I have a car. And I used it... three? Four times a month? Basically, pretty infrequently. I take my bike almost everywhere, and every once in a while I'll take public transit. I live in Chicago, so it isn't that hard. But every once in a while there's somewhere I need to get to by car (I've got a couple of friends who live in the suburbs, and every once in a while I'll visit an out of town friend over the weekend). I've been thinking about leaving it at my parent's place when I visit for Christmas. I don't use it much, and so the car insurance + occasional ticket (I get free street parking, but the city can be very last minute with its "move your car because street" cleaning signs, and so it's easy for me to miss because I don't check every day) really is not making my car affordable, so I was thinking about getting a zipcar subscription instead. But I really am not ready to completely ditch the wheels.
One of my best friends in Chicago has the opposite predicament. He just accepted a new job offer, and he's thinking about buying a car for it. There's no good way to get there by transit, and he doesn't want to do a 6 mile winter commute. So he's been thinking about buying a car, but really doesn't want to deal with the hassles of car ownership. Currently he has a zipcar subscription, but that's not feasible for commuting.
We are both fond of the idea of me loaning my car out to him. He would use it to commute, but I would still be welcome to use it when needed. He lives about a 35-40 minute bike ride away from me, which isn't too bad.
There's a few things I obviously need to figure out, like what does my insurance think about me not being the primary driver (I use USAA). And how much I should charge him.
My insurance is very expensive (yeah, yeah. Punch in the face. But I'm super paranoid about hitting someone without medical insurance, and losing all of my stash). So, assuming the resolution involves me continuing to pay car insurance and maintenence, I was thinking $125 a month. It's a bit low, but it's money I wouldn't be making anyway, and I'm not really losing out on much, and he's my friend so I don't feel like charging a ton (we are both software engineers, and I'm pretty sure he makes quite a bit more than me, so I have no desire to lend it for free). Basically, I want the amount to be worth the inconvenience/risk for me, but not so high that he'd be better off leasing/buying a car.
There is no car loan to pay off; it was a gift from my parents. 2009 Toyota Scion, xD, if it matters.
Neither of us knows shit about cars. So I was hoping someone here would have advice on the most fair price to charge in this situation.