This gadget allows you to see the efects of tweaking the different variables on the costs and revenue of a Metacarpool-like car pool.

I haven’t attempted to include purchasing the cars. But in general you can assume that each car – once we get it – has a working life of about 5 years, so should ideally be earning a surplus of at least 20% of its value each year.

Example: If you think £3,000 is the typical amount we should be spending to replace a car:

  1. Set the number of cars to 1.
  2. Fiddle with the controls to get an annual surplus greater than £600.

Fleet:

Number of cars 2 2
Number of drivers per car 4 4
Fuel cost per mile £ 0.15 0.15

Annual costs per car:

Insurance £ 1000 1000
Servicing £ 1000 1000
Recovery £ 85 85
Tax £ 200 200

Annual usage per car:

Miles 7500 7500
Hours 1500 1500
% of hours at day rate 20 20

Charges:

Annual fee per driver £ 50 50
Cost per mile £ 0.25 0.25
Cost per hour £ 1.00 1.00
Max cost per day £ 15 15

Annual revenue per car

50

Annual costs per car

50

Total annual revenue

Total annual costs

Annual surplus (loss)