What is a fair price to pay ?

One of the reasons I don't give regular lifts to work colleagues as they expect it for nothing. I was stuck in a situation where I was giving this guy a lift one day a week for nearly 3 years and it was a 3 mile detour too. He didn't pay anything at first but started to "chip in" a £1 after a few months. Managed to shake him off eventually but he has passed his driving test now anyway.
 
Guerrilla said:
Nothing, it's a friend after all and it's not a hardship for the driver as he's going that way anyway (albeit with a minor detour).

Token gesture at the most, or better still a pint when you're both at the pub or a few bottles of beer at christmas or something.
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This.

My mate used to drive me to work when we worked in Cardiff, 120 mile round trip per day. Obviously I offered cash but as he's a good mate and had to make the journey regardless he told me to not be daft! If anything it was better for him to have his mate in the car for a pretty crap journey.

But then as above any time we were at the pub etc i'd always be buying him a few beers.
 
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If it's an occasional lift, don't charge at all - you're just helping someone out. But as it's routine, then it would be pay half the petrol to be fair, or whatever is appropriately close to that half. When a third person joins however, don't charge them the same amount, it instead goes three ways.

If Z is joining as a regular passenger, then they now take their share of the petrol costs. And if this is now starting to add to X's journey time too much, Z should maybe take the larger share to compensate him.

If Z is just coming along as a very occasional extra, then it goes two ways: One, if X and Y are both happy with it, they don't charge him, they're both just doing him a favour and neither wants to make a fuss over £1.30 once or twice a year. If Y feels put upon that they have to contribute but Z does not, then Z should contribute as well to the same amount as Y.

The above should result in least ill-will and nobody feeling they've been taken advantage of or are not friends helping each other out.
 
For a regular arrangement I would split fuel costs. To be honest if I was Mr Y I'd probably pay more than my share assuming it was still less than the bus fare. Where Mr Z is concerned I guess it depends how often he travels, if it is a couple of times a month then maybe not bother, if it is a couple of days a week then I'd expect him to be chipping in too.

We used to give a work colleague a lift home sometimes but no money changed hands as he was always skint and it didn't actually save him any money (he had a rail season ticket), just convenience.
 
Trusty said:
Lets not forgot that the driver is also responsible for your safety, also, it's already been mentioned but the car wasn't free, there's insurance, tax and servicing, the car is better, more comfortable, quicker and more entertaining. Just pay half the fuel bill, it's the least you can do.
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This...
 
I swear people who don't drive think that moving a vehicle around is free. Like it's powered by magic pixie dust.

Dropping an extra person off even on route can add an extra 5 minutes to a journey and land you in a jam that you would usually avoid.

I often pick up and drop off a lad from work everyday and I don't mind at all.... he lives right near work but buses means he has to catch two of them. But there's another guy who I sometimes give a lift home on my route and that extra takes me slightly off the beaten path. I get stuck a bit on the way back after.

I wonder how much fuel that has cost so far. Cant tell unfortunately.

I am well in favour of car pooling at work.... unfortunately hardly any other sod drives.
 
The fair price is the one which everyone is comfortable with, whether that is beer tokens every now and again or something more regular, or even not at all.

Subjective is a great word that I like so 5 stars for that word.
 
Jambo said:
I see it the other way. The age of selfishness where someone can't do something for a friend without expecting compensation.

It's not the offering payment I disagree with, it's the accepting of the payment. Or even worse asking for payment.
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Perhaps you're misinterpreting the word 'mate' for 'friend'.
In my context it is a work mate or work colleague who gave me lifts, not somebody who I went the pub with.
 
For some reason, thread reminds me of this...! :p

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. ‘Since you are all such good customers, he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20. Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. What happens to the other six men – the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’ They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’ declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man, ‘But he got $10!’

‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!’

‘That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important.

They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
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I say pay half if that's what is asked. It's cheaper than the bus and it makes the driver feel like his favour is appreciated. Because he could quite happily drive on his merry way without having to coordinate lifts for mr y and z. Tbh I would have said a quid would have been a reasonable gesture though
 
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