To think friend is charging too much?

[sadaboutlife]

For of us sharing a car.
3 hour journey there
3 hour back
She says it will cost £120 petrol
So charging £30 each
Do you think that's correct ?

Tbh I think she is being greedy as heck. I dont drive. If a friend invites me to go somewhere with them then I either give them a fiver or i pay for us to have lunch or both depending on how far we have travelled (usually its just the next town over).

I would message her and say what someone else suggested here...
She wants 30 for 6 hours so you should have charged 40 for 8 hours, she paid you a tenner so she owes you 30 so it cancels itself out so you wont be paying her!
Have you asked your friends their opinions on this? Xx

@bpirockin out of interest why doesn't the scenario you've described equally apply when the others in the foursome are taking their turn to drive? The OP only took £10 from each of the others on the Edinburgh trip so why does the concept of 'compensation and risk' only apply to Citreon 1 woman?

@myrtleWilson - for some reason I missed the additional background - very strange. I apologise - thought it was a one-off long / special event journey. I agree, if that is the case then AA costs could/should sensibly be applied to each trip or none.

I hope that all concerned are going to query it with her - maybe she's a bit strapped at the moment and should just tell them that.

The government allows 45p a mile to allow for wear and tear as well as fuel.

This hasn't gone up in nearly 20 years I believe, as I was claiming this rate in 1999.

She might have used this to guide her calculations.

Yanbu.

We just did a 7hr journey to go on holiday, drove daily while there 20/30min journeys then 7 hours home 6 of us and a loaded car and roofbox. 1.6 Nissan qashqai 7 seater version and we used around £80.

Fair enough it's cheaper than public transport but you don't profit from friends.

Maybe she's charging you for talking in the back

Maybe she's charging you for talking in the back

Nearly spat me tea out!

A chatter surcharge!

Any updates?
I've done 900 miles on £120 petrol.
1.6 car.

Definitely too much. I’d have to ask her how come it’s costing her so much when it only cost you £40 for a ten hour trip.

I’d also suggest the other 3 of you go together and drop her from the car share arrangement if she’s being cheeky enough to try and make money from you all.

if you take it in turns to do the drive why are you even charging each other??

You said it's 400 miles in total.

My car does 400 miles on a full tank, maybe slightly less depending on where I'm driving, but that will cost me £48 approx. So unless she's driving a tank or monster truck, she is being very, very unreasonable.

What we used to do was;
Driver fills up at the first petrol station on the trip.
On the return journey, driver fills up at the last petrol station, and everyone splits the bill.

It's about a tank of fuel. About £75 for a 2L diesel. £50 for something smaller.

One way round this is to calculate how much she is overcharging and then secretly damage her car so that the repair equals the extra you had to pay.

Unless she is a registered taxi she cannot charge more than actual petrol costs and that is excessive

4 of you including the driver? £30 each is £90 for three of you, which is a bit more reasonable - then it wouldn't be costing her anything apart from wear and tear on the car.

She’s ripping you off, it will cost £60 max.

I would politely and helpfully say "I don't mind driving, it'll cost us all a lot less driving in my car, yours seems to use a lot of petrol".

How about you all go in the car and get it filled right up before setting off. The car owner pays for this fuel.

When the car needs filling up en route (if indeed it does) one of the passengers pays.

Then when the entire journey is over the car is refilled again and a passenger pays.

The passengers can then repay one another to split the cost evenly and the driver has not had to pay for any fuel at all.

I would say that on any stops on the way there/back the passengers should also pay for the driver's tea/coffee/chocolate as a thanks for doing the driving.

Any update?

I think £30 is reasonable. She's going to be driving for 6 hours total. Not only does petrol add up but its also extremely tiring driving for that long so she's doing you all a favour plus wear and tear on her car. If it bothers you that much then get the train but I bet it will cost the same (if not significantly more).

69mpg for a Citroen c1 so there are 4.5 litres in a gallon so that’s approximately 15 miles to the litre

Your travelling for 3 hours so at a top average of 70 mph x 3 that’s 240miles x2 as your coming back is 480 miles

So 15 miles to the litre that’s 32 litres @ £1.50 a litre is £48

Our last trip was to Edinburgh which is 4 hours and I just said £10 each

I would remind her about this Sadabout

If you are taking turns driving on your "gadabouts", then you are each absorbing wear and tear, and the effort of driving.

I think she's being a bit of a chancer.

I wouldn't be arguing about the costs if she is prepared to drive both ways. That is very tiring with whatever you are doing in the middle. Can you drive op? Would you want to? If not I would just accept her estimate. It has to be cheaper and more convenient than the price of the return journey by train. You might be able to do it by bus but it would take hours longer.