4 ms·

What do driver expenses look like on a per-hour of driving basis? Gas, oil change, tire wear, etc. on a modest Honda/Toyota type car?

criddell 7y ago
$0.58 / mile according to the IRS.
- Railsify 7y ago
  Is that based on total cost of ownership? AAA claims to have some info on that: https://newsroom.aaa.com/tag/driving-cost-per-mile/ https://newsroom.aaa.com/tag/driving-cost-per-mile/
  - bdcravens 7y ago
    Then the IRS is being generous, as most of the vehicles in that linked page cost less than $0.58/mile.
    - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
      They're including depreciation which makes sense for small businesses that turn over their fleet every X years. If you're not swapping cars ever few years depreciation per mile is basically irrelevant because age and what you use the vehicle for will dominate depreciation.
      - lonelappde 7y ago
        You can't drive Uber in an old car, can you? Edit: apparently you can, and drivers leasing new cars to drive are getting creamed.
        bdcravens 7y ago
        In many markets, the car can be up to 15 years old. https://www.uber.com/drive/houston/vehicle-requirements/ https://www.uber.com/drive/houston/vehicle-requirements/
      - mikeash 7y ago
        An Uber driver will typically drive 30-50,000 miles/year (looking at a few quick search results). At that rate, your car will wear much faster and require replacement or major maintenance much sooner than is typical.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    The AAA numbers are within a hair of the IRS numbers so presumably yes.
    - Railsify 7y ago
      Looks like you are correct. As another user has pointed out, those numbers a likely based on average driving of 10-15k per year, I would guess an uber driver who drives full time will easily drive twice that.
- AWildC182 7y ago
  Depends on the car though. My econobox could turn a profit driving around at those rates but an F-150 might have issues. Hell, for those rates you could turn a profit renting a light aircraft for the trip in some parts of the country if you used the by-road distance (something like Telluride to Denver) as occasionally happens if you are good at bargaining with your expense people.
  - aftbit 7y ago
    Wow you maybe could. Telluride -> Denver is 360 miles by road. At $0.58/mile that's ~$210. KTEX -> KDEN is 190nm, call it 2 hours in a Cessna 172 with run-up and taxi. I can't find aircraft rental rates there in 5 minutes of search, but anything under $105/hr wet would make it cheaper than driving at IRS rates. Telluride is at 9070 feet elevation though, so make sure you know how to fly in the mountains!
    - AWildC182 7y ago
      Really, just do KBJC/BDU/APA -> KTEX and back. You'll save some money and BJC in particular rents at insanely low rates[1]. If you're in a flying club or own an EAB aircraft you can do even better. Also, yea, mountain training is a must. I wouldn't actually take a 172 up there but a 182 or Archer would be fine in nice weather. [1] http://www.rmflight.com/n4547e---172n.html http://www.rmflight.com/n4547e---172n.html
      - criddell 7y ago
        How does aircraft rental work? If I wanted to do the flight you are talking about for the weekend, is the rental fee per hour of flight? If so, say I have a two hour flight Friday, leave it parked until Sunday, then a two hour flight back. Four hours of flying and 36 hours of sitting. What would the final charge be?
        AWildC182 7y ago
        For regular rental it's typically per hour the engine is running ("hobbs time", aka the airframe clock which activates off of oil pressure) and then there's often an overnight minimum if you want to take it somewhere else overnight, often 2-3 hours. That means if you want to fly out Friday and come back Sunday somewhere 2 hours away, you'd be billed 6 hours if there's a 3 hour minimum per night (though often minus the cost of fuel, so closer to 5 hours). Fuel is typically included in the hourly rate and is reimbursed if you have to buy any off field. If you are part of a flying club (everyone buys in for a few grand and own x% of the aircraft) then the rates are typically said to be "dry" and are just the aircraft without fuel and typically billed with "tach time", or the engine clock rather than airframe time which measures rpm / max rpm * time which is in practice about 0.8 * "hobbs" making it slightly cheaper for some operations. Flying clubs vary a lot but are typically more lenient and often don't charge a minimum for overnights as long as you aren't abusing the heck out of it (ie. fly an hour away, spend a two weeks, fly an hour back).

criddell 7y ago

$0.58 / mile according to the IRS.

