 9am 4pm) or by the National Traveline on outwith these hours. Ways in which assistance might be offered in emergency situations are also currently being considered. Q. Won t I have to keep to set schedules and lose flexibility. A. Only if you want to get maximum financial benefit from sharing. You can opt to share on 3 days of the week (but no less) and still register your group. Q. Will car-sharing affect my insurance? A. Obviously your car must be taxed and have a valid MOT, and you must be adequately insured. You should inform your insurance company that you are car sharing. This will not increase your insurance premium. Most insurance companies will cover you for carrying passengers to and from work. However your insurance would become invalid if you were to charge passengers more than their fair share of the running costs.

2 Q. Can I charge my passengers if I car-share and if so, how much? A. Yes you can, as long as you don t make a profit from the charge. Alternatively you can take it in turns to drive your own cars so that the costs will be equally shared. If you do agree to charge for the journeys, the charge must not be more than the running cost of the car (to cover petrol/diesel, oil, tyres, servicing repairs and replacements) plus perhaps a nominal amount for standing charges such as road tax and insurance although you should check with your insurance company that you are allowed to pass on the latter costs. The charge should be divided equally amongst the number of people in the car, including yourself. A guide to motoring costs per mile is also included within this document. You should be aware that by charging an amount that would be considered profitable you could invalidate your insurance and also incur both tax and legal implications. Q. What if after a few weeks I find that car-sharing doesn t suit me? A. By registering in the scheme, you will not be committing yourself to car-sharing permanently and you can agree to drop out at any stage.

3 Good Practice When you choose to car share, the benefits can be great. However, remember that you must get into the habit of considering your partners in the group. If your group is going to be successful, you must be open from the start its better to think about all eventualities at the outset and perhaps lay down some ground rules so that everyone knows where they stand. Here are some of the issues you should address: Pick-up Points Make sure that everyone is agreeable and happy about picking-up and setting-down arrangements. Be consistent - try to avoid picking someone up outside their door and asking someone else to walk half a mile to a more convenient point. Also, if you re travelling a longer distance, sometimes its easier and more convenient for all people in the group to get to a common meeting point and then travel in one car from there. Waiting Times Agree a fixed time that you should wait for someone to appear to be picked-up. There s nothing worse than someone being consistently late. Contact Numbers Make sure everyone in the group knows how to get in touch with everyone else both at work and at home. Agree a procedure to be followed if someone has to change the normal routine at short notice. Start and Finish Times Flexi-time allows most of us to start work between 8am and 10am and leave between 4pm and 6pm. It s important to have a clear understanding about start and finish times but its also important to adopt a degree of flexibility. For example, the lets down-tools approach at finishing time may not suit everyone if an early finish is being planned, try to agree that 30mins notice should always be given. If you know that you are going to need an earlier start or later finish on a certain day, then where possible, discuss this a few days in advance. Inside the Car From the start, discuss and try to agree upon some of the things that may seem simple to you but where others may have different preferences, e.g. Whether smoking or eating is allowed in the car The preferred temperature The radio station - Music, news or none at all?

4 Sharing the costs Now that you ve taken the plunge and formed your car-sharing group, you re going to have to decide how to share the driving and/or the travel costs in a way that s fair to all. But firstly, you need to agree what actual costs are being incurred. The True Costs of Running a Car The following two tables can be used as a good guide for a pence per mile figure. The tables give the total running costs for both petrol and diesel cars, but we have highlighted two lines that you may wish to refer to. One is the petrol/diesel-only cost, and the other is the total running costs based on an annual mileage of 15,000 miles ( this figure includes depreciation, breakdown cover, wear and tear etc). The information contained in the tables has been based on figures available on the AA website ( ) Please note that the costs against performance and depreciation are based on figures for a new car.

5 Petrol Car Running Costs up to to to to over Cost new ( s) Standing charges per annum ( s) Road tax Insurance Cost of capital Depreciation Breakdown cover Standing charges per mile (pence) Total ( s) , , , , , , Running costs per mile (pence) Petrol* Tyres Service labour costs Replacement parts Parking and tolls Total (pence) * Unleaded 75.78p/litre For every penny more or less, add or subtract Total of standing charges and running costs (in pence) based on annual mileage of: 5,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles

6 Diesel Car Running Costs up to to to to over Cost new ( s) Standing charges per annum ( s) Road tax Insurance Cost of capital Depreciation (Based on 10,000 miles per annum.) Breakdown cover Total ( ) Standing charges per mile (pence) 5, , , , , , Running costs per mile (pence) Diesel* Tyres Service labour costs Replacement parts Parking and tolls Total (pence) * 78.01p/litre. For every penny more or less, add or subtract Total of standing charges and running costs (in pence) based on annual mileage of: 5,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles ,000 miles

7 A Road Tax Subtract 55 if the car was registered before March 2001 and the engine is less than 1549cc. This equals a saving of 1.1 pence per mile at 5,000 miles per year reducing down to 0.18p per mile at 30,000. B Insurance This is the average cost for a fully-comprehensive policy with a 60% no-claims discount. C Depreciation All cars will depreciate at different rates, depending on make, model, age, mileage, condition etc. For the purpose of this report an average annual depreciation figure is calculated and is based on the average cost of a new car within the various engine capacity groups. In the case of second-hand cars the depreciation should be assessed individually. D Breakdown Cover AA Breakdown Cover payment, including Relay. E Petrol / Diesel Based on the average price of a litre of petrol/diesel at the time of this report. The cost per mile figure is calculated from what the AA consider to be a reasonable fuel consumption for the various engine groups. F Engine Oil Allowance is made for normal oil consumption and routine oil changes. G Tyres Estimated tyre life of 30,000 miles. This may vary depending on the individual driving style. H Servicing Routine servicing as recommended by the vehicle manufacturer. In the case of older motor cars the servicing costs may be more. I Repairs and Replacements An allowance is made for routine repairs and replacements that are likely to be needed due to normal wear and tear. However, it is unrealistic for us to allow for any major repairs that will only occur as a result of unexpected mechanical or electrical failures. For this reason only the owner of the vehicle can assess the true cost of this item, as repair costs will vary, even when comparing identical cars. Please Note In the case of diesel cars it is felt that engine size does not adequately reflect the class of the car. New price has therefore been used for classification.

