Has anyone bought a car jointly with a friend?

[fernis]

I don't currently have a car since my last one died a few months ago. I don't need a car for work, but there are things I've missed being able to do over the last few months. So, I've been talking with a friend about buying a car together. She is in a similar position to me - wants a runaround for local things and occasional weekends or day trips, but doesn't NEED a car. Our kids are all grown up, so don't need ferrying around, and we only live about 10 minutes walk apart. If we bought a car together we'd obviously have much smaller costs each, and could afford a slightly newer & more reliable one.

We don't have any issues with trusting each other over the finances, or that only one of us would be the registered keeper, and I think we're both pretty sensible drivers. We are both divorced/single and would be the only drivers. It seems like a good solution, as what we both really want is a part-time car, but are there any pitfalls? I'd be interested to know if anyone else has done this with a friend or family member.

Well the obvious one is if you both want / need it on the same day, how does that work? Do you have zipcar or similar where you are? Would make more sense?

I looked for zipcar/car clubs but there's not anything in our local area, so not really practical. I think we'd 'book' ahead if one person had something they really needed it for, or make sure things like gym classes don't clash, but both of us think we'd be able to be flexible, so I don't think it would be an issue. If it was, then we could just divvy up the days. And obviously if it really didn't work out we could just sell the car. We just thought it seemed such a good solution but are wondering if there are reasons why it's not something a lot of people do.

You don’t have any issues with trusting each other so I would suggest keeping it that way way. Don’t do it.

You can’t register the car in joint names so if you fall out it’s another stress to consider

I have done this, years and years ago. I an't remember exactly how it worked as we didn't live that close together and I can't for the life of me remember how we got the car to and fro. But I do know we had a sort of week-on, week-off type system. More or less, with discussion and agreement for specific reasons eg weekends away etc.

I think it would be totally fine but I'd suggest getting a shared calendar for the car usage for things you really want to do and I'd also suggest that if you want to spontaneously use the car - eg to do the weekkly shop - put that in the calendar, even if it's just 10 seconds before you leave the house so that if the other one wants a similar spontaneous trip, they can look in the calendar and see if it's available.

I'd also suggest revising the system after a few weeks. So take notes and lessons. if you find tha tone of you likes spontaneous use and the other one likes planning, it might work well. if you both like spontaneous and it's causing problems, then you might want to revisit and do a system like we did with shared custody!

This sounds like it might not work in reality

Given the increasing cost of petrol you’d need to have an agreemen abut filling up. The fairest would be always returning it to full after each use, in case the other uses it next, but that might be impractical.

If there’s an accident, it would affect both of your future insurances and an accident by the “second” driver would affect the no claims bonus of the first. You’d need to consider the size of the excess and who would be responsible for it.

I think it’s one of those things where it will be brilliant - until it’s not. You need to consider all
scenarios including:

what happens if one person drives it significantly more that the other, thus disproportionately adding to the depreciation?

what happens if one of you gets a motoring conviction and adds disproportionality to the insurance?

who pays for any repairs? What about maintenance? What about it you disagree on what should be done when?

what happens if one of you writes the car off? About the depreciation/replacement and also logistics of a car not being available for potentially weeks?

who is responsible for the admin? And decisions?

will you agree on how clean and tidy to keep the car?

what if one person wants to sell and one doesnt?

how will you ensure fuel is split accurately?

The list goes on. I think that it’s one of those things that COULD work BUT needs exceptionally tight parameters and rules or it could turn sour very quickly. And EVERTHING needs to be drawn up
into a written agreement.

Thanks for all the replies. I was quite surprised by mostly negative responses, but quite a few points I hadn't thought about - all really helpful and plenty to think about. My friend knows I've posted, so we'll go through all the issues raised and see if we think those obstacles are manageable or potentially too big. I think I can now see why it's not something more people do!

I understand all this but in real life, inwoild.imagine good friends would have a certain flexibility. The finances, absolutely - eg agree whompays exess in an accident or whatever- but I dont think you need a contract on tidiness!!

