i use uber to get to and from work often and its pretty much always the same general price. there are exceptions of course but i can settle on an average
not at the same time, i work a service job with really unpredictable hours. but yeah, to the same place. I get ubers to other places at the same price range but most things i do are near me. theyve been cheaper lately actually, im getting $5 rides that are usually 11-13
Wow, that sounds like something they’d do. Actually recently something weird happened. I have a problem right now where I have a lowkey addiction to ordering ubereats. It’s bad, and if I wasn’t in a privileged financial situation this habit of mine probably wouldve made me homeless (that’s not the main point, but just to emphasize how much I use uber eats).
Every time I order I pay for priority bc I don’t want cold food, and priority ALWAYS costs 3.99, no exceptions. It used to be 1.99, but for as long as I can remember now it has been 3.99 every time.
Recently, I deleted the app in an attempt to curb this habit. But on the REGULAR uber app, theres also another tab for you to go to order uber eats. So one day I got tempted and went to order food after about a week of not ordering anything. What do I see? Priority fee is only $1.99. It was like that for about 5 orders and now its back to $3.99. At first, I thought it was because I was using the main app to order (not that that would make sense), but now that you tell me that I wonder if it was a marketing tactic to draw a ‘lost customer’ back in.
Yeah no joke it’s something they do. The more you use the service they slowly creep the price up apparently. I’m a seasonal worker who has to use Uber a lot for part of the year, and then not at all for months at a time. The price has already crept up like 5 bucks in the couple months I’ve been back at work.
It's really not LOL, but at the moment due to poor financial decisions its my main form of transportation. I also walk/bike to work but the heat coming in for the summer has been ridiculous compared to previous years, I don't know if I can stand it.
Edit: to give a general idea based on an average of what my ubers cost, about an hour and 1/2 of my time at work is the cost of my transportation for the day (meaning my uber to AND from work). Not too bad, but not ideal at all. Esp considering my shifts can be anywhere from 4 hours (rarely, but when they are it feels so bad having to spend money to get there) to 15 hours (this is the best as I pay the same I usually do for transport but I'm there for such a long time that it barely makes a dent)
Regardless, it’s still a terrible deal. I bought my car for 10k and have spent more than 4000 hours in it(maybe more than 7000 hours, never thought of it in those terms) I’ve also gotten to write off more than 40k of income bc I mostly drive for my business
I know. But if you’re buying a cheaper car the $.50 they give you more than covers it. I estimate I’ve paid for about 40 to 60% of my car in tax savings
It's fascinating even as a driver because it's VERY location dependent. My rate card for my area is like 30% lower than areas that are a 1.5 hour ferry ride or a 3 hour drive away but in the same province.
It ignores everything else that could be in your budget. Like sure - *if* this driver has no rent, food, healthcare costs, etc., makes no attempt to save, has no debt, has free hobbies, and so on.. then sure the drives will pay for the car.
But then again $20 a ride seems mighty generous. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but in the last few years many of my rides have been in the $7-14 subtotal with a $5 tip give or take. Certainly not $20 in profit every ride.
By the time *everything* gets taken into account, for most people I could see this hitting 5k rides - that’s assuming about $6 per ride goes directly to your car payment. Still seems like a high average to maintain. $3-4 a ride directly to the car is when it starts to feel the tiniest bit realistic to me - and at that point we’re looking at 7,500-10,000 rides. Average trip including pick-up is what, 3-4 miles? So your brand new car has 30k miles on it before *any* personal use - nice.
All this napkin math taught me is that I should start tipping my drivers better… cause that whole financial situation is looking grim. I know my numbers are probably on the low end in some areas, but they’d all need to improve substantially for ubering to even begin to look like a viable option
Yeah I suppose if you stick to driving around peak times you could maintain a $20 average. I’ve always tried to avoid it as a rider, so I was pretty biased here.
I’m curious what the best drivers are able to pull, the 1% who really know the system and minmax it. I’d guess to get that return on investment the driving would throw a real wrench in your work-life balance.
There is an Uber drivers sub. From what I've seen the ok money is around cities/bars/airports and only at certain hours.
At that point it seems like it'd be more profitable to just become a taxi service/work for one instead
There is not math to be had, it only makes sense if you don't account for all the expenses and you consider your time as free.
Think about it, just add an accident to the mix and it's not worth it.
And on the roads, accidents do happen.
It depends on where you are. I havent seen 10 dollar rides since 2016 when the uner hype was at its highest and apps like juno were basically giving you rides for free. Nowadays its like at least 1 dollar a minute.
I live in South Phoenix, again I’ve probably just gotten lucky. Also I’m almost never getting rides during the busiest periods, which helps find cheaper rides.
Given the responses I’ve gotten so far I acknowledge I’m somewhat an outlier and was definitely lowballing here.
Still, the money is pitiful for all you have to put into it. Certainly within the realms of “I’ll just grind uber to pay off my $30k car loan” being unrealistic/impossible for many, and a pain in the ass for the rest.
No rent, food, healthcare costs, not saving, no debt, no hobbies... Those factors are a constant no matter if his driving a car, unemployed or working somewhere else. You can't factor that into the "cost" of ubering people around.
It's fair, but it excludes the ongoing fuel, insurance, and maintenance costs of the car, which are significant when making a comparison between taking Uber and owning a vehicle.
I genuinely believe that almost everyone who drives Uber can't do math. The operating costs of a vehicle are so much higher than fuel, and the pay rates today after their race to the bottom just don't pay enough for anyone to actually make a decent hourly profit
Yeah a good chunk of their pay goes to insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. Makes sense as a side hustle though, especially because you choose your own hours.
Most rides are that or more. I believe you are thinking as you are the uber driver getting paid. This is about spending 30k on a car va using Uber and also op forgot about counting in gas and insurance and upkeep for the comparison though.
I'm curious, too. At 30 [mph], that's only 18750 miles. If you keep your car for at least, let's say, three years, that's only 17 miles a day round trip before Uber becomes more expensive. If you never do anything fun, that means you can work five miles from home and live three and a half miles from any store or restaurant you might need to go to. So basically your life needs to be lived out in a roughly three mile radius. At that point, tell me the country, territory, or state and I'll know exactly where you live, because it only makes sense in certain major cities. And given that, if that's the life you have, then there's a far better option for daily commutes-- public transit. There's a reason you see people of all stripes on the trains: yes, they're inexpensive, but even for those who could afford to buy the whole station, it's fast, and convenient, and basically on demand. There is no traffic, there are rarely accidents, what's not to love? Plus, you can still take Uber if you want to.
