4 ms·

If there are some months that he only makes a few hundred dollars, it's possible that you're actually losing money on depreciation (even if you're net positive

If there are some months that he only makes a few hundred dollars, it's possible that you're actually losing money on depreciation (even if you're net positive on current costs like gas and maintenance). This is something that I see very few drivers talk about but influences your earnings significantly. Depreciation is a real cost. If at the time you sell your car your car, you get $X, but driving for Uber caused you to have more miles and thus sell for $X-$Y, then Y is real cost. Even if you don't sell your car and instead drive your it into the ground, the extra miles you're driving for Uber cause your car to fail faster. I get the sense that many part time drivers think they're making money when instead they're losing it (or maybe making less than minimum wage after expenses).

kfarr 6y ago
Shhhh... You're devaluing lyft and Uber stock with your arithmetic! /s of course you're right but this lack of accounting for vehicle depreciation (not to mention a very high liability risk for every minute on the road) is rooted deeply in American's sunk cost fallacy with motor vehicle ownership. It's almost a genetic instinct at this point and for every person who does the math and realizes it doesn't work out there's another who won't care
austhrow743 6y ago
I find it incredibly hard to believe depreciation would be that significant of a factor if someone driving part time is pulling in hundreds or occasionally a thousand a month. They’d have to be reducing a new car down to a total loss every couple of years, just through ubering. Doesn’t make sense.
missedthecue 6y ago
I hear this thrown around a lot, but to the best I can discern, it is simply unfounded. Uber and Lyft seem to pay between $1-$2 a mile. There are sites where you can put in the model and year of your car and get real life depreciation figures. Unless you're ubering around in a McLaren, you're just not depreciating at a higher rate than what Uber pays. Prius, probably the most common ride sharing car, has a total cost, including fuel, depreciation, and maintenance, of about $0.39 cents per mile.

kfarr 6y ago

Shhhh... You're devaluing lyft and Uber stock with your arithmetic! /s of course you're right but this lack of accounting for vehicle depreciation (not to mention a very high liability risk for every minute on the road) is rooted deeply in American's sunk cost fallacy with motor vehicle ownership. It's almost a genetic instinct at this point and for every person who does the math and realizes it doesn't work out there's another who won't care

austhrow743 6y ago

I find it incredibly hard to believe depreciation would be that significant of a factor if someone driving part time is pulling in hundreds or occasionally a thousand a month. They’d have to be reducing a new car down to a total loss every couple of years, just through ubering. Doesn’t make sense.

missedthecue 6y ago

I hear this thrown around a lot, but to the best I can discern, it is simply unfounded. Uber and Lyft seem to pay between $1-$2 a mile. There are sites where you can put in the model and year of your car and get real life depreciation figures. Unless you're ubering around in a McLaren, you're just not depreciating at a higher rate than what Uber pays. Prius, probably the most common ride sharing car, has a total cost, including fuel, depreciation, and maintenance, of about $0.39 cents per mile.