Creating Your Own Car Sharing Group - 3 Tips

Car sharing has been a popular way of helping drivers cut back on their driving. For various reasons, people choose to be in car sharing groups. Nevertheless, car sharing isn't accessible in each city yet. Starting your own car-sharing program could be a legitimate choice - but there are surely a few things to keep in mind.



Resource for this article: Three tips for creating your own car-sharing group



1 - Who'll own the vehicle?



The first thing you need to figure out is who'll be responsible for the vehicle. Unless you start some kind of business out of it, somebody needs to be in charge. At least a basic contract should be drawn up and signed by all individuals sharing the automobile.



2 – the insurance



No matter who's driving it, the insurance needs to cover the car. If the driving time is shared 30 to 40 percent of the time, check laws inside your state to know what to do. If you don't share with your insurance company that the car is regularly used by others, that could end up not getting you your money. The other option is to ask all members of the car-sharing network to get their own "non-owner policy" or "broad form" policy - both of which cover the driver of no matter what car they happen to be driving.



3 - Costs of the car-sharing



One of one of the most difficult things is probably figuring out cost sharing amounts. Monthly payments will be separate from the operating costs. You can have a monthly fee added as the monthly payment split. Operating costs need to be taken into consideration as well. You may just want to sit down and add all the expenses together. Divide that total by either the number of individuals sharing the car - or by the number of miles you are expecting to drive the car. The car should have "per mile" rate. 50 cents a mile is what the US government uses. Depending on the cost of fuel and insurance, an average per-mile sharing rate should be someplace from 50 cents to $1 per mile.



Officially sharing the costs of a car may take a bit of time and arithmetic to determine, but it could be worth it. Until ZipCar, Hertz Go, or some other car-sharing network starts a business in your city, it can be a great way to lower your cost and reduce your environmental impact.