Author Topic: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?  (Read 4504 times)

Broadway2019

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Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« on: April 02, 2018, 09:52:45 AM »
So I started driving UBER/LYFT for about 15-20 hours a week in addition to my full time job. I am wondering what everyone's thoughts are as using this a part-time gig to make more money.

So far, I have made about $2500 in 4 weeks driving. I am using this to pay off my debt quicker. The car I am using is not the best as it is newer, however, even after expenses it does not seem so bad. I read past posts and people said it was a waste of time, however, I cannot do anything related to my current field due to work restrictions.

RWD

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Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #2 on: April 02, 2018, 10:45:26 AM »
I know there are many skeptics but I earned $2500. If I deduct gas of about $50 a week, I am at $2300, minus 25% taxes, I am still at $20 an hour. I guess I could subtract mileage but from what I understand that is a wash with taxes/mileage deduction.

So not sure just pointing to an article is helpful.

joestash

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #3 on: April 02, 2018, 10:59:16 AM »
I drove Uber/Lyft almost full-time for 2 years.  About 100k miles in rides.  Yes, you read that correctly.  So maybe you'll take me more seriously than someone who just posts an article.  My advice...

1) read the article
2) read the article again
3) read the article over and over until you understand that you're not making close to $20/hr
4) get a part-time job delivering pizza (you will make 2-3x's what you make as a rideshare driver)
« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 11:01:04 AM by MoStache »

Syonyk

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #4 on: April 02, 2018, 11:30:36 AM »
I know there are many skeptics but I earned $2500. If I deduct gas of about $50 a week, I am at $2300, minus 25% taxes, I am still at $20 an hour. I guess I could subtract mileage but from what I understand that is a wash with taxes/mileage deduction.

Ok.  You've factored in gas.

What are your per-mile operating costs in terms of the rest of the vehicle?  Tires, oil, other maintenance, depreciation, higher insurance costs for commercial use, etc?

The current IRS mileage rate for the fixed and variable costs of driving a vehicle is 54.5 cents/mile.

Quote
The standard mileage rate for business is based on an annual study of the fixed and variable costs of operating an automobile.

For a "newer vehicle" as you state you're driving, unless you can demonstrate that your overall operating costs are significantly lower, that's a good metric to use.  At 60mph, that's $30/hr in operating costs, just for reference.

Uber/Lyft are great from a rider perspective, but fundamentally they're a mechanism to exploit people who don't have a good sense of vehicle operating cost (and, at least for Uber, to extract massive piles of venture capital and such for being a "disruptive" "app based ecosystem" in the "sharing economy" or whatever pile of crap they're spouting most recently).

If you're keeping track of all the costs and are still coming out ahead, great!  But it's not nearly as profitable as people seem to assume.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 11:33:58 AM by Syonyk »

NoStacheOhio

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #5 on: April 02, 2018, 11:47:21 AM »
You'd be better off with a part time job within walking distance. Or babysitting. Or tutoring. Or spending the time developing a new skill to get promoted at your FT gig/get a better FT gig.

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #6 on: April 02, 2018, 11:55:23 AM »
I make over 6 figures, I just wanted to do this to pay off debt quicker. My goal is to be debt free in 6-8 months. Wondering if short term it is worth it. I will add about 10k miles to my car over that time. Which doesn't seem like a big deal.

I guess I am missing something, because so far it seems I would come out ahead. Even if I factor everything in.

Gas - $2.60 a gallon/ car get 25 mpg
Oil change - $40 every 6,000 miles
Tires - $500 every 40,000
Depreciation - car has 15k miles on it, at 25k the kbb value declined $700 dollars.

Also, I do UBEREATS when it is surge pricing and found it pretty profitable. Just delivering food so less risk from people in the car
« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 12:00:19 PM by kwarden13 »

GuitarStv

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #7 on: April 02, 2018, 12:03:52 PM »
I make over 6 figures, I just wanted to do this to pay off debt quicker. My goal is to be debt free in 6-8 months. Wondering if short term it is worth it. I will add about 10k miles to my car over that time. Which doesn't seem like a big deal.

I guess I am missing something, because so far it seems I would come out ahead. Even if I factor everything in.

Gas - $2.60 a gallon/ car get 25 mpg
Oil change - $40 every 6,000 miles
Tires - $500 every 40,000
Depreciation - car has 15k miles on it, at 25k the kbb value declined $700 dollars.

Brake pads?
Chips on body/paint?
Cracked windscreen from rocks?
Battery?
Air Filters?
Wipers?
Spark Plugs?
Fuses?
Belts?
Suspension?
Bulbs?
Coolant?
Clutch?
Brake Fluid?
Rust?
Disc rotor?

I mean, the list can go on and on.  Operating a vehicle is an expensive pain in the ass.

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #8 on: April 02, 2018, 12:08:34 PM »
ok so let's add 6 cents a mile. I can go high and say $3k avg over 50,000 miles for everything including oil and tires. That is 6 cents mile

joestash

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2018, 12:10:29 PM »
ok so let's add 6 cents a mile. I can go high and say $3k avg over 50,000 miles for everything including oil and tires. That is 6 cents mile

I'm sorry but...  LMAO!

