Despite the health situation, carpooling is still on the rise.

Adapted to both small and long journeys, this collaborative practice is attractive with its simplicity, its user-friendliness and its economic aspect, because between the cost of maintaining a car, gasoline and tolls, being a motorist is expensive.

Do you want to share the bill with your passengers?

Here's how to do it.

Who can offer carpooling?

Everybody.

As long as you have a car and your driving license is in order, you can offer other travelers to share your daily or exceptional trips.

Many intermediary internet platforms can put you in contact with candidates for carpooling.

According to the figures available from the government, some 900,000 people would use carpooling to go to work on a daily basis in 2021. A practice strongly supported by the State, which has also set itself the goal of reaching 3 million daily trips. by 2024.

What economic gain to expect?

Unlike many collaborative practices, carpooling should not allow you to make ends meet with a profit.

Within the meaning of Article L. 3132-1 of the Transport Code, it is indeed “the joint use of a land motor vehicle by a driver and one or more passengers, carried out free of charge. , with the exception of cost sharing, within the framework of a trip that the driver makes for his own account ”.

In short: it is not a question of making unfair competition with VTCs and taxis.

Therefore, you can only transport carpoolers on your own trips and must distribute the cost of the trip fairly.

How to share the costs?

Only the costs actually incurred by the driver can be shared. If the gasoline and the toll of the journey concerned, even the price of the parking lot if there is one, appear as obvious, know that you can also take into account the progressive wear and tear of your vehicle, its maintenance and its repairs, its tires and the amount of insurance premiums to set your price.

To simplify the calculation, it is possible to use the flat-rate kilometer scale used by taxes.

While the maximum tax scale is 0.60 euro / km, authorities recommend that drivers offer a price of around 0.20 euro / km per passenger.

As a result, the government estimates that an employee living 30 km from his workplace and who carpools every day can save 2,000 euros per year.

The sums collected do not have to be declared to taxes until you make a profit.

Do you need specific insurance?

From a legal standpoint, your carpoolers are no different from your other passengers.

It is therefore not necessary to take out special automobile insurance since the legislation requires any motorist in any case to take out

at least

a civil liability guarantee to protect the people who board their vehicle but also third parties in the event of an accident. accident.

That said, some insurers now include specific carpooling clauses in their offers.

It is therefore better to check your contract to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Likewise, if you want to let a passenger drive, first check that the “steering wheel loan” is included in your coverage or add this option.

And the intermediaries?

Many internet platforms facilitate carpooling, like BlaBlaCar, the best known, but also start-ups like Karos, Klaxit, BlaBlaCar Daily and Covoitici, which specialize in commuting.

Some regions have also set up their own sites in this area, such as Passpasscovpooling in Hauts-de-France and Ouestgo in Brittany.

Depending on the formulas, the price of the trips can then be set freely, suggested by the app or calculated automatically according to the number of kilometers to be traveled.

Likewise, more and more sites offer secure payment via an application and manage reservation requests and cancellations online.

Operating facilities which generally go hand in hand with a commission levied on the sums exchanged between carpoolers.

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Help for employees

The "sustainable mobility package" came into effect in May 2020. Since then, companies can offer their employees to cover their personal transport costs between their home and their place of work up to a limit of 500 euros per year.

The condition ?

Whether they use cleaner means of locomotion, such as bicycles and electric vehicles, public transport, but also the car as part of a carpooling as a driver or passenger.

  • Money

  • Carpooling

  • Economy

  • Transport

  • Collaborative consumption