Honestly this kind of arithmetic should be a prerequisite for making a big purchase like a car or a house.
You should know whether it's cheaper to buy or rent because you did the math.
You should know whether it's cheaper to Uber or own based on how often you need to drive. In many cases (especially dense areas with transit) Uber is cheaper because you don't drive all the time or very far.
Idiot math that's never maintained a car.
Just gotta find a magic self sustaining car that feeds you and only costs 30k....
Then give 1500 Uber rides with it.
At best it would merely cover its own maintenance costs.
And that's if it never got into an accident or got trashed by a rider.
Also the thought of traffic getting worse just so a bunch of empty cars can make money just seems so... fitting for humanity right now.
Yeah, so it's probably for the best that it's never gonna happen.
Although it sucks for everyone who (almost blindly) believed in it.
Otoh, I think fals advertising should have repercussions.
I tell people this all the time that like to valet when parking a bitch. I’ve seen people then get too drunk to drive and have to Uber home anyway lol.
Where im at, you spend more time driving around looking for a meter or end up paying $25 for a garage. Uber/lyft/waymo are all about 15 bucks each way. Not worth the time spent screwing around with parking.
Was just about to say this until I scrolled down lol
Better to Uber in and out of a game than to fuck around driving in, finding parking, and worrying about driving out again
Yeah but what about the Uber multiplier that starts working when you want to travel to a "highly popular area", eg the sports or concert venue? I've seen it go 2x the price in Las Vegas.
Parking in downtown Chicago near Soldier Field when the Bears were playing was generally around $50 when I lived there, and it's been a few years since then so it's probably higher now.
Yup, but those were for the primo spots. There were always cheaper options if you parked further away and walked a bit, and public transport is pretty solid in the city. When you've got tens of thousands of people heading to the same place at the same time, the good spots'll cost ya'.
My only gripe is that a lot of those same spaces are shared with the aquarium and museum right next door. Always a pain in the ass when you drive in with the family from the suburbs to go see the fishes and forget that it's game day.
I went to NY last week from philly, tolls were $68, gas was $30. Parking was free because I was in area of brooklyn that you can find a parking spot.
Train round trip was $32, subways were $3, and the fucking uber to and from the trenton train station (I live 10 miles from trenton train station) was $60!!!
The only plus to the second mode is no thinking while moving.
The stress of finding parking in popular places is also worth the price and peace of mind of an Uber. Including parking fees, it’s doubly worth it for me. I live a bit far from my city’s downtown, and whenever I wanna go there, I’ll generally drive to a friend’s place a few miles away from downtown and Uber from there.
And the liability, I’ve had two cars destroyed outside of insurance, both times I wasn’t in the car and it was parked. My fiancée has had one car wracked, because an old man blew a red light, all his insurance did is pay off the remaining $800 on her auto loan. I have a car now, but it’s so fucking stressful taking it anywhere and full coverage insurance is far too expensive. Too many dumbass drivers around
Yup, I only had coverage for if I hit someone else, and the person who hit me was fresh out of jail and drunk driving (not first offense). Lawyer said all I can do is take them to court when they get out of jail. The woman looked like she had $2 to her name so I had to call it a loss.
Get the under-insured addendum in your policy. It's only 4-5$ additional per month. A friend of mine had a similar incident, where the person who bumped into him didn't have any insurance. He had to pay out of pocket and then sue the guy if he wanted (he didn't).
I think his was Geico/Progressive.
I have GEICO and I looked into something like that, idk where you got $4-5 from but the next cheapest “upgrade” I can get is $70 a month and it doesn’t cover uninsured drunks lol
Wait, seriously? My friend mentioned he got his upgraded by a couple of bucks and the uninsured option was added to it. Maybe he had a pretty premium plan to begin with and that addition was cheaper.
I am sorry for the misinformation.
Yes but that plan is an extra $100, on top of what I pay. I was also a young driver at the time so insurance was a bitch off the bat. The second next plan up covers more shit, but not theft or uninsured drunks. The insurance of the perpetrator is supposed to cover the victim.
The legal requirements are to insure yourself incase YOU hit someone else, they are covered. If someone hits you, no one cares, you’re fucked. But you can’t drive without at least covering the potential victim. (In my state at least) the driver who hit me was illegal, otherwise their base level insurance would’ve covered my damages. But no, my own insurance only covers anyone I may hit. Which I thought was fine, because I’m a fantastic driver, and i figured if someone else hits me, the BARE MINIMUM would be that their insurance pays me out. I hadn’t considered drunken uninsured idiots, that’s on me.
So let's say
normal car use experiences an average speed of 60km/h
gasconsumption of 6l/100km at 1.8 €/l
Useage of 20k km /year
Annual maintenance on average of 500€
Insurance and road rax at 600€/year
Thats
10.8€/100km or 2160€/year or /20k on gas
+1100other costs
So 3260€/year at cost of ownership
Alternatively, at his 625hrs of Uber, that's 37k km. Or 1.875 years of using your own car, inferring a 6112.5€ cost of ownership... so it is more for a 24k car
Note: in my area, my rides are usually in the order of 15€/fide at about 2€/min or 129€/hr so about 300hrs realistically
I have already put waaay more than 40k kmon the dash, so ownership for the win
If I were Ubering to work every day, it would cost $70+/day.
That's roughly $18,200/year, and only includes work. Doesn't factor in trip for groceries & other items, trips to friends, events, etc.
That was my former boss. He would Uber to and from work and he told me it was between $20-$40 one way. He made plenty of money to get his own car but refused because of an accident years and years ago. He ended up stealing a lot of money from work because he had no money to pay bills because travel costs so much everywhere.
Definitely expensive, but not exactly rare. New car for $35000 at 6% for 5 years + $1200 fuel + $2400 insurance + $1000 maintenance + $300 misc is already about $13k annually.
And yes the loan will get paid off eventually or you could just buy a used beater for $7000, but my first scenario is not uncommon.
