Would you charge a friend for travel to work daily?

jackieglasgow

If she has offered I would work out a rough contribution. I was giving a friend a lift home from work at night for six months, usually two nights, and it was about six miles out of my way, I never asked her for anything as I had offered to do so, but by the end of it I was quite resentful that she never offered me anything, or even bought me a pack of sweets for the kids as a token. Not that I would have taken the money, but I know I would offer if it was the other way round. I know it doesn't really make sense, its nice to be nice, but its also nice you show your appreciation.

Mojisola

moneypuddle wrote: »

If you want to do it, yes definitely charge her for it

However, I'd take the warnings that it can hugely inconvenience you. My colleague and I both drive from one town to another 30 mins away each day so decided to share lifts. One week she would drive us both and the next I would, so no cash ever changed hands. But it was an absolute nightmare. She would sleep in, have zero sense of urgency in terms of getting herself out the house in the morning, I would spend 10-15 mins sat waiting outside her house on a morning, and then when she drove she would collect me (late) then go and fill up with petrol and we were arriving at work later and later.

Gladly I moved and managed to change the situation, but I would never do it again so be prepared for what you might be letting yourself in for!

As well as talking about a financial contribution, you must discuss this kind of thing. It's not easy but, if you talk about it now, you will find it easier to discuss if she does cause you any problems. As your friend has been using public transport up to now, she's probably not a bad timekeeper. You need to make sure she's okay with the times you can't offer her a lift - when you're not well, on holiday or going somewhere else after work - and that you give her as much notice as possible.

Do let us know what you decide!

spaghetti_monster

Hi,

Would agree with everyone that your friend should pay. It's so normal in my line of work that I was quite shocked your parents should suggest that it was out of line to ask money!

Also, don't know what kind of work/pay system you have... I'm freelance and travel is part of the job and tax deductible. Whatever your situation, why should you and your friend work at the same place - one of you pay nothing to get there and the other everything (and be unpaid chauffeur going out of their way everyday?)

Sorry I don't know exact details in the UK (I saw someone mentioned a figure of 40p per mile, you could check this out) - but where I am the government figure is 19 euro cents per kilometre. This covers everything (car maintenance, insurance as well as petrol and VAT).

I'm very happy to pay my share of this. I've been in my job for years and mostly manage on public transport, but regularly have to rely on others who drive (when work is faraway or in awkward places). I'm now learning to drive (very late!), but in all these years I have also been lucky not to have all the expenses that cars bring.

I would also add that I walk/bike/public transport to where I get picked up - this is completely normal for all the people I work with (many different people on many different jobs). Often kind colleagues will drop me home late at night.

It could be a solution if you're worried it becomes difficult (ie, like previous posters have said re. time keeping etc), to have your friend walk to a place where you pick her up at a prearranged time. Then if she's consistently late you don't have to wait.

Skintslimmer

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

a - Yes of course!
b - what you do is to fill the tank at the start of the week; before you do any work journeys, and write down the mileage for all your journeys [work wise] and all your journeys [non work related]. Then, at the end of the week, fill up again.

So - say it cost £20 to fill up; and the work journeys totaled 150 miles and the non-work ones totalled 50 miles - it would have cost you £15 for your work travel - so charge her £7.50.

There's an even simpler way - fill tank up from a specific point (e.g. 1/4, or when the red light has only just come on) and reset your mileometer to zero. Next time your fuel reaches the same level, look at how many miles you have done, and take the cost of the fuel and divide it by that number of miles, to work out how much it cost you per mile.

e.g you put in £20 of fuel, and got 150 miles.

20 divided by 150 = 13p per mile

Then just work out how many miles it is to work (and don't forget that its there and back, so double this) and multiply this by the pence per mile - in this case 13p.

Then you have the cost of the trip in fuel - so charge her half of this per day.

As an indicator, I shared lifts with various friends on an 18 mile journey into work (36 mile round trip). We all drove different cars, but agreed it cost about a fiver in petrol, so divided that by the amount of people in the car, sometimes it'd be 2, sometimes 4. Cheap transport all round

SailorSam

I think it's pretty normal that people contribute towards costs, not just petrol.
Your friend is getting a better deal than if she had to catch a bus, door-to-door service, it's irrelevant that you're going anyway. How much is the bus fare ? Split that and you both win.
Although you need to bare in mind your insurance may look at this as you're using your car as a taxi, what's the phrase they use 'hire and reward' ???

retireby50

Doesn't seem necessary to advise about what you should do given all the above, but......

...what planet are your parents on??????????

aliasojo

retireby50 wrote: »

Doesn't seem necessary to advise about what you should do given all the above, but......

...what planet are your parents on??????????

The 'nice people' planet.

My Mum might have been joining them there if she were still alive, bless her. She was sometimes too nice for her own good and rated civility and niceness over practicality. I think the older generation especially, can be less likely to take all things into account.

minerva_windsong

Firstly, good for her for offering to contribute!

If money is tight for you then I don't see anything wrong with her giving you money for the petrol, even if it's just a token payment (which you could think of as covering the 10 miles you travel to pick her up every week). £10 a week seems fair enough to me, or whatever the equivalent public transport costs would be if you weren't driving her.

inkie

I would expect her to contribute, especially if you having to go a bit out of your way to pick her up etc. How about she gives you what she would have had to spend in bus fare? She would getting much more of a convenient ride for the same price!

Mojisola

aliasojo wrote: »

The 'nice people' planet.

My Mum might have been joining them there if she were still alive, bless her. She was sometimes too nice for her own good and rated civility and niceness over practicality. I think the older generation especially, can be less likely to take all things into account.

I think the OP's parents must be like this. I'm sure that if the situation was the other way round and ellissa told them that she wouldn't be giving her friend any money because the friend was driving to work anyway, they'd be horrified.