Not everyone owns their own car (despite our best efforts!), so it’s important to establish some ground rules, whether you’re sharing your ride with family members or close friends.
Detail Work
Sharing a vehicle responsibly means that you’ve got to put some work into the details. Who drives, and when? Who takes the vehicle in for maintenance? Who is responsible for updating the insurance? No, none of these questions are particularly scintillating. However, they need to be answered before you start sharing the vehicle. These are important steps especially if you have a new teen driver. Insurance is especially important if you have a teen driver. Make sure they know where the insurance card is – it should always be in the vehicle – and get them to take a photo of the card, front and back. This ensures (not insures – that’s the policy you carry on your vehicle) that your young driver always has the information handy.
Prepare and Communicate
Almost everyone has digital calendars these days, and that can be a big help when sharing a vehicle. Sync your calendars so that you know who needs to be somewhere, and when they need to be there. Here’s what else needs to go into that calendar: Maintenance tasks. Need to get the oil changed? Assign that task to someone. Need new windshield wipers? Schedule it out. Make sure to share assignments fairly so that no one feels unduly burdened. This also helps when it comes to communication between drivers. That communication is key when sharing a car, because you need to be able to talk about it when things go wrong. Maybe someone didn’t clean out the car, or they left the tank empty. Clear communication will go a long way to resolve those situations.
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And Remember
Sometimes things go wrong. Part of preparation and communication with your family means that everyone knows what to do if someone has an accident. Plan ahead! It’ll help you in the long run.