[hemanthisgreat]

I searched and was not able to find a similar thread. Hence posting this question.

To give some background, a discussion started in our friends whatsapp group about buying Thars.

It was found that three of us were interested in buying Thars.

Now all of us have other cars and this is not a daily driver.

None of us may off road. This is a purely for the looks sort of a purchase.

One of the friend's suggested that instead of all three purchasing 3 Thars, we can just purchase one and all three can use it, based on set ground rules.

Now my question:

1. Is it a good idea
2. If we go through it, what would be a set of good ground rules

I look forward to feedback from the members.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

1. Is it a good idea
2. If we go through it, what would be a set of good ground rules

1. Strictly NO in general, Somewhat acceptable when point no. 2 is clearly drafted and mutually agreed.

2. Not the rules exactly, but few point of conflicts to be taken care
- Who will use when? Will you maintain a schedule?
- What if there is a conflict on schedule or when 2 or all 3 of you wanted the vehicle on same day?
- In case of mis-hap or legal case, how it will be taken care?
- How the expense will be shared? Equal share or based on the usage pattern?

These are just at few and the list is endless.

[sagarpadaki]

Another question- In whose name will the car be registered ?

[hemanthisgreat]

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

1. Strictly NO in general, Somewhat acceptable when point no. 2 is clearly drafted and mutually agreed.

2. Not the rules exactly, but few point of conflicts to be taken care
- Who will use when? Will you maintain a schedule?
- What if there is a conflict on schedule or when 2 or all 3 of you wanted the vehicle on same day?
- In case of mis-hap, how it will be taken care?
- In case of a legal case, how to manage?
- How the expense will be shared? Equal share or based on the usage pattern?

These are just at few and the list is endless.

I am thinking as follows.

Vehicle will stay with each person for 1 month each.

If any accidents happen when in possession, the person has to get it repaired at his expense.

The stay of the car in the workshop will be deducted from that person's possession period.

General maintenance costs will be shared

Handing over from one person to another will be on full tank basis.

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Another question- In whose name will the car be registered ?

One person only. We intend to toss for it. All 3 of us have companies. It will be registered to one company based on who wins the toss.

[Shanksta]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

Now my question:

1. Is it a good idea
2. If we go through it, what would be a set of good ground rules

I look forward to feedback from the members.

One word - NO !

Having a shared car with friends or family can be a tricky situation to be in.

First of all no matter how much you plan and follow your set ground rules, there will definitely come a day or situation which will make two of you go “I need it today too !”.

Secondly this being a car there can be only 1 registered owner on paper and you cannot register in all three names. This may or may not lead to “I am the owner on paper, now scoot!” situations.

Thirdly, multiple drivers for the car. Can accelerate wear and tear due to different driving patters. Also the maintenance part there might be an odd day when one of you cannot pay your share due to some other commitment or defer payment for sometime.

Lastly, if you really want a Thar just for that yearly once trip. Kindly rent a self-drive Thar, makes more economical sense than buying a new one.

P.S. Did not even include fuel bills, another tricky premise.

[crdi]

Almost always toys are bought for the happiness of possession. I don't know whether it would be the same with someone else having a claim to your toy. If a shared toy would give you the same joy, then go ahead after sorting a deal between yourselves.

[jkrishnakj]

If the three of you love the Thar so much, why would you guys want to pump in capital. You can always take it on rentals and enjoy.

Sharing a car is not a great idea and regardless of how the rules are framed, there will arise a situation that will drive deep wedges between friends. So, please refrain.

[Kosfactor]

This is one way to lose your friends 🙂 ,all at the same time. Believe this is not a vacuum cleaner or a pressure washer.

[V.Narayan]

Never share a car, never share a kitchen, never lend your golf clubs and never lend your books.

[gkveda]

Not a bad idea. But, depends on your current status and purpose and the rules that each one of you adheres to.

1. Do you all have individual cars for your personal and family use? All of you should have individual cars. The Thar should only be used for you parners trips going together 90% of the times.

2. Why would you need Thar? Is it for occasional drives for your friends or few will use for their family trips as well? Ideally 90% of the times, it should be only and ONLY all of you together should travel. If any one misses out for the trip, even then, he should contribute financially.

3. Financial terms (VERY IMPORTANT)
Each of you should contribute equally to all expenses to the smallest expense of filling air to tires too.

4. Any damages Or expenses, BIG OR SMALL, to the car either during family drives(individual taking the car 10% of the time) OR Friends trip where all are participating in trip, every one should share equally.

5. NO ONE ELSE SHOULD DRIVE THE CAR APART FROM THE REGISTERED OWNERS either during family drives or friends trip

6. Car should be registered in all friends name. It cannot be REGISTERED IN ONE INDIVIDUAL NAME

7. The expense for the car should be only in authorised service centre and bills should be shared to all owners for expense sharing. This applies to fuel refilling and tire air filling too. Any modifications or repair or services that involves cost or otherwise, should be done by partners only after mutual consensus

8. If in case anyone wants to drop off from the ownership? He will not get the initial investment back till car is sold. However, he will have to bear all the expenses till date and decide to quit from partnership. He can not say, I will quit now and will not bear expenses that has already occured

9. In case, car is sold, the amount obtained would be equally distributed to all owners

10. Friends and partners are two disjointed relationship. So never mingle them. Have clear agreement and sign in front of registering authorities (may be sub registrar)

If you think you can not make an agreement as per point 10, then stay away.