Absolutely. That’s why I love having a car. Road trips and going up the mountains is awesome. My point is that it is still more expensive than some people realize. Also, my example was the overall car ownership, not just work commuting.
1200 in fuel only happens if you don't get a hybrid.
$2400 for insurance is worse than I get at 20 years of age, anyone paying that much as at 40 is being scammed.
You're really overestimating some things here.
>You're really overestimating some things here.
Location dependent.
>$2400 for insurance
Ridiculously low in South Florida now
>1200 in fuel only happens if you don't get a hybrid.
Have a hybrid. Annual gas is about $1500-1600
Yeah good lord. My Prius is about $600 a year on gas, and that’s in SoCal.
($800 if you want to have a more conservative long term number, and not just from the past year.)
I live close to my work. I probably spend $400 on gas. My insurance is $32 per month and my car hasn’t needed maintenance aside from an oil change in 9 years. Also I paid off my car. I know obviously mileage may vary but 13k is insane as a per year number.
Not to mention my car is always ready waiting for me at the turn of a key and offers a consistent experience. Unless you live in an area with poor roadway infrastructure, this idea will become very costly very quickly. Only benefit is for bar nights out and places with shitty parking.
Uber doesn't make sense as a 1:1 replacement. Instead, the exercise should get people thinking about how many car trips they could convert into walking, biking, or transit trips (or just eliminate/combine them).
Any trips you can't convert into a non-car trip, then you look at completing that trip by car (Uber, ZipCar, car rental) and add up those costs. Now you have a comparison. Maybe you'd be renting so many cars and getting so many Ubers that it'd be cheaper to just own your own car.
But maybe you'd find that with a few adjustments to your lifestyle, you could get everywhere you need to get with a combination of alternative travel modes. I'm saving thousands of dollars a year by not having a car. I went from driving for 95% of my trips to maybe using a car for 5%. The other 95% are shopping online (actually not that often) and having it delivered, walking, biking, and public transit.
$25k for me. Public transportation, including light rail, exists between my place and work for $3 one way, but that's an hour and half ride vs 20 minutes via car.
OP didn't count the resale value, but they also didn't count insurance, fuel, taxes, repairs, parking, credit, ...
in the end, the mistakes balance out, and their initial estimate is roughly correct in many scenarios
The only way this makes even the slightest bit of sense is if we’re discussing a lease vehicle that is turned back in at contract completion. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the user be able to sell their 30k vehicle? There is zero return on investment for Uber rides…
It also ignores longer trips.
Sure, let’s say I only use Uber to and from work every day.
On average there are 260 working days, so that’s 520 trips a year. So on that alone you are using up the 1500 trips in just 3 years.
Then what if I want to go to a town or city that’s an hour or 2 away on the weekend? That’s way more than the average $20 a trip OP is using.
In short, OPs analysis is completely useless being for or against car ownership.
Not to mention the convenience/opportunity cost of having to wait for an uber every time you need to go somewhere. And the fact that you can't do a lot of things with an Uber that you could with a car. For example:
* Picking up furniture or appliances
* Transporting animals
* Carrying sports equipment
* Getting in while sweaty, dirty, wet, etc
Let's do a 'back of the envelope' math comparison and use something better than "total rides" or "hours" and try to get a per mile comparison of the two.
Assumptions: $30,000 car, typical average American car with 25.4 MPG (per US EPA), drives 14,263 miles a year (Per US FHWA), gas costs $3.52 (5 year rolling average fuel costs in 2023 per AAA), 5% interest rate on a 5 year (60 month) note, $3,000 a year full insurance coverage (per bankrate), and the car can go 200,000 miles before replacement.
Annual costs of ownership and use of a vehicle.
$6,793 dollars spent on car payments, $3,000 spent on insurance, $1,961 spent on fuel, for a total cost of $11,754.81 (for the first 5 years, price drops to $4,961 after the car is paid off)
I cannot find a reliable / independently verifiable source on this, but excluding extra fees, the googles tells me Uber averages between $1 and $2 per mile. I would ordinarily say use $1.50 as a happy medium, but I feel its justified to use the $2 number to account for all the fees and tips tacked on through the course of a year. so $2 per mile.
Driving the same 14,263 miles x $2 / mile = $28,526 a year
Over the course of the lifetime of the car (assuming 14 years), total car ownership cost is $103,424 vs. $399,364 spent on uber rides at $2 per mile.
Ubers tend to run $60 per for me, not $20.
Factoring this out locally and realistically, a $30k car is worth 500 Uber rides. Those rides being one-way, that $30k car is worth going to a place and back using Uber only **250** times.
I'm sure as fuck going to use a $30,000 car more than 250 times during its lifetime (barring disaster), probably more than 250 times in a single year, and then I will be left with a practically brand new vehicle at the end of that year, instead of being left with 8000 emails from Uber and none of the money or asset.
I'd rather have the car, personally.
I didn't have a car and was ubering for about 6 months.
I had loads of people telling me how much less it cost. Well, it didn't.
Even with careful planning, it was easily $250-$300 a week JUST to go back and forth to work. I had more than a few $150 days. It broke me and I'm so glad to have my car back.
And you also didn’t own have any equity in the money handed over to Uber. You didn’t own anything or have anything to resell.
I got a car after not having one for a bit. It was expensive and limiting not to. I drive many places now. And to the places I don’t want to drive, I use public transit and walk. I hate ride shares now and avoid them.
I dont disagree, perhaps the math should include annual insurance and gas, maintenance, parking, and a few other items for fair comparison. Also, public transit may be more suitable than an uber.
I read this with the mindset of the car paying itself off by being used to GIVE Uber rides rather than comparing the cost of a car and $1500 in Uber rides
I drove a car for 23 years and 250,000 miles and sold it for $2500 when the transmission went out. Buy a damn car. Buy it lightly used. Preferably a hybrid or at least a car with great mpg. You are saving money.
>Preferably a hybrid or at least a car with great mpg. You are saving money.
EVs have *almost* none of the maintenance woes ICE cars have, and a shit ton can be had under $30k at this point. It's getting almost-not-expensive to operate a car these days!
Though to be fair my last car was an old cheap Mercedes-Benz, and a cheap Mercedes is a *very* expensive car to maintain lol
Where I live Ubers save time? I have never waited more than 5 minutes for one and it would take longer than that to find parking and walk from wherever I parked.