Railsify 7y ago
Is that based on total cost of ownership? AAA claims to have some info on that: https://newsroom.aaa.com/tag/driving-cost-per-mile/ https://newsroom.aaa.com/tag/driving-cost-per-mile/
- bdcravens 7y ago
  Then the IRS is being generous, as most of the vehicles in that linked page cost less than $0.58/mile.
  - dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    They're including depreciation which makes sense for small businesses that turn over their fleet every X years. If you're not swapping cars ever few years depreciation per mile is basically irrelevant because age and what you use the vehicle for will dominate depreciation.
    - lonelappde 7y ago
      You can't drive Uber in an old car, can you? Edit: apparently you can, and drivers leasing new cars to drive are getting creamed.
      - bdcravens 7y ago
        In many markets, the car can be up to 15 years old. https://www.uber.com/drive/houston/vehicle-requirements/ https://www.uber.com/drive/houston/vehicle-requirements/
    - mikeash 7y ago
      An Uber driver will typically drive 30-50,000 miles/year (looking at a few quick search results). At that rate, your car will wear much faster and require replacement or major maintenance much sooner than is typical.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  The AAA numbers are within a hair of the IRS numbers so presumably yes.
  - Railsify 7y ago
    Looks like you are correct. As another user has pointed out, those numbers a likely based on average driving of 10-15k per year, I would guess an uber driver who drives full time will easily drive twice that.
AWildC182 7y ago
Depends on the car though. My econobox could turn a profit driving around at those rates but an F-150 might have issues. Hell, for those rates you could turn a profit renting a light aircraft for the trip in some parts of the country if you used the by-road distance (something like Telluride to Denver) as occasionally happens if you are good at bargaining with your expense people.
- aftbit 7y ago
  Wow you maybe could. Telluride -> Denver is 360 miles by road. At $0.58/mile that's ~$210. KTEX -> KDEN is 190nm, call it 2 hours in a Cessna 172 with run-up and taxi. I can't find aircraft rental rates there in 5 minutes of search, but anything under $105/hr wet would make it cheaper than driving at IRS rates. Telluride is at 9070 feet elevation though, so make sure you know how to fly in the mountains!
  - AWildC182 7y ago
    Really, just do KBJC/BDU/APA -> KTEX and back. You'll save some money and BJC in particular rents at insanely low rates[1]. If you're in a flying club or own an EAB aircraft you can do even better. Also, yea, mountain training is a must. I wouldn't actually take a 172 up there but a 182 or Archer would be fine in nice weather. [1] http://www.rmflight.com/n4547e---172n.html http://www.rmflight.com/n4547e---172n.html
    - criddell 7y ago
      How does aircraft rental work? If I wanted to do the flight you are talking about for the weekend, is the rental fee per hour of flight? If so, say I have a two hour flight Friday, leave it parked until Sunday, then a two hour flight back. Four hours of flying and 36 hours of sitting. What would the final charge be?
      - AWildC182 7y ago
        For regular rental it's typically per hour the engine is running ("hobbs time", aka the airframe clock which activates off of oil pressure) and then there's often an overnight minimum if you want to take it somewhere else overnight, often 2-3 hours. That means if you want to fly out Friday and come back Sunday somewhere 2 hours away, you'd be billed 6 hours if there's a 3 hour minimum per night (though often minus the cost of fuel, so closer to 5 hours). Fuel is typically included in the hourly rate and is reimbursed if you have to buy any off field. If you are part of a flying club (everyone buys in for a few grand and own x% of the aircraft) then the rates are typically said to be "dry" and are just the aircraft without fuel and typically billed with "tach time", or the engine clock rather than airframe time which measures rpm / max rpm * time which is in practice about 0.8 * "hobbs" making it slightly cheaper for some operations. Flying clubs vary a lot but are typically more lenient and often don't charge a minimum for overnights as long as you aren't abusing the heck out of it (ie. fly an hour away, spend a two weeks, fly an hour back).