Obviously it depends.on the friendship. Eg is this the kind of friend you have a relaxed and easy relationship with? The sort where you dont keep obsessive track of who spends what because you know it works out in the end? The type who you see regularly and spontaneously but who understands if you have to cancel. One who knows you well enough they can come into your house without you feeling like you have to do special preparations ans who will seamlessly slot into your kitchen tonhelp make a meal or a cup of tea?

It sounds to me like it is that kind of friend in which case all these fears about little things are probably not relevant.

I would agree on a car that you could both afford on your own if you needed to. So if the arrangement wasn’t working for one person, or their finances changed, then pulling out wouldn’t fuck the other one over. The shared calendar is also a very good idea as long as you are both organised enough to use it

I disagree re not needing a contract that includes tidiness! This is exactly the kind of thing that create bad feeling over time.

How about an agreed price per mile ? Keep a clipboard in the car for milage. Maybe have a shared spreadsheet for recording it, and adding up per time period (month), and who "owes" what. That goes into a pot to pay insurance/servicing and the like. Modify milage rate as required over time. Also at selling time, split money as per milage.

I think that would work well. Especially as no trust issues.

Yes, it's this kind of friend. Someone I've known for about 30 years and have an easy relationship with though we don't live in each other's pockets and have our own interests and friends.

Good idea re price per mile - thanks

I think you might find that, once you have a car, you might start using it more than you expect. So how will that work? Is using it on a Tuesday morning equal to using it on a Saturday afternoon? What happens if you want to use it intermittently on a Sunday to visit friends but your friend starts having a regular commitment on a Sunday for which she needs the car?
I think you need to agree where you’ll park too. If either or both of you have a drive or allocated parking spot, it’s not going to make much sense to leave it on a street equidistant between you but otherwise you might have to walk 10 mins rather than 5 mins to get it.

I think if you both have the same outlook on car ownership, where it's just a tool and the odd chip or scratch or stain on a seat matters not a jot, shared ownership is a great idea. I would not do it with a "pride and joy turtle waxer" though.

And if you find your calculated milage rate ends up too expensive for what you use it for, then you can both decide to get rid of it. Or whatever. You can calculate it before you buy it even as a decision tool.

I think the no claims insurance bonus if for the owner only though, so that needs to be factored into who owns it.

Can’t see how that would be too much of an issue, it’s just for admin after all.

@fernisi think you need to consider both what are fixed costs and what are ‘variable’ costs I.e linked to mileage

Sorry for not coming back sooner. Friend and I have discussed all the different points raised here. We are planning to go ahead and review it after a year, and if either of us thinks it's not working we will then sell the car or one of us buy the other out. We are planning to split the time half and half. We can fit this so each of us has it on our days off or wfh days, and we'll have alternate weekends, though we will swap if one of us has something important - we are both quite laid back people so I can't see us arguing about this. Re petrol, the person who has the car for the weekend will leave a full tank on Sunday night, as it would mostly be short journeys during the week, but we'll keep a log of how much we're actually using it and are open to adjusting things if it doesn't feel we're paying equally, and also open to adjusting % we pay for things like servicing and repairs if one person is doing more mileage. Otherwise we've agreed to split all of those costs equally unless someone has an accident that is clearly their fault. Re parking, I have off-street parking, she lives in a busy street, so it would probably be parked at mine much of the time, even when it's not my turn, which is fine with both of us - this is one reason she doesn't have a car at the moment as parking isn't easy in her street. Neither of us is too precious about scratches or untidiness, but also not really messy or careless people either.

Thanks for all the comments. It's really helped us have an honest discussion about the potential pitfalls and what happens if either of us is not happy or having second thoughts. But we will see how it goes for a year - maybe it will be a perfect solution for us, but also it may not work out and we'll have to walk away. I am confident we'll stay friends, but we shall see. I will try and remember to post again when we're a few months in if anyone is interested to know how it's going.

To proportionally spilt the maintenance and petrol costs according to use you could have an account where you put in the cost of the miles done according to HMRC. I think it's 45 pence per mile