Understanding cost sharing
Co-oto splits your vehicle's costs according to each person's actual use. The essentials come down to a few simple principles, and for those who want to check every amount, the whole calculation is explained on this page.
New to Co-oto? Start with "How does it work?"The principle: everyone repays their actual use
The owner pays the big bills (leasing, insurance, taxes, sometimes fuel), and each driver pays them back what their use actually cost. All accounts run between each member and the owner: there is never any debt between drivers, which keeps things simple even with five or six people in the circle. And because everyone reimburses at real cost, with no markup, nobody makes money: it is cost sharing, not renting.
You share the use
Everyone uses the vehicle as they need it, just like in a family or between friends.
The app does the math
Co-oto calculates the cost of every trip and assigns it to its driver, based on the circle's rates.
One single payment loop
The owner centralizes the repayments. No tangle of transfers between co-users.
The cost of a trip: three pillars
When a trip is closed, the app adds up to three components, depending on the rates the owner has enabled. The essentials are summarized below; expand each block if you want the exact calculation, with worked examples.
Distance: a price per kilometer
The owner sets a price per kilometer that covers fuel and wear. Every trip is billed on the kilometers actually driven, read from the odometer. To pick that rate, see how to set a fair price per kilometer in your country.
See the calculation in detail
The price per kilometer can be entered directly, or worked out with the app's help from the vehicle's fuel consumption and the price of fuel. For an electric vehicle, you enter the energy cost per kilometer.
Example: your car uses 6 liters per 100 km and fuel costs €1.80 per liter. Fuel alone therefore comes to about 11 cents per kilometer. Many owners add a few cents for wear (tires, routine maintenance) and settle on 30 cents, for example. An 80 km trip is then billed €24 to its driver.
Time: a price per hour (optional)
Useful when tying up the vehicle matters as much as the distance: a full day with few kilometers still costs the circle something. When both rates are enabled, distance and time add up.
See the calculation in detail
Billed hours match the duration of the trip, from departure to return. Without a safeguard, booking the vehicle for a whole weekend would bill 48 hours, including the nights when the car just sits there. The owner can therefore set a maximum of billed hours per day, for example 15.
Example: with a 15-hour cap, a booking from Thursday 6 am to Thursday 11 pm lasts 17 hours, but only 15 are billed. A full weekend is capped day by day at the defined maximum. Statistics, meanwhile, keep showing the real durations.
Fixed costs: a share proportional to use (optional)
The owner enters their fixed costs as annual amounts, and each trip carries a share of them, proportional to how long the vehicle was tied up. Drivers can view these costs but cannot modify them.
- Liability and Comprehensive Insurance
- Other Insurance
- Vehicle Tax
- Vehicle Depreciation
- Leasing
- Parking Fees
- Flat Rate Amount
- Accessory Costs
See the calculation in detail
The app turns your annual fixed costs into an hourly cost: it spreads them over the vehicle's annual availability hours (2,000 hours by default, adjustable in the vehicle settings).
Example: €6,000 of annual fixed costs spread over 2,000 availability hours gives €3 per hour of use. A trip that ties up the vehicle for 4 hours therefore carries €12 of fixed costs.
Depreciation is a special case: a car loses value both as it ages and as it drives. It is therefore split half by time and half by kilometers, a proportion the owner can adjust. The method takes its cue from the cost-of-ownership tables published by automobile clubs.
Every trip, a detailed statement
When the trip is closed, the driver sees exactly how their session's amount breaks down: distance share, time share, fixed cost share. Nothing is hidden, everyone can check every line.
- Usage cost: per kilometer based on distance, and per hour based on the trip's duration
- Share of fixed costs calculated pro-rata based on usage
- Cumulative total since the last reset
- Full transparency on the amount owed breakdown
Refills and expenses: whoever pays gets credited
When a member pays for a fuel refill or a vehicle expense (car wash, repair, toll), they record it in the app with its amount. That advance is credited to them and deducted from what they owe.
By default, an expense is repaid in full to the person who paid it.
Option: split expenses in equal shares
Some expenses benefit the whole circle, like a maintenance service. The owner can enable vehicle expense sharing: every expense is then split equally between all members, and the payer is still credited with the full amount.
Example: a €240 service paid by one member of a circle of three. Without the option, they are simply credited €240. With the option, each of the three members carries €80 of it, payer included: they are still credited €240, minus their own €80 share.
This option is compatible with the fixed cost compensation described further down: both can be enabled at the same time.
Splitting options to match your arrangement
Every circle has its own arrangement. These options change how costs are distributed; expand the ones that match your situation.