[IshaanIan]

Interesting thread I am also thinking of doing the same thing with one of my friends. We both live in the same colony and we end up going out for dinner very often. As much as I love manuals, I also appreciate a good relaxing automatic especially for those dinner drives where I just want to cruise and my body might be sore after a game of football or after a workout. We are very keen on picking up a used Nissan Teana solely for this purpose. What do members think?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

Now my question:

1. Is it a good idea
2. If we go through it, what would be a set of good ground rules

I look forward to feedback from the members.

Been here, done that. Contrary to some of the feedback given above, the friendship has only become stronger over the last decade after the shared car experience (we retained the car for ~2-3 years).

Sharing some ground rules to set among yourselves. I have added what worked for us in italics.

1. Has to be a very core/strong set of friends. Acquaintances / newly made friendships are risky, considering they don't know you and you wouldn't know them entirely.
Out of the 4 of us, 2 I knew from 2000 (/college days). Lived them with in hostels for 4 years. Trusted them in & out. 4th person was a lucky addition!

2. Start small and build from it. It helps if you guys have had the opportunity to share your stuff/belongings among yourselves.
We were roommates. Prior to this our bikes were interchangingly used whenever needed. We purposely started small with a used M800

3. Equal shares/funding. Helps claim "ownership".
Early days of moving into the corporate world - we pooled in whatever "funds" we had. I paid ~40%, the other three managed the rest. Never was a issue during the ownership

4. Get prior agreement on the expenses to be appropriately shared. It matters a lot if everyone trusts everyone on this and you have been sharing costs like this in the past (e.g. common travel trips, etc.)
Again funds availability made for the situation - whoever had money got the car filled up with petrol or got it serviced.

5. Expect the occasional squabbles and finger pointing. Make sure there are pacifiers in the group set up in advance.
Weekends would be a constant squabble for us - for example, everyone wanted the car on a Friday evening! But nothing that really got out of hand beyond that weekend itself, so never a major issue

6. Expect and understand the potential costs and pitfalls (/issues) going forward. Make sure everyone understands the running expenses going forward, given that one (or more) of you guys would eventually rough-use the car.
We had a simple agenda - get it serviced from a known Maruti dealership every year. Whatever broken parts/repairs would be done as a part of it. Never ever got into a conversation who was responsible for the damage

7. Most important - Have fun. Together. Try to plan as much as possible together with the shared vehicle. It helps even in the worst case situation one or two of you hogs the vehicle on a daily basis.
We did a host of trips using the car - multiple trips to Goa, Bombay, Lonavala, Konkan coastline, girlfriend/prospect rides etc. If more than 4 people were traveling, we'd take bikes with the car and swap the drivers during the trip when needed


Additional point: Keep an ownership thread. Memories are limited and fade away easily. It'll help keeping a record of the ownership among the three of you guys

[pavi]

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[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by hemanthisgreat

2. If we go through it, what would be a set of good ground rules.

1. Each are 33.33% owners, in terms of usage, service and other liabilities.

2. Fuel tank must be FULL when returning after usage, always, be it any of the 3 houses.

3. Insurance is 60% to be borne by the person who can register the car in his company name (he gets depreciation benefits)

4. Traffic penalties will be borne by all to the tune of 33.33% each, irrespective of who drove (supposedly), OR, date of the traffic violation should be seen and full penalty should be borne by the person who drove that day (the latter condition will lead to conflicts).

5. In case of a totaling of the car, the person who crashes should take only 20% of the insurance payout, the other 2 can take 40% each. Fatality, well, if the person is not the owner, some sticky situations will follow.

6. Cleaning/detailing should be borne 60% by the registered owner, rest 20% chip-in.

7. If any of the three chose to end the friendship/ownership, he must be paid 33% of the current depreciated value by the remaining 2, 50% each. If 2 simultaneously pull out at any point of time, the entire 66% of the current insured value will be paid by the registered owner.

8. Decision for sale by the registered owner will need the approval of one more member, else it will be a veto. If mutually agreed, 33.33% of the sale price will be the split for each, OR it should be 40-40-20, against the registered buyer due to depreciation benefits.

Let me know if you're going ahead with it, I'll draft it all in detail

[RavSam]

One of my wise as a monk friend said:

Relationships between friends and even family break due to three reasons-
1. Money (When someone borrows and doesn't return)
2. Woman (When someone tries to steal someone's woman)
3. Car (When someone borrows someone's car and damages it)

In order to maintain a healthy relationship between your near and dear ones, don't do any of the above things.

A car, unless commercial one, should not be shared. When the bad time comes, all the plans and terms and conditions go down the drain and finger pointing may start.

Peace!