sharing car costs is legal in spain. making money from the ride isn't

what the law says

two articles matter, both in spain's official gazette, the BOE.

the sustainable mobility act amended spain's land transport act in 2025. its article 62 now says that when several people share a car on the same journey without charging anything "except for sharing costs", that is private transport. it also allows for people finding each other through a platform.

article 101 of the land transport act sets the limit. private transport serves the needs of the car's owner "and those close to them", and it cannot give rise to direct or indirect payment, except for travel expenses. that is why it needs no authorisation.

look at that phrase, those close to them. the law describes private transport as the driving you do for yourself and your people.

where the line is

the law has no list of expenses. it anticipates a regulation setting a cost scale, to separate sharing costs from paid transport. in october 2026 that scale still doesn't exist: it is not in the act or in the transport regulation.

what there is, is a ruling. in 2017 a commercial court in madrid wrote that "the costs of the journey are greater than the fuel consumed on it", because every kilometre also uses up "wear, oil, tyres".

until then, the useful question is simple: does the driver end up with more money than the journey cost them? if the answer is yes, you are no longer sharing costs. it is paid transport, and doing it without the corresponding authorisation is a very serious offence under that same act.

two signs that you are getting close:

• the journey only happens because someone pays. the law talks about sharing the same journey, the one you were making anyway. a journey you make only to drive someone for money looks more like a service.
• the sums come out in the driver's favour. a fixed amount that doesn't change when someone misses a day or the route changes can end up above the cost without anyone meaning it to.

among friends, the easiest rule: the driver pays their share too

the simplest way never to get near that line is to split the cost between everyone in the car, counting the driver. that way the driver never gets back everything the journey cost them, by design.

and you don't always have to charge. the law says costs are shared "where applicable": giving someone a free lift is sharing a car too. taking turns at the wheel works as well.

start from the journey's cost

not from a price per seat or a round number.

split it between everyone

the driver pays their share too.

count only what you shared

whoever gets out earlier pays less, and whoever stays home pays nothing.

write it down

and settle when it suits you, not as you get out of the car.

and if it's every day

the rule doesn't change because the journey repeats. what changes is the risk of a fixed amount going stale: weeks with odd days, someone missing, a route that changes.

how to share a daily commute without ending up as the chauffeur is what our guide to sharing a commute is about. if asking for petrol money is the hard part, start with splitting petrol costs without feeling cheap.

where naiss comes in

tabs never puts a price on a seat. on a gps-tracked trip, naiss works out the cost of the journey from your car's fuel and consumption, plus its wear and maintenance, and splits it by stretch between everyone who was in the car. the driver included: their share is settled from the start and everyone else owes only their own.

naiss charges no fee on those tabs and never touches that money. you pay each other, whenever and however you like.

what naiss doesn't do is decide for you what feels fair, or give you legal advice. this guide is general information about the law in force, checked against the BOE in october 2026.

sharing a car is legal. turning it into a business is not. among friends, everyone pays their share.

if you already travel together, get naiss and give the tab somewhere to live.