8 So Which Figure do I use? Car Share Groups When cash is to change hands within a car sharing group (for example when one member doesn t own a car) its up to all members of the group to decide on the cost per mile. It should obviously be somewhere between the fuel only cost and the total running cost but remember that it can t be more than the total running costs or it will be deemed to be a profit. One-off Lifts If you are using the find a lift home option on the Car Share Database, we advise that you offer a contribution to the driver of at least 15p per mile irrespective of car occupancy (unless of course he/she asks for more! and remember that he/she too will have read this guide). At 15p per mile, you are still likely to be cheaper than the equivalent public transport fare. How to split the Costs We ve talked to some experienced sharers and put together some tried and tested options. Hopefully, you ll find one that suits your group. Remember that there are no tax implications of car sharing provided that no-one makes a profit! 1. The Time-About Option This option is probably the simplest and works best for a group who have no, non-drivers and where everyone s journey starts around the same area. It s simply a case of sharing the driving as equally as possible amongst all members. No money changes hands and at the most, all that s needed administratively is a simple rota.

9 2. The Long Haul Approach This option looks complicated but its actually quite straightforward once you understand the principles. It allows full flexibility and takes account of non car-owning members. It works best for a situation where all members are travelling from the same area, a longer distance away, e.g. Edinburgh to Glenrothes and where the number travelling each day varies due to members commitments. Step 1. Firstly work out what a one way journey by a car costs (in this example, from Edinburgh we have used 4.80). The return journey therefore costs (Its useful to choose a figure which divides equally by 2,3 and 4 as this is the number of people who can be sharing in that group on any day in this case they agreed on 15p per mile which is 9.00 (they then rounded this up to 9.60 to cover a large chunk of the bridge tolls and also make it more easily divisible by 2,3 and 4). The basic principle of the scheme is that the driver of the car on any particular day gets credited with a theoretical contribution from each passenger, based on the total costs for that day being shared by the number of people in the car. Step 2. What we do now is work out the costs per person for a different number of people in the car. Our costs in this example are therefore:- 4 people travelling : 1.20 per single journey; 2.40 per return journey. 3 people travelling: 1.60 per single journey; 3.20 per return journey. 2 people travelling: 2.40 per single journey; 4.80 per return journey. This scheme also takes account of the situation where someone decides he s only travelling one way, For example: 4 people travelling to Glenrothes in the morning = 4.80/4 = 1.20 each for morning journey; but only 3 people travelling to Edinburgh at night = 4.80/3 = 1.60 each evening journey; Hence it costs 2.80 for both return travellers and only 1.20 for the one-way traveller. 3 people travelling in the morning = 4.80/3 = 1.60 each morning journey; but only 2 people travelling to Edinburgh in the evening = 4.80/2 = 2.40 each evening journey; Hence it costs 4.00 for both return travellers and only 1.60 for the one-way traveller. 2 people travelling to Glenrothes in the morning = 4.80/2 = 2.40 each morning journey; but only 1 person travels to Edinburgh in the evening. Hence it costs 2.40 for both travellers as no credit is given for driving on your own.

10 Step 3 What we do now is keep a daily record of credits and debits. Each day, the driver is credited by the appropriate contribution from those travelling. The idea is for each of the members to try to keep their individual balances as close to zero as possible. The figures are totalled at the end of the week to give a weekly total and running balance. Basically those people who have the lowest figures at the end of each week should drive a bit more the following week to equalise their figures with the others in the pool. There is also a cash adjustment if necessary. A person can also be in the car pool even if they don t have a car they are just never credited with contributions. There is an opportunity to make cash adjustments each week (or less often if preferred) to balance the figures if someone is getting too far ahead. In the example below, John doesn t have a car and was on leave on Tuesday. Paul drove on Tuesday and was on leave Wed. & Thurs. George drove on Monday and was off on Friday. Mary drove more than normal (Wed, Thurs & Fri). (A good check that your calculations are correct is simply to add up the figures in each row the plus and minus figures should always cancel each other out to zero). DATE John Paul George Mary 15/01/00 ( 1.80) ( 1.80) 5.40 ( 1.80) 16/01/ ( 2.40) ( 2.40) 17/01/00 ( 2.40) 0.00 ( 2.40) /01/00 ( 2.40) 0.00 ( 2.40) /01/00 ( 3.20) ( 3.20) week total ( 9.80) ( 0.20) ( 1.80) At the end of the week the group decides whether to clear the balance with a cash adjustment or carry forward the balance and try to even it out. In the example above, because John doesn t have a car, he will always run up a cost and they therefore decide to clear the balance each week. To clear the balance, everyone chips in (or takes out) what they owe or are owed. Because the balance always adds up to zero, it always comes back to a clean sheet each week. If you think this looks too complicated, don t panic! We can you a copy of the spreadsheet in Excel (with instructions) and the calculations will be done automatically for you.