It is the question that comes up under almost every carpooling listing: “how much?” Too high, and passengers take the bus. Too low, and the driver pays for the trip out of their own pocket. Here is a simple method for finding a fair contribution.
The principle: share the costs, not make money
Carpooling means sharing the costs of a trip the driver is making anyway. The contribution asked for is meant to cover the cost of the journey, split between the people in the car, not to make a profit. That is what sets it apart from a taxi or any paid transport.
What a trip really costs
Three items make up the cost of a car trip:
- Fuel: the distance multiplied by the car's fuel consumption and the price per litre.
- Tolls: on the motorway, they weigh heavily on short trips.
- Wear and tear: tyres, maintenance, the car losing value. It is easy to forget, but it is real.
An example: Casablanca – Rabat
Let's take a Casablanca – Rabat trip, about 107 km by road, in a diesel car that uses 6.5 litres per 100 km, with diesel at about 16.20 MAD per litre:
- Fuel: about 7 litres, or roughly 113 MAD;
- Motorway toll: about 25 MAD;
- Total fuel and toll: about 138 MAD.
With four people in the car, including the driver, that comes to about 35 MAD per person. If the three passengers each pay 35 MAD, the driver gets 105 MAD back and only pays a small part of their own trip. That is the same order of magnitude as the contribution Naveto suggests for this route: 34 to 36 MAD per seat.
These figures are estimates: fuel prices change, tolls do too, and every car uses fuel differently.
Work out the numbers for your trip
Our calculator uses the same method. Choose your route and your car: it suggests the current fuel price, the toll and an estimate of wear and tear, then tells you how much to ask per seat and how much you save each month if you make this trip regularly.
A few rules to avoid misunderstandings
- Announce the price from the start, in the listing or in your first message.
- Don't change the amount along the way, even if the trip takes longer than planned.
- Be clear about what is included: a detour to drop a passenger off at their door can justify a few extra MAD, as long as you agree on it beforehand.
- Have the exact change ready if you are a passenger: payment is made in cash, directly with the driver.
With Naveto
On Naveto, which is still on a waitlist before launch, every trip will show a suggested contribution per seat, calculated from the distance. The driver remains free to set their own price, but everyone starts from the same basis.