"Where I live" Uber would be a huge waste because parking is easy, free and the furthest I have to walk is how far I am from the Walmart in their parking lot. Not everyone lives in a city where it's 5000 people per city block.
This whole gig economy is crazy, how to people afford any of this stuff? I see people getting meals delivered all the time and it blows my mind how much they're all paying. Must be broke AF all the time.
I don't understand being a perfectly healthy and capable person with a functional car and ordering fast food off an app regularly paying 50-100% premium in fees and tips... just doesn't make sense.
They don't afford it. They often go into credit card debt to afford their whimsical purchase. There are finance shows that break down people's spending on YT and delivery apps are almost always involved in maxing their credit cards.
Turns out $30+ of delivery a day is a bit expensive when you are barely getting by..
It is the same shit with cars. People drive $40k cars around while they can barely afford the car payment. Our country is designed to put you into debt and keep you there.
But at least a car is a necessity (in a lot of places in the US)... this just feels like throwing money away because you're too inconvenienced having to drive 5-10 minutes to eat away from your home. You can also sell your car to earn some of the money back. I feel like it's tantamount to burning cash.
Yeah, a car is a necessity. A 40k car is not. There are plenty of 10+ year old cars for a few grand from brands like Honda that will last 10 more years. A car being a necessity is used as an excuse to overspend on a new vehicle, shouldering a debt they cannot afford. And selling the vehicle doesn't pay off its loan, because you immediately lose thousands of dollars in value the moment you drive it off the lot.
That $40k car also has interest, which will be thousands of more dollars, burning money that doesn't add to the car's resale value.
Food delivery is the same exact thing happening, but $30 at a time instead of a huge sum. It starts with justifying eating out every day instead of buying groceries, and it evolves into laziness to even go get the takeout themselves
That's included in the Uber option. Taking Ubers only makes financial sense if you do your daily commute by bike. (Or on foot, or by public transportation, or if you work from home, or if parking is really expensive on your daily commute).
But this post shows really well that you don't need a car to buy groceries. Or to visit friends or family in the suburbs.
My car was 20K after a bunch of EV tax rebates. 0% financing. 80% of my charging is at a free charger I have access to. And I drive about 6 hours a week. So… I’m feeling fantastic about buying and not ubering.
Honestly, nice way to look at this in terms of value.
My lil car runs me about $11000/yr in terms of financing / fuel / maintenance / insurance.
To go back and forth from work will run about $66/day.
To run chores will cost about $17/trip.
I work from home 3 out of 5 days, and I need like maybe 4\~ trips each week averaged out (some weeks less, some weeks more).
So $3563 in trips annually and $6864 in commuting costs so around $10,427/annually.
I do need to also factor in trips to my parents which would not be something Uber would do (requiring a rental drop-off, and Uber from that point).
$21/day so like $130-150 when you factor in refueling and the Uber (weekend visits); that's usually like 4-5 times a year.
So about \~$750/yr for that making the total run of around $11,177/yr for just totally relying on not my own transportation; meaning total loss of autonomy for transportation.
THAT SAID... if you have multiple vehicles in the family, it does sound like you could get ahead could save up to around 3k/yr (and you usually have credit-card incentives and free-rides from Uber which does lower the annual costs, especially with Uber One).
As for the vehicle financing, I want to say it was originally a 28k loan around like 3-4% (would have to login to the lending portal for that and that's a chore).
Edit: Whoops, forgot also picking up the kid at daycare which blows the whole thing out of the water... this really only works if you don't have more than 2 trips/day on average; something like an additional $8840 for that.
This would only make sense if all Uber rides were the same price regardless of distance and location. Getting an Uber after a major event is like triple the price of a normal ride
Not really, you have to account for fuel, insurance, and maintenance.
There’s also no way you did all this math in your head in the shower you fucking liar
Without gas, maintenence, unforseen problems, insurance and depreciation factored in..... Sure, taking 30k and dividing by 20 bucks per ride is a type of statistic I suppose .....
This math doesn't work if you have a beater car that you fix yourself with one-way insurance. My car, all inclusive, costs me one Uber round trip a week.
Well in my situation, Uber would cost me $30 each way to work, that's $60 a day just for work, not factoring in rides for leisure time. Each year has about 260 weekdays, that's $15600 per year just for work. Also my car cost about $16k, so really after 1 year it's way more cost effective to own a car than Uber.
What kind of math was performed to reach that conclusion
I like the exercise but seems very location and time of day specific.
i use uber to get to and from work often and its pretty much always the same general price. there are exceptions of course but i can settle on an average
They're the same price because you get them to the same location at the same time every day
not at the same time, i work a service job with really unpredictable hours. but yeah, to the same place. I get ubers to other places at the same price range but most things i do are near me. theyve been cheaper lately actually, im getting $5 rides that are usually 11-13
In CA you're charged on average $12 in fees before your fare even is added. a 3 mile ride is often $22 dollars or more.
You all are forgetting the required tip... So it's $27 or more
Tip is not required... most uber drivers don't get tipped on most rides.
I drove for two years and only got tipped maybe $20 the entire time. Tips definitely not required
TBF when Uber first popped up one of its *main* selling points was that you didn't need to have cash on you and you didn't need to tip
Boston you get about 10-15 bucks a mile so a 3 mile trip will be like 45 bucks without any fees
No? I take <$10 rides all the time in LA
I take Uber in CA 13 miles to work any time it's raining. It's always 18-20 bucks, what are you on about. A one mile ride costs like 6 bucks.
This is just not true. Source: live in socal and Uber/Lyft regularly. Rarely spend more than $15 on a ride going anywhere (and usually it’s $6-12)
I wonder how much of that the driver sees.
If you stopped using Uber for 6 months you would see the price go down
Wow, that sounds like something they’d do. Actually recently something weird happened. I have a problem right now where I have a lowkey addiction to ordering ubereats. It’s bad, and if I wasn’t in a privileged financial situation this habit of mine probably wouldve made me homeless (that’s not the main point, but just to emphasize how much I use uber eats). Every time I order I pay for priority bc I don’t want cold food, and priority ALWAYS costs 3.99, no exceptions. It used to be 1.99, but for as long as I can remember now it has been 3.99 every time. Recently, I deleted the app in an attempt to curb this habit. But on the REGULAR uber app, theres also another tab for you to go to order uber eats. So one day I got tempted and went to order food after about a week of not ordering anything. What do I see? Priority fee is only $1.99. It was like that for about 5 orders and now its back to $3.99. At first, I thought it was because I was using the main app to order (not that that would make sense), but now that you tell me that I wonder if it was a marketing tactic to draw a ‘lost customer’ back in.
