A car the whole family drives: documents, deadlines and shared costs

What gets muddled when several people drive one car#

• Deadlines are known only to the person the car is registered to. The others find out about an expired ITP or an unpaid rovinietă too late.
• The papers are on the phone or in the drawer of someone who isn't there when they're needed, after an accident for example.
• Costs get lost: who filled up, who paid for parking, what the last repair cost.
• Mileage and servicing: nobody remembers the mileage at the last service or when the next one is due.
• Warning signs: a light or a noise one person noticed never reaches the person who takes the car to the garage.

A few rules that keep things in order#

1. Agree who handles renewals and bookings: usually the owner. The others just need to know the deadlines.
2. Keep the deadlines in one place everyone can see, not in someone's head.
3. Leave in the car what anyone driving needs to find: the registration certificate (talon), the RCA policy and the roadside assistance number, if the policy has one.
4. After every longer drive, note the mileage and what you paid. A few seconds now save an evening of sums at the end of the month.
5. Say straight away what you noticed: a warning light, a noise, a soft tyre, a scratch.

What anyone at the wheel needs to find#

The steps after an accident, from safety to the amicable report, are in the guide on what to do after an accident. It's worth reading for everyone who drives the car, not just the owner.

What usually goes missing isn't the document but the knowledge that it's expiring. A deadline only one person can see is a deadline the family can miss.

How to split the costs without arguments#

There's no rule that's fair for everyone, but any rule helps more than none. Common options:

• Everyone pays for their own fuel, and the fixed costs (RCA, CASCO, ITP, rovinietă, car tax, servicing) are split equally or paid by the owner.
• By kilometres driven: the total cost per km times each person's kilometres. How to work out the cost per km is in the guide on what your car costs per month.
• A shared budget for the car, which pays for everything, with a tally at the end of the month.

Whatever the rule, it only works if every expense ends up in the same place, with the date and the amount. Otherwise the end-of-month conversation runs on memory.

Insurance and each driver's own papers#

• CASCO (optional comprehensive cover): read the policy terms and see whether they say anything about who may drive the car. If you're unsure, ask the insurer before you lend the car.
• The driving licence and the medical certificate belong to each driver, not to the car. Everyone keeps track of their own deadlines.
• A new driver in the family should get to know the car: which fuel it takes, where the spare wheel is, where the triangles and the first-aid kit are.

How to share the car in CariX#

In the free driver account, the owner gives access to the car to family members or anyone else who drives it. The steps:

1. The owner opens the car's page, enters the other person's email address under "People with access" and taps "Send invite".
2. The other person gets an email with the link and taps "Accept invite". They sign in with the address the invite went to, or create a free driver account there and then.
3. From then on, the car appears in their list of cars, marked as shared by the owner. They see the documents, reminders, costs and mileage, can add costs, documents and mileage, and get the car's reminders by email.
4. The owner keeps deleting the car and its settings. They can remove someone's access at any time, and whatever that person added stays with the car.

That way the reminders for the ITP, RCA, CASCO and rovinietă, 30, 14 and 7 days and 1 day before each expires, reach everyone with access, and the costs and mileage each person adds go into the same cost per month and per km.