In light of a few facebook comments and some confusion over what exactly the rules for road trips are, I present to you part one of The Official Rules for Road Trips with Friends.
Transportation costs are one of the most argued over and most easily defined set of rules for road trips. If a group of friends decide to go on a trip together by any mode of transportation that requires a ticket (such as by plane, ferry, train, etc), each individual purchases their own ticket, or one individual collects money from the rest of the group and purchases the tickets together (usually to save time, sometimes to save money when tickets cost less in bulk).
If a group of friends are traveling by automobile, the costs are split evenly using the following guidelines. Each individual on the trip takes a turn to pay for a full tank of gasoline, cycling through the entire party as the trip progresses. The person who’s automobile is used for the trip is the last person in the cycle to pay. If an automobile is rented or borrowed from some other person, the first driver is the last person to pay.
This rule is effective for a few reasons. Everyone fills up the tank, splitting the cost of the transportation between all the individuals in the group. Only one person at a time has to pay. There aren’t any of the hassles of attempting to collect payments or splitting the bill each time the group needs to fill up, or after the trip is over. As further distances driven equate to having to fill up the tank sooner, accurate navigation becomes a priority for the entire group. Suddenly everyone is working together to find the best possible route between destinations.
Additional destinations are also given an opportunity cost for the whole group. Each person wanting to take a detour weighs the costs of having it be their turn to fill up the tank sooner versus the benefits of the detour desired. They must then also convince the rest of the group that the benefits of the detour or additional destination outweigh the additional cost. This effectively weeds out the least beneficial destinations and detours, while allowing the group flexibility in the decisions to be made.
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