Guidelines

Carpooling and Your Personal Safety

Please take care to ensure your personal safety when carpooling. These are some suggested guidelines to make carpooling a safe and rewarding experience. This site cannot provide you with any specific guidance on who would be a suitable carpooling companion.

It is important that you make your own decisions about who to ride with and that once you begin carpooling both drivers and passengers understand and are comfortable with the arrangements made between them and that these are made prior to commencing carpooling.

Play it safe

Take responsibility for your own safety:

• Choose a public place for your first meeting with a potential carpool partner, such as on campus, at a café etc.
• Ask to see a current driver's license, staff/student card, and/or vehicle registration.
• Don't give out your home address unless you feel completely comfortable doing so. You can arrange to be picked up and dropped off from an area near your house (like a shopping centre, bus stop or street corner).
• Remember to tell others of your arrangement.

It's okay to say "no"

Don't carpool with someone unless you are comfortable doing so – there is no obligation. If you meet up and it doesn't look like it will work out, there is no pressure to continue. Or, if a problem arises within your carpooling arrangement that you are unable to resolve, you are under no obligation to continue. Simply look for another match!

Personal Information

ShareMyCar.com have designed this site to ensure the privacy of your personal information. Your address and contact details are never made available to other members unless you include this information in a private message to a carpool partner.

Carpooling and Insurance

It is our understanding that your private car insurance policy will not be affected by carpooling provided that the arrangement does not produce a profit for the vehicle owner or driver.

If you are in any doubt as to whether a carpool arrangement contravenes any clause in your insurance policy, you should contact your insurance provider directly.

Establishing a Positive Carpooling Relationship

The bottom line - $

Make sure you agree on any financial arrangements prior to commencing carpooling with someone. If you share the driving and use your own cars, perhaps there is no need for financial transactions. However if the same person drives and uses their car, it's only fair to reimburse them for fuel, parking and perhaps normal maintenance costs. Just make sure that both parties are comfortable with the arrangements.

To avoid any embarrassment, passengers should pay the driver before they leave the vehicle at the end of each journey, unless other arrangements have been made.

It is very important that you do not make a profit from carpooling as you would then be breaking the law by operating a commercial transport service!

Don't be late

Show common courtesy when carpooling – once you have made a commitment, stick to it - arrive on time or early, don't make any unscheduled stops or change your destination at the last minute.

Have a back-up plan

Decide on a back-up plan. What will you do if the driver is suddenly unavailable (eg. with illness), or if the carpool arrangement ends unexpectedly for some reason? Also, if you are the driver and you are unable to carpool on a particular day, remember to inform your carpool partner(s) as soon as possible.