Splitting travel costs fairly in a car share

Published on Sun, 18 October

Fuel or a rate per km, tolls and vignettes, children in the back – how to settle the drive to your holiday fairly, with a worked example and calculator.

The drive to your holiday is often the first item on the shared bill – and the one people talk about least. Yet it can be settled fairly in two minutes.

Step 1: What does the drive cost?

There are two common ways:

• Fuel by consumption: kilometres driven × consumption × fuel price. Honest, but only the running costs.
• Rate per km: kilometres driven × a fixed amount per kilometre, for example 30 cents. It includes tyres, servicing and depreciation – fair to whoever provides their own car.

Add tolls, vignettes and ferries. They're per car and belong on the shared bill, as do parking fees at your destination.

Step 2: Who's in the car?

Split by the people in the car, driver included. Agree on a share for children – often 50 percent of an adult.

Work out your own drive:

Several cars, one group

If two families drive in two cars, there are two ways:

1. Each car on its own: whoever sits in a car shares its costs. Simple when the cars are similarly full.
2. A shared pot: all travel costs go together and are split among everyone. Fair when a second car only drives because the group is too big for one.

What matters is that you decide beforehand.

Common mistakes

• Forgetting the way back. The calculator includes the return trip if you want.
• Counting tolls per person. Tolls and vignettes are per car, not per head.
• Overlooking excursion drives. The drive to the ski area or the theme park uses fuel too – record it like any other ride.

How Tripkitty does it

In Tripkitty you add cars with a rate per km, put the travellers in their seats and choose "per car" or "shared pot". The costs show up automatically as an expense in the settlement – excursion rides included.

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