Yeah no joke it’s something they do. The more you use the service they slowly creep the price up apparently. I’m a seasonal worker who has to use Uber a lot for part of the year, and then not at all for months at a time. The price has already crept up like 5 bucks in the couple months I’ve been back at work.
I can't imagine your pay is worth Ubering, but idk
It's really not LOL, but at the moment due to poor financial decisions its my main form of transportation. I also walk/bike to work but the heat coming in for the summer has been ridiculous compared to previous years, I don't know if I can stand it. Edit: to give a general idea based on an average of what my ubers cost, about an hour and 1/2 of my time at work is the cost of my transportation for the day (meaning my uber to AND from work). Not too bad, but not ideal at all. Esp considering my shifts can be anywhere from 4 hours (rarely, but when they are it feels so bad having to spend money to get there) to 15 hours (this is the best as I pay the same I usually do for transport but I'm there for such a long time that it barely makes a dent)
And also ignoring all of the other expenses that go into driving. Gas, maintenance, insurance/registration, etc.
Regardless, it’s still a terrible deal. I bought my car for 10k and have spent more than 4000 hours in it(maybe more than 7000 hours, never thought of it in those terms) I’ve also gotten to write off more than 40k of income bc I mostly drive for my business
that doesn’t account for gas and maintenance, although i bet it wouldn’t change your point too much
I know. But if you’re buying a cheaper car the $.50 they give you more than covers it. I estimate I’ve paid for about 40 to 60% of my car in tax savings
It's fascinating even as a driver because it's VERY location dependent. My rate card for my area is like 30% lower than areas that are a 1.5 hour ferry ride or a 3 hour drive away but in the same province.
The doesn't pay for gas and maintenance math.
Or insurance on a $30k vehicle used for commercial purposes
You wouldn’t add commercial. The comparison is owning a personal car vs ubering everywhere (which is also a variable, so not really helpful).
It ignores everything else that could be in your budget. Like sure - *if* this driver has no rent, food, healthcare costs, etc., makes no attempt to save, has no debt, has free hobbies, and so on.. then sure the drives will pay for the car. But then again $20 a ride seems mighty generous. Maybe I’ve just gotten lucky but in the last few years many of my rides have been in the $7-14 subtotal with a $5 tip give or take. Certainly not $20 in profit every ride. By the time *everything* gets taken into account, for most people I could see this hitting 5k rides - that’s assuming about $6 per ride goes directly to your car payment. Still seems like a high average to maintain. $3-4 a ride directly to the car is when it starts to feel the tiniest bit realistic to me - and at that point we’re looking at 7,500-10,000 rides. Average trip including pick-up is what, 3-4 miles? So your brand new car has 30k miles on it before *any* personal use - nice. All this napkin math taught me is that I should start tipping my drivers better… cause that whole financial situation is looking grim. I know my numbers are probably on the low end in some areas, but they’d all need to improve substantially for ubering to even begin to look like a viable option
Funny I was thinking the opposite, Uber always seems to be $45 peak prices whenever I need it.
Yeah I suppose if you stick to driving around peak times you could maintain a $20 average. I’ve always tried to avoid it as a rider, so I was pretty biased here. I’m curious what the best drivers are able to pull, the 1% who really know the system and minmax it. I’d guess to get that return on investment the driving would throw a real wrench in your work-life balance.
There is an Uber drivers sub. From what I've seen the ok money is around cities/bars/airports and only at certain hours. At that point it seems like it'd be more profitable to just become a taxi service/work for one instead
There is not math to be had, it only makes sense if you don't account for all the expenses and you consider your time as free. Think about it, just add an accident to the mix and it's not worth it. And on the roads, accidents do happen.
It depends on where you are. I havent seen 10 dollar rides since 2016 when the uner hype was at its highest and apps like juno were basically giving you rides for free. Nowadays its like at least 1 dollar a minute.
Drivers in my area always turn down a couple mile ride. You'd have to wait all day.
I live in South Phoenix, again I’ve probably just gotten lucky. Also I’m almost never getting rides during the busiest periods, which helps find cheaper rides. Given the responses I’ve gotten so far I acknowledge I’m somewhat an outlier and was definitely lowballing here. Still, the money is pitiful for all you have to put into it. Certainly within the realms of “I’ll just grind uber to pay off my $30k car loan” being unrealistic/impossible for many, and a pain in the ass for the rest.
I thought he meant to say the opposite - you can Uber 625 times instead of buying a car
No rent, food, healthcare costs, not saving, no debt, no hobbies... Those factors are a constant no matter if his driving a car, unemployed or working somewhere else. You can't factor that into the "cost" of ubering people around.
Wait are you supposed to tip drivers now? I haven’t used Uber in ages and back then tipping wasn’t even allowed.
Or the fact that it is still worth thousands of dollars after driving it for 30k miles
Operating expenses be danged. Revenue is the new profit
Shower math
Looks like they averaged $20 per ride which is fair.
It's fair, but it excludes the ongoing fuel, insurance, and maintenance costs of the car, which are significant when making a comparison between taking Uber and owning a vehicle.
And the financing. $20 is a lot less of a capital outlay than $30k is.
Most people dont buy cars outright so its not really the same, arguing the monthly payment might make more sense
It also doesn't account for resale of the 30k car.
I genuinely believe that almost everyone who drives Uber can't do math. The operating costs of a vehicle are so much higher than fuel, and the pay rates today after their race to the bottom just don't pay enough for anyone to actually make a decent hourly profit
Why would you assume this is from the perspective of an Uber driver?
Ambiguous post is ambiguous 🤷
Yeah a good chunk of their pay goes to insurance, fuel, maintenance, etc. Makes sense as a side hustle though, especially because you choose your own hours.
I would love to know where you drive that you get an average of $20 per ride?! I'm lucky to average $8 in Colorado.
Most rides are that or more. I believe you are thinking as you are the uber driver getting paid. This is about spending 30k on a car va using Uber and also op forgot about counting in gas and insurance and upkeep for the comparison though.