Recover 100% of your fixed costs (compensation)
Per-trip distribution has a limit: if the vehicle is only used 30% of the time, the owner only recovers 30% of their fixed costs. For circles where the owner also drives and wants full coverage, top-up mode changes the method: over the current period, the full fixed costs (pro-rated to the days elapsed) are distributed between the drivers in proportion to their kilometers.
Example: over one month, fixed costs come to €500. You drove 300 km and your co-user 700 km: they carry €350 and you €150. The distribution readjusts continuously, with every kilometer recorded.
If the circle manages several vehicles, their fixed costs are pooled to guarantee 100% recovery.
Prerequisite: available when the owner uses the vehicle themselves (logbook mode enabled) and fixed costs are configured.
The fixed monthly amount: one amount per month, in equal shares
Some costs depend on neither kilometers nor hours: a dedicated parking spot, a roadside assistance plan, a monthly amount agreed between yourselves. The owner can set a fixed monthly amount per vehicle: it is split equally between all active members, owner included, pro-rated to the time elapsed. With two members, that is an exact 50/50.
Example: a €120 monthly amount in a circle of three members comes to €40 each per month. A member who joined mid-month only carries half of it. The monthly amount is never retroactive: it counts from the day the owner sets it.
Traveling together: the cost is shared too
If several members travel together in the vehicle, the driver can declare their fellow passengers: the trip's cost is then divided equally between all participants, and each finds their share in their own statement.
The price per hour, the daily cap, fixed costs and compensation are premium features, unlocked for the whole circle by a single subscription. See pricing
The balance: who owes what to whom
Each member's statement comes down to a simple subtraction: on one side what they have used (their trips, their share of shared expenses, their share of the monthly amount), on the other what they have paid for (refills, expenses). If the result is positive, they owe that sum to the owner. If it is negative, the owner owes them money.
See a typical statement
Over the period, Lea drove 400 km billed at 30 cents per kilometer, which makes €120. She used the vehicle for 20 hours billed at €1 per hour, which makes €20, and her share of fixed costs comes to €45. Her total usage therefore adds up to €185.
On the other side, she paid for two refills totaling €130, credited to her. Her balance: €185 minus €130, so she owes €55 to the owner. Every line of this statement can be checked in the app.
When you settle up among yourselves (bank transfer or cash, however you prefer), the owner resets the statement, for the whole circle or for a single member. A summary is sent by email and the settlement history is kept. Co-oto keeps the books but never touches your money.
- Overview of each user's balance
- Export trips, refills and statements to an Excel file
- Statement reset after each settlement, with history kept
Try it before you drive: the simulator
How much would a 100 km day trip cost? The built-in simulator applies exactly the same calculation as real trips, with your circle's rates.
Every member can use it to know what to expect before booking. You plan your budget ahead, with no bad surprise when the trip is closed.
What if you don't want any calculations at all?
Some circles already have their own arrangement. The owner can hide all calculated amounts: Co-oto then becomes a pure logbook (trips, kilometers, refills, expenses), and you settle up according to your own convention. Turning the display back on restores the full history, nothing is lost. See what the trip logbook records and exports.
A family fleet, one single app
City car, camper van, scooter… each vehicle has its own settings, and the statement adds everything up.
Several vehicles? Co-oto keeps up.
If your circle manages several vehicles, each one has its own rates and its own fixed costs. Every trip is billed according to the vehicle used, and each person's statement automatically adds up sessions across all vehicles.
With top-up mode enabled, the vehicles' fixed costs are even pooled across the whole circle to guarantee 100% recovery.
Learn more about costsFrequently asked questions
We co-own the car, is Co-oto right for us?
Yes, with an arrangement to choose. One of you takes the owner role in the app, the other is invited as a driver, and both record their trips. For fixed costs proportional to use, enable fixed cost compensation. For a strict 50/50, use the fixed monthly amount instead. And since you own the vehicle together, most co-owners do not enter any depreciation: each already carries their half of the value.
Can the owner record their own trips too?
Yes, by enabling logbook mode. Their trips then enter the statement just like everyone else's, which keeps the fixed cost distribution fair. It is also the condition for enabling fixed cost compensation.
Does a member who rarely drives still pay?
With per-trip distribution, no: if you don't drive, you don't pay. With fixed cost compensation or the fixed monthly amount, a share is assigned to them according to the chosen convention. It is up to the circle to pick the logic that matches its arrangement.
Want to go even further? Every screen is explained step by step in the cost documentation.
Simplify sharing your vehicle costs
No more complicated spreadsheets or tedious calculations: see why a spreadsheet always ends up breaking down. Co-oto automates the distribution of your private car sharing costs and lets you focus on what matters: sharing your vehicle with confidence.