We can only say it so many times... you're not factoring in the real cost of the mileage.  If you drove an old beater you could get down to a real cost of about $0.30/mile and make $11-12/hr.  You're not driving an old beater so you're in the $8-9/hr range I would guess.  And that's if you track all your miles for tax purposes.  If you're not tracking your mileage you're in the $4-5/hr range after taxes.

Not to mention that if you do this job 15-20 hours per week for 6-8 months there's a VERY high likelihood that someone will puke in your car or you will get in an accident.  Is that worth $8-9/hr to you?

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2018, 12:12:04 PM »
How do you get to that cost? Please explain and lay out the numbers. I am adding about 10k miles over 10 months to my car. The math I have is 10k/10 months / 4 weeks is 250 miles a week. 250/20 hrs a week is 12.5 miles an hour.

RWD

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2018, 12:19:20 PM »
So not sure just pointing to an article is helpful.

I linked to the discussion thread on this forum, not specifically the article.

jlcnuke

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2018, 01:24:56 PM »
You make 6-figures and have an effective tax rate under 10%? You say 25% taxes, but you've got 15.3% in just self employment taxes before you even start paying fed/state income taxes...

Sent from my XT1635-01 using Tapatalk
« Last Edit: April 02, 2018, 01:29:57 PM by jlcnuke »

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #13 on: April 02, 2018, 01:38:49 PM »
Thanks everyone for your responses.

joestash

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2018, 02:20:32 PM »
Sorry, I thought the link posted above actually went to this article:

https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2017/11/22/mr-money-mustache-uber-driver/

JetBlast

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2018, 03:10:12 PM »
I guess I could subtract mileage but from what I understand that is a wash with taxes/mileage deduction.

First, don’t forget that you’ll pay self employment taxes in addition to your income taxes. Second, it most certainly isn’t a wash with the deduction. With a fairly new car your true cost is probably close to that $.545/mile IRS rate. So if you drive 10,000 miles that is $5,450 of expenses, which you can deduct. Based on your post with income information I’m guessing you’re in the 22% bracket so your deduction saves you 22% of those expenses. The expense you’re left paying is $4,251.

So figure out how much gross income you expect to make over the 10k miles, subtract 15.3% from that for employment taxes, then subtract $4,251 to get a real estimate of what you earned. From there you can estimate how many hours it takes to drive that 10,000 miles and get an hourly rate. If that’s worth your time and the risk to yourself and your vehicle, great! Drive for Uber/Lyft.

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #16 on: April 02, 2018, 03:38:00 PM »
I guess I could subtract mileage but from what I understand that is a wash with taxes/mileage deduction.

First, don’t forget that you’ll pay self employment taxes in addition to your income taxes. Second, it most certainly isn’t a wash with the deduction. With a fairly new car your true cost is probably close to that $.545/mile IRS rate. So if you drive 10,000 miles that is $5,450 of expenses, which you can deduct. Based on your post with income information I’m guessing you’re in the 22% bracket so your deduction saves you 22% of those expenses. The expense you’re left paying is $4,251.

So figure out how much gross income you expect to make over the 10k miles, subtract 15.3% from that for employment taxes, then subtract $4,251 to get a real estimate of what you earned. From there you can estimate how many hours it takes to drive that 10,000 miles and get an hourly rate. If that’s worth your time and the risk to yourself and your vehicle, great! Drive for Uber/Lyft.

Thank you JetBlast! I really appreciate your response. I did do the math and it comes to $16 an hour. Even if it were $12 an hour I would still do it as right now, I have no other job I can do outside my F/T gig that gives the flexibility. Also, I kinda enjoy it.

JetBlast

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #17 on: April 02, 2018, 03:56:27 PM »
There’s something to be said for enjoying a job.

Uber and Lyft have built huge companies on the driving of those who can’t or won’t do the math of what it really costs to drive. If you go into it eyes wide open, knowing you are not making $25 an hour, and you enjoy the driving then I don’t see a problem.  Just make sure you’ve really done a deep dig into the math and potential risks. That’s what MMMs post was about. Most people that drive for them have blinders on and think they’re making a lot more than they actually are.

Have you read that blog post?  If not it might be worth a read.

dummy

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2018, 01:24:56 AM »
Have you thought of being a server or bartender at a local restaurant, club, or bar?

Many servers and bartenders make a lot of cash tips.

Broadway2019

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #19 on: April 03, 2018, 06:59:18 AM »
Have you thought of being a server or bartender at a local restaurant, club, or bar?

Many servers and bartenders make a lot of cash tips.

My issue is getting an actual part-time gig where I have to go into a job and work set hours. I am doing UBER/LYFT because then I do not have to answer to anyone else. I already have a salaried full time gig. Sometimes I have to work late or on weekends. I cannot commit to anything with set hours.

JetBlast

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Re: Any UBER/LYFT Drivers?
« Reply #20 on: April 09, 2018, 07:16:31 PM »
Thought this was worth resurrecting the thread....and no, I’m not Darryl. Like I said, go into driving for a ride share eyes wide open.

http://www.fox5vegas.com/story/37903623/airline-pilot-ditched-in-random-parking-lot-after-lyft-driver-realizes-hell-only-make-6