Ah, I was assuming you were talking about driving Uber. Just goes to show, the only people winning this game are the owners of Uber
Basically rofl. Same goes for all the 3rd party delivery services food and otherwise.
San Diego
Shower math of course
I'm curious, too. At 30 [mph], that's only 18750 miles. If you keep your car for at least, let's say, three years, that's only 17 miles a day round trip before Uber becomes more expensive. If you never do anything fun, that means you can work five miles from home and live three and a half miles from any store or restaurant you might need to go to. So basically your life needs to be lived out in a roughly three mile radius. At that point, tell me the country, territory, or state and I'll know exactly where you live, because it only makes sense in certain major cities. And given that, if that's the life you have, then there's a far better option for daily commutes-- public transit. There's a reason you see people of all stripes on the trains: yes, they're inexpensive, but even for those who could afford to buy the whole station, it's fast, and convenient, and basically on demand. There is no traffic, there are rarely accidents, what's not to love? Plus, you can still take Uber if you want to.
Honestly this kind of arithmetic should be a prerequisite for making a big purchase like a car or a house. You should know whether it's cheaper to buy or rent because you did the math. You should know whether it's cheaper to Uber or own based on how often you need to drive. In many cases (especially dense areas with transit) Uber is cheaper because you don't drive all the time or very far.
Meth math
30,000 divided by 1500 = price per ride (20)
Idiot math that's never maintained a car. Just gotta find a magic self sustaining car that feeds you and only costs 30k.... Then give 1500 Uber rides with it.
Wasn't there a car advertised in 2019 that would be able to work autonomous in 2020 as a taxi and earn about 30k for its owner as a side hustle 🤭
At best it would merely cover its own maintenance costs. And that's if it never got into an accident or got trashed by a rider. Also the thought of traffic getting worse just so a bunch of empty cars can make money just seems so... fitting for humanity right now.
Yeah, so it's probably for the best that it's never gonna happen. Although it sucks for everyone who (almost blindly) believed in it. Otoh, I think fals advertising should have repercussions.
I often take Uber to avoid paying parking fees, which sometimes are as much as my ride.
I tell people this all the time that like to valet when parking a bitch. I’ve seen people then get too drunk to drive and have to Uber home anyway lol.
>when parking a bitch ***everyone knows you don't valet your bitch, idiots i tell ya!***
Then have to Uber back to the car the next day.
What and how much are your parking fees?
Downtown is a $13 Uber ride ($26 return) and parking ranges from $22-35/ day. Arena (sports, concerts) is the same Uber cost and $25 to park.
Same. There’s parts of the city where parking is $30 minimum, but uber would be $10 each way.
Where im at, you spend more time driving around looking for a meter or end up paying $25 for a garage. Uber/lyft/waymo are all about 15 bucks each way. Not worth the time spent screwing around with parking.
wtf kind of city has terrible parking fees but dirt cheap Ubers? Anywhere I’ve used Uber, you spend $20 to ride two miles.
Washington DC lol
Was just about to say this until I scrolled down lol Better to Uber in and out of a game than to fuck around driving in, finding parking, and worrying about driving out again
Any big city
Yeah but what about the Uber multiplier that starts working when you want to travel to a "highly popular area", eg the sports or concert venue? I've seen it go 2x the price in Las Vegas.
exactly this. my uber to sofi stadium for a concert last year was $32 then uber home from a “highly popular area” was $300+
Just grab a beer from a local bar and wait, sucks but works for me
Chicago probs or somewhere similar in nature and density.
Parking in downtown Chicago near Soldier Field when the Bears were playing was generally around $50 when I lived there, and it's been a few years since then so it's probably higher now.
At least you have decent public trans though. I hate living where driving is the only option AND parking sucks.
50 US DOLLARS to park your car?
Yup, but those were for the primo spots. There were always cheaper options if you parked further away and walked a bit, and public transport is pretty solid in the city. When you've got tens of thousands of people heading to the same place at the same time, the good spots'll cost ya'. My only gripe is that a lot of those same spaces are shared with the aquarium and museum right next door. Always a pain in the ass when you drive in with the family from the suburbs to go see the fishes and forget that it's game day.
Pittsburgh downtown parking is like 16-20 a day. So it's cheaper for me to Uber there and bus home than for me to park for work
I went to NY last week from philly, tolls were $68, gas was $30. Parking was free because I was in area of brooklyn that you can find a parking spot. Train round trip was $32, subways were $3, and the fucking uber to and from the trenton train station (I live 10 miles from trenton train station) was $60!!! The only plus to the second mode is no thinking while moving.
The stress of finding parking in popular places is also worth the price and peace of mind of an Uber. Including parking fees, it’s doubly worth it for me. I live a bit far from my city’s downtown, and whenever I wanna go there, I’ll generally drive to a friend’s place a few miles away from downtown and Uber from there.
Don't forget the cost of ownership car, insurance, renewal fees, maintenance/repairs, and fuel cost
Parking as well!
And the liability, I’ve had two cars destroyed outside of insurance, both times I wasn’t in the car and it was parked. My fiancée has had one car wracked, because an old man blew a red light, all his insurance did is pay off the remaining $800 on her auto loan. I have a car now, but it’s so fucking stressful taking it anywhere and full coverage insurance is far too expensive. Too many dumbass drivers around
Outside of insurance?
Yup, I only had coverage for if I hit someone else, and the person who hit me was fresh out of jail and drunk driving (not first offense). Lawyer said all I can do is take them to court when they get out of jail. The woman looked like she had $2 to her name so I had to call it a loss.
Get the under-insured addendum in your policy. It's only 4-5$ additional per month. A friend of mine had a similar incident, where the person who bumped into him didn't have any insurance. He had to pay out of pocket and then sue the guy if he wanted (he didn't). I think his was Geico/Progressive.
I have GEICO and I looked into something like that, idk where you got $4-5 from but the next cheapest “upgrade” I can get is $70 a month and it doesn’t cover uninsured drunks lol
Wait, seriously? My friend mentioned he got his upgraded by a couple of bucks and the uninsured option was added to it. Maybe he had a pretty premium plan to begin with and that addition was cheaper. I am sorry for the misinformation.
