<p>How have you handled allocating the cost of gas among multiple teenage drivers?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Figure out how much MPG your car gets. Divide that by an current average price of gas - say $3.50. So if your car gets 20MPG, then it would be about 18 cents per mile. Have the kids log their miles drived when they use the car and then charge them once a week, once a month or whatever works for you…</p>
<p>We have only had one teen driver at a time with our cars and they didn’t overuse the cars so we never charged for gas unless they were taking a longer trip (out of town).</p>
<p>Keep your gas tank filled only with fumes. When the kids take the car, remind them you’re not coming to help them if they run out of gas.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Opposite of Lizard’s idea and along the lines of car rentals. Fill up the tank and tell them that when it comes home it is to be full. So they pay for what they used. If it is not then it is a $10 flat fee penalty plus the price of gas to fill it.</p>
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<p>LOL thanks oldfort! :)</p>
<p>To each according to his need; From each according to his ability.</p>
<p>Charge by the mile driven.</p>
<p>you have teenagers that pay for their own gas???</p>
<p>I like the idea of making sure the car is full before coming home. Different driving habits can use much more or less gas. Seems more fair to me.</p>
<p>Nj, don’t most teenagers?</p>
<p>We got each son a gas station credit card (I got the credit card and added them as additional cardholders). They filled the car up but the bill came to me. When it came, we squared up. Now granted this was not a case of both having drivers licenses at the same time. We set this up for older son, and when younger son started to drive we did the same. Granted this was not a car we were also driving, so if they wanted to drive they had to fill it up. We contributed some as they were using it to get to/from school. I think we split the bill with them. There is also wear and tear and maintenance to consider. Not just gas.</p>
<p>Added benefit-- they were developing a credit history! </p>
<p>If need be, you could require them to keep a mileage log. That could help. Good luck!</p>
<p>I just pay for the gas, i’d rather see them save the money…We also bought the car, and pay for insurance…however, they buy just about all their clothes, so perhaps i am ahead. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t understand the “making sure the car is full before they come home” - so that would make me, the parent, responsible for also making sure it was full before I went home and parked it in the driveway? That way, when my teen took it, they would drive and refill before they came home.</p>
<p>No way am I going to take the time to stop at the gas station several times a week!</p>
<p>D1 used her car to go to school, drive herself to ECs and to parties sometimes. We figured if she wasn’t driving, it would cost us double to get her to and from, so we did pay for the gas, insurance, maintenance, etc. We had a lot more time once D1 started to drive. She also drove D2 around too. But this is not what OP is asking. :)</p>
<p>abasket: I agree if the car is one that you also use, it would be a pain. Perhaps I read something into the OP’s post that wasnt there. I was thinking of basically an extra car that only the teens drive and not the families main car. My D has her own car and pays for her own gas, we pay for the insurance an upkeep but not the gas or parking. The parking is whether it is the college parking fee or when she’s home and uses city or street parking. When she did use our car I expected the same amount gas in the car when she came home as when she left. If she did not put gas in then she would give us $5 or $10 depending on how much she had driven. Sometimes she may have burnt more than that but other times less. The point is that she leanrt that driving costs money.</p>
<p>D1 paid for her gas while she was in college because it wasn’t a necessity.</p>
<p>Percussion, that’s what I thought too. I realize now it doesn’t actually say that. Whoops.</p>
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DD drove 3 miles round trip to HS, and her farthest job is about 6 miles round trip.</p>
<p>Are you really suggesting she fill up the tank after driving 3 miles? To get to the nearest gas station would add 2 miles to a 3 mile trip.</p>
<p>Not getting how this would work in practice.</p>
<p>^^^ which is why I thought keeping a clipboard in the car and having each driver log their starting-stopping mileage and then adding it up after a period of time was a good idea.</p>
<p>Actually just about anything sounds like a lot of “figuring out” with multiple drivers. But if it’s important to you in terms of teaching the responsibility or just keeping your own gas budget down, some rules/process will have to go in place.</p>
<p>OP here. Just to clarify: yes, we do have an old vehicle that the young drivers share. There have been times that, for one reason or another, we parents drive it as well, but that is unusual.</p>
<p>Sorry not to have been clear about that.</p>