Giving a friend lifts to work, am I wrong for charging him?

missbiggles1

chesky wrote: »

It's not terribly clear from the OP but the £25 might be for more than one week.

I assumed that was for a month, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Pollycat

FBaby wrote: »

He isn't using OP and I can't understand why you think he is. He ASKED if OP would take him. OP agreed. It is a temporary arrangement. He OFFERED to pay, OP said not. He INSISTED and then OP asked that he paid him a completely unreasonable amount. £45 a month when it costs OP probably only £5 more than before? That's a terrible friend in my book.

I'm saying so because in my book he is using the OP.

The OP asked for £10 per week for the 4 week period.

How do you know that's a completely unreasonable amount?
Maybe the OP could tell us how much the return bus fare would be per week.
And how convenient the bus times are to get this guy to work.
And how far he has to walk to catch the bus and how far he has to walk to work when he gets off the bus.

Then maybe we could debate how unreasonable the £10 per week really was.

And debate just who is the 'terrible friend' in this scenario.

springdreams

FBaby wrote: »

He isn't using OP and I can't understand why you think he is. He ASKED if OP would take him. OP agreed. It is a temporary arrangement. He OFFERED to pay, OP said not. He INSISTED and then OP asked that he paid him a completely unreasonable amount. £45 a month when it costs OP probably only £5 more than before? That's a terrible friend in my book.

OP didn't say he didn't want payment, he simply said they would work it out at the end of the 4 week period. This was his mistake. He should have accepted payment immediately it was offered, and agreed the amount to be paid.

And the amount the OP asked for was £10 per week. Nothing was said about £45 per month.

Pollycat

To put things into perspective, a weekly Stagecoach bus ticket for a 4 mile range outside of the town centre costs £12.50 in my area.
If someone was picking me up at the door and dropping me back off at the door, I'd be pretty happy to pay £10 a week for that.

And the OP told his 'friend' not to bother with payment when he'd only given him a lift for one day during his first week.

Jlawson118 wrote: »

He asked me if I'd pick him up and take him home and he'd pay me, I told him sure. One week before he started working all week, he worked just one day of the week, I parked outside his house once taking him home and he got his wallet out, I told him to put it away and to sort something out after the next four weeks.

Person_one

selement wrote: »

I think it's fine to charge but not much. If it's 5 times a week that is quite often so I don't think it's unreasonable to want a little compensation for going out of your way. As it's a mate I think it may be worth suggesting a smaller token payment of £5 a month though?£10 sounds like a lot unless you are totally splitting your petrol costs which I would consider doing if it was a more permanent arrangement but not for temporary

Agree with this, I think a fiver a week is a much more sensible amount to ask for given the minimal inconvenience/cost involved.

SensibleSarah

Before I drove I got a lift to work with a colleague 5 days a week for a while. However he certainly didn't go out of his way to get me - I made my own way to a pick up point on his normal route & he dropped me off at the same place on the way home. I paid £10 a week (there was a toll on our route so that went towards that as well as petrol) plus my bus journeys to the pickup point were costing me another £20 a week. Journey from pickup to work was about 9 miles. In the end I decided to go the money saving route & got a bus & train pass instead as that was slightly cheaper than the lift & bus combined over the course of a month.

So OP, your friend is lucky you're being so generous. Tell him to make his own way if he's going to moan about it.

swingaloo

Having had the same issues I sympathise with the OP. I offered someone who lived nearby a lift home from work one day after finding out she lived near me. I then said I would pick her up the following morning. She did offer to pay me but as she was just around the corner I declined payment as 'I was going anyway'.

Then a week or so later after she had been speaking to another co worker they asked if I could also pick the other woman up. The a 3rd one jumped on the bandwagon and I ended up taking 3 of them. They all lived on my estate but it was still a trail as I was picking up/dropping off at their doors. I was leaving home earlier and getting back later but because I had declined payment from the first one I felt it would be unreasonable to ask the other 2.

However, luckily they had spoken amongst themselves and decided to give me 20 a month each which was great because I was beginning to feel a bit resentful especially as only one of them was prompt. It got to the stage where I was often having to knock one up and another one would keep me waiting to the stage where I wold be having to then rush to get to work on time.
It really got to the stage where it was just not worth the hassle.

Bogalot

PeacefulWaters wrote: »

Car insurance is unlikely to allow you to profit from this.

HMRC values wear and tear on the car as 45p a mile. If he is in the car for 4 miles each way that's 40 miles in a five day week.

45 x 40 = £18 so half that (you pay your share) makes £9 a week reasonable without you turning a profit. Divide by three if you only want a petrol contribution.

Yes, it's reasonable to ask.

Passenger payments are only 5p per mile, to account for the additional wear and tear. If using your reasoning the OP needs to calculate the additional cost of the journey compared to their usual route, they cannot profit from something they already have to do.


The RAC route planner allows you to calculate route fuel costs.

DavidF

Why should the OP pay for his/her friend to get to work ? Because the OP has saved up and passed the driving test at X cost to themselves then saved up again to purchase a road worthy car, Then shells out continually to keep the car on the road with the associated costs of this - Tax, Insurance, Wear and tear, depreciation ect ect ect.
Funny it is "usually" people who either don't have a car who seem to think the world owes them a free lift because "you were going that way". So going on the same principal im sure all these non car owners will be quite happy for the drivers to come round their house and sit inside all night watch their TV and log on to their internet.....Fairs fair as it isn't costing "anybody" anything extra. Sure it must be ok to sleep on the sofa while everyone else is in bed.....saves the driver rent and leccy ect but costs the non driver nothing.....All very silly really.

Grumpyoldmoo

I pay £10 per week for my lifts home, it's my way of saying how appreciative I am & she literally lives around the corner from me. Some weeks she refuses to take the money.
To get a taxi home from work each day would cost me £10, to walk the 4.5 miles would take me 1hr 20mins