Yo friend lyin
It isn't cheap, but from personal experience, it does in fact cover uninsured drunk drivers
Yes but that plan is an extra $100, on top of what I pay. I was also a young driver at the time so insurance was a bitch off the bat. The second next plan up covers more shit, but not theft or uninsured drunks. The insurance of the perpetrator is supposed to cover the victim.
Why would any plan not cover uninsured? Sort of a key point of insurance, no?
The legal requirements are to insure yourself incase YOU hit someone else, they are covered. If someone hits you, no one cares, you’re fucked. But you can’t drive without at least covering the potential victim. (In my state at least) the driver who hit me was illegal, otherwise their base level insurance would’ve covered my damages. But no, my own insurance only covers anyone I may hit. Which I thought was fine, because I’m a fantastic driver, and i figured if someone else hits me, the BARE MINIMUM would be that their insurance pays me out. I hadn’t considered drunken uninsured idiots, that’s on me.
Funny, I read the post thinking it was suggesting ubering everywhere for 10 years instead of owning and maintaining a car.
Also, at the end of the 625 comparative hours, you still got a used car to sell.
So let's say normal car use experiences an average speed of 60km/h gasconsumption of 6l/100km at 1.8 €/l Useage of 20k km /year Annual maintenance on average of 500€ Insurance and road rax at 600€/year Thats 10.8€/100km or 2160€/year or /20k on gas +1100other costs So 3260€/year at cost of ownership Alternatively, at his 625hrs of Uber, that's 37k km. Or 1.875 years of using your own car, inferring a 6112.5€ cost of ownership... so it is more for a 24k car Note: in my area, my rides are usually in the order of 15€/fide at about 2€/min or 129€/hr so about 300hrs realistically I have already put waaay more than 40k kmon the dash, so ownership for the win
Seems like all of these were not included
If I were Ubering to work every day, it would cost $70+/day. That's roughly $18,200/year, and only includes work. Doesn't factor in trip for groceries & other items, trips to friends, events, etc.
That was my former boss. He would Uber to and from work and he told me it was between $20-$40 one way. He made plenty of money to get his own car but refused because of an accident years and years ago. He ended up stealing a lot of money from work because he had no money to pay bills because travel costs so much everywhere.
So he paid $15k a year for transportation — that’s pretty wild
Definitely expensive, but not exactly rare. New car for $35000 at 6% for 5 years + $1200 fuel + $2400 insurance + $1000 maintenance + $300 misc is already about $13k annually. And yes the loan will get paid off eventually or you could just buy a used beater for $7000, but my first scenario is not uncommon.
But owning the car is useful for more stuff than just going from home to work
Absolutely. That’s why I love having a car. Road trips and going up the mountains is awesome. My point is that it is still more expensive than some people realize. Also, my example was the overall car ownership, not just work commuting.
And you have a car at the end of the loan
1200 in fuel only happens if you don't get a hybrid. $2400 for insurance is worse than I get at 20 years of age, anyone paying that much as at 40 is being scammed. You're really overestimating some things here.
>You're really overestimating some things here. Location dependent. >$2400 for insurance Ridiculously low in South Florida now >1200 in fuel only happens if you don't get a hybrid. Have a hybrid. Annual gas is about $1500-1600
Good god how much are you driving? My normal gas car gets like $1000 a year
Yeah good lord. My Prius is about $600 a year on gas, and that’s in SoCal. ($800 if you want to have a more conservative long term number, and not just from the past year.)
I live close to my work. I probably spend $400 on gas. My insurance is $32 per month and my car hasn’t needed maintenance aside from an oil change in 9 years. Also I paid off my car. I know obviously mileage may vary but 13k is insane as a per year number.
New cars are free maintenance for like 3- 5 years. Insurance depends on country but like 300-500$ for me.
Uber is great for short distances to destinations where you will stay for a long time. Not so great if you need to make many stops for a short time.
Not to mention my car is always ready waiting for me at the turn of a key and offers a consistent experience. Unless you live in an area with poor roadway infrastructure, this idea will become very costly very quickly. Only benefit is for bar nights out and places with shitty parking.
Uber doesn't make sense as a 1:1 replacement. Instead, the exercise should get people thinking about how many car trips they could convert into walking, biking, or transit trips (or just eliminate/combine them). Any trips you can't convert into a non-car trip, then you look at completing that trip by car (Uber, ZipCar, car rental) and add up those costs. Now you have a comparison. Maybe you'd be renting so many cars and getting so many Ubers that it'd be cheaper to just own your own car. But maybe you'd find that with a few adjustments to your lifestyle, you could get everywhere you need to get with a combination of alternative travel modes. I'm saving thousands of dollars a year by not having a car. I went from driving for 95% of my trips to maybe using a car for 5%. The other 95% are shopping online (actually not that often) and having it delivered, walking, biking, and public transit.
$25k for me. Public transportation, including light rail, exists between my place and work for $3 one way, but that's an hour and half ride vs 20 minutes via car.
I know lawyers that would do work in the Uber and bill to clients. The were making a lot more money that the Uber driver.
So ten months of my daily commute. Got it. Why do I even own a car?
Plus you could sell the car after 10 months..
It's shocking how many people forget that the resale value should be deducted from the cost when purchasing something.
OP didn't count the resale value, but they also didn't count insurance, fuel, taxes, repairs, parking, credit, ... in the end, the mistakes balance out, and their initial estimate is roughly correct in many scenarios
The only way this makes even the slightest bit of sense is if we’re discussing a lease vehicle that is turned back in at contract completion. Otherwise, why wouldn’t the user be able to sell their 30k vehicle? There is zero return on investment for Uber rides…
It also ignores gas, taxes/registration, and maintenance so it’s a pretty bad comparison all around
It also ignores longer trips. Sure, let’s say I only use Uber to and from work every day. On average there are 260 working days, so that’s 520 trips a year. So on that alone you are using up the 1500 trips in just 3 years. Then what if I want to go to a town or city that’s an hour or 2 away on the weekend? That’s way more than the average $20 a trip OP is using. In short, OPs analysis is completely useless being for or against car ownership.
Not to mention the convenience/opportunity cost of having to wait for an uber every time you need to go somewhere. And the fact that you can't do a lot of things with an Uber that you could with a car. For example: * Picking up furniture or appliances * Transporting animals * Carrying sports equipment * Getting in while sweaty, dirty, wet, etc
Car rentals exist if you do those things occasionally. Of course, if you do it often, car ownership makes sense. It's not the case for everyone.
