FAQs
Don’t second guess. Find the answer to some of the most commonly asked questions so you can carpool with confidence.
Don’t second guess. Find the answer to some of the most commonly asked questions so you can carpool with confidence.
Carpooling is a term used to describe the sharing of journeys preventing other people driving to the same destination as the driver.
The carpooling process enables you to cut fuel costs, minimise vehicle damage, get to know your community, contribute to an organisation’s net zero targets and reduce your carbon footprint. And the best part of all? It’s an easy solution to integrate into your day-to-day life.
With EcoPooling, carpooling is legal. According to the 1981 Public PassengerVehicles Act, “the total of any charges should be agreed in advance and must not exceed the running costs (including wear and tear and depreciation) of the vehicle for the trip”.
At EcoPooling, we use HM Revenue and Customs Approved Mileage Payment Allowance to make sure passenger contributions simply offset a real driver's costs, and no profit is made. This approach ensures that the driver’s car insurance isn’t invalidated.
Carpooling is great for the environment, as it reduces the number of vehicles on the road, cuts congestion and reduces the environmental impact of a business. In sharing rides, you’re effectively minimising the emission of harmful pollutants.
And if that wasn’t enough, choosing EcoPooling also comes with the added benefit of supporting organisations and the community to achieve their net zero targets.(More on this below.)
The carpooling lane concept, otherwise known as 2+ lanes or High Occupancy Vehicle(HOV), are a relatively new addition to the UK. It’s specifically made for cars carrying two or more people to help reduce congestion and encourage people to share lifts. So, if you’re using our EcoPooling solution to give others a lift to work, school or somewhere else, you can take advantage of these extra lanes.
It's free - no monthly subscription or hidden fees for drivers, passengers or organisations. The only payment you make is as a passenger where you will pay a fuel contribution to the driver for each trip.
We simplify this fuel cost-sharing by paying drivers with over 150 top-brand gift cards—no need for storing bank details!
Our gift card partners support our mission by offering discounts based on our transaction volume. This helps us promote carbon-neutral travel and cover our service costs.
We calculate fuel contribution per passenger for each trip based on the distance of the trip and using HM Revenue and Customs Approved Mileage Payment Allowance. This method is to ensure passenger contributions simply offset real a driver's costs and no profit is made – therefore not invalidating the driver’s car insurance.
Parking costs are calculated per station (we maintain each station's parking fees in the platform) together with the number of carpool seats offered in the driver’s vehicle. This way, we can ensure passenger contributions simply offset a real driver's parking costs and no profit is made. Again, this approach means we don’t invalidate the driver’s car insurance.
Not yet. We’ll be adding custom locations in the future, so watch this space.
We know how hectic life can be. That’s why, we send you a reminder message via WhatsApp each week to confirm your schedule for the upcoming week ahead. And within a few taps, you can adjust your schedule to set which days you'd like to offer a carpool and which days you'd like to receive carpool invites for.
The time setting is the time you need to arrive at the destination. An estimated pick-up time will be included in the invite you receive to book a seat in a carpool. Then 24 hours before the trip when the booking window closes, you will receive a trip reminder via WhatsApp that will include the confirmed pick-up time. It really is that easy.
When a driver offers a carpool for a specific drop-off or pick-up to a destination on a specific day and time, we'll match you with other passengers looking for a carpool seat to the same destination on the same day and time. But to keep things simple for both parties, we'll only match you with passengers located within a 30% detour of your direct route to the destination.
The driver will then receive the list of passenger matches, including the detour time (e.g. 5 mins). From there, they'll be able to choose which passengers they are willing to pick up and they will receive an invite via WhatsApp to book a seat in the carpool.
Passenger invites to a carpool expire 24 hours before the trip. At this point, the driver and all passengers will receive a reminder of the upcoming trip, including confirmed pick-up times and route details for the driver via a Google Maps navigation link.
Once the seat booking window closes 24 hours before the carpool trip, you and the passenger will both receive a trip reminder via WhatsApp. In this message, you’ll find all the details you need, including pick-up times and route details for the driver via a Google Maps navigation link.
Fuel and parking contributions for each trip will be paid to the driver in the form of eco tokens which are redeemable in the EcoPooling Marketplace for discontinued gift cards. The tokens will be available to redeem in the marketplace 48 hours after the carpool trip is completed.
The safety of our drivers and passengers is our priority. That’s why we ask all drivers to verify their driver’s license, MOT before they can start offering carpools to other members.
As a rule of thumb, this can take anywhere up to 1 business day to process. However, it’s typically completed within a few hours.
To verify your driver’s license, you need to share your DVLA ‘check code’, which allows us to look up your license with the DVLA. You can find this code within seconds on the DVLA website.
We use the car registration you provide to us as part of registration to verify your vehicle’s MOT and tax every month with the DVLA.
We’ll fully refund the passenger, including service fees. Refund processing time is up to 10 business days.
The Passenger will be charged the full amount for the trip fees (including the Service Fee). The driver will receive the full fuel and parking contribution for the booking.
The Passenger will be refunded the trip fee, less the service fee. Refund processing time is up to 10 business days.
The Passenger will be refunded 50% of the trip fee, less the service fee. The driver will receive the other 50% as compensation for later changes to their carpool route plans. Refund processing time is up to 10 business days.