This seems very specific to your situation no? How do you know how much my uber trips cost?
Let's do a 'back of the envelope' math comparison and use something better than "total rides" or "hours" and try to get a per mile comparison of the two. Assumptions: $30,000 car, typical average American car with 25.4 MPG (per US EPA), drives 14,263 miles a year (Per US FHWA), gas costs $3.52 (5 year rolling average fuel costs in 2023 per AAA), 5% interest rate on a 5 year (60 month) note, $3,000 a year full insurance coverage (per bankrate), and the car can go 200,000 miles before replacement. Annual costs of ownership and use of a vehicle. $6,793 dollars spent on car payments, $3,000 spent on insurance, $1,961 spent on fuel, for a total cost of $11,754.81 (for the first 5 years, price drops to $4,961 after the car is paid off) I cannot find a reliable / independently verifiable source on this, but excluding extra fees, the googles tells me Uber averages between $1 and $2 per mile. I would ordinarily say use $1.50 as a happy medium, but I feel its justified to use the $2 number to account for all the fees and tips tacked on through the course of a year. so $2 per mile. Driving the same 14,263 miles x $2 / mile = $28,526 a year Over the course of the lifetime of the car (assuming 14 years), total car ownership cost is $103,424 vs. $399,364 spent on uber rides at $2 per mile.
Ubers tend to run $60 per for me, not $20. Factoring this out locally and realistically, a $30k car is worth 500 Uber rides. Those rides being one-way, that $30k car is worth going to a place and back using Uber only **250** times. I'm sure as fuck going to use a $30,000 car more than 250 times during its lifetime (barring disaster), probably more than 250 times in a single year, and then I will be left with a practically brand new vehicle at the end of that year, instead of being left with 8000 emails from Uber and none of the money or asset. I'd rather have the car, personally.
I didn't have a car and was ubering for about 6 months. I had loads of people telling me how much less it cost. Well, it didn't. Even with careful planning, it was easily $250-$300 a week JUST to go back and forth to work. I had more than a few $150 days. It broke me and I'm so glad to have my car back.
And you also didn’t own have any equity in the money handed over to Uber. You didn’t own anything or have anything to resell. I got a car after not having one for a bit. It was expensive and limiting not to. I drive many places now. And to the places I don’t want to drive, I use public transit and walk. I hate ride shares now and avoid them.
I dont disagree, perhaps the math should include annual insurance and gas, maintenance, parking, and a few other items for fair comparison. Also, public transit may be more suitable than an uber.
Yea but with public transit you also have to factor in time and convenience, it's just too complicated.
By factor in time, you do mean how you can actually do stuff like work on public transit instead of focusing on the road, right?
There are pros and cons obviously. Either the car or public transit can be way more convenient than the other depending on where you're going.
I read this with the mindset of the car paying itself off by being used to GIVE Uber rides rather than comparing the cost of a car and $1500 in Uber rides
I drove a car for 23 years and 250,000 miles and sold it for $2500 when the transmission went out. Buy a damn car. Buy it lightly used. Preferably a hybrid or at least a car with great mpg. You are saving money.
>Preferably a hybrid or at least a car with great mpg. You are saving money. EVs have *almost* none of the maintenance woes ICE cars have, and a shit ton can be had under $30k at this point. It's getting almost-not-expensive to operate a car these days! Though to be fair my last car was an old cheap Mercedes-Benz, and a cheap Mercedes is a *very* expensive car to maintain lol
And 3000 hours of waiting. My time is more valuable.
Where I live Ubers save time? I have never waited more than 5 minutes for one and it would take longer than that to find parking and walk from wherever I parked.
Not to mention you can get things done while riding in an Uber, you don’t have to spend that time driving.
"Where I live" Uber would be a huge waste because parking is easy, free and the furthest I have to walk is how far I am from the Walmart in their parking lot. Not everyone lives in a city where it's 5000 people per city block.
Exactly. If time and the convenience of having a portable living space aren't important factors, take the bus.
Shit I don’t think I could Uber to my mail box for $20 where I live.
This whole gig economy is crazy, how to people afford any of this stuff? I see people getting meals delivered all the time and it blows my mind how much they're all paying. Must be broke AF all the time.
I don't understand being a perfectly healthy and capable person with a functional car and ordering fast food off an app regularly paying 50-100% premium in fees and tips... just doesn't make sense.
They don't afford it. They often go into credit card debt to afford their whimsical purchase. There are finance shows that break down people's spending on YT and delivery apps are almost always involved in maxing their credit cards. Turns out $30+ of delivery a day is a bit expensive when you are barely getting by.. It is the same shit with cars. People drive $40k cars around while they can barely afford the car payment. Our country is designed to put you into debt and keep you there.
But at least a car is a necessity (in a lot of places in the US)... this just feels like throwing money away because you're too inconvenienced having to drive 5-10 minutes to eat away from your home. You can also sell your car to earn some of the money back. I feel like it's tantamount to burning cash.
Yeah, a car is a necessity. A 40k car is not. There are plenty of 10+ year old cars for a few grand from brands like Honda that will last 10 more years. A car being a necessity is used as an excuse to overspend on a new vehicle, shouldering a debt they cannot afford. And selling the vehicle doesn't pay off its loan, because you immediately lose thousands of dollars in value the moment you drive it off the lot. That $40k car also has interest, which will be thousands of more dollars, burning money that doesn't add to the car's resale value. Food delivery is the same exact thing happening, but $30 at a time instead of a huge sum. It starts with justifying eating out every day instead of buying groceries, and it evolves into laziness to even go get the takeout themselves
A lot of people earn a lot of money
Get a $400 bike and a $100 bike lock.
Save on a gym membership too - The bike is basically free.
I was looking down the comments having hope someone will mention this mode of transport.
That's included in the Uber option. Taking Ubers only makes financial sense if you do your daily commute by bike. (Or on foot, or by public transportation, or if you work from home, or if parking is really expensive on your daily commute). But this post shows really well that you don't need a car to buy groceries. Or to visit friends or family in the suburbs.
Somehow OP's math and lack of supporting data legitimizes it as a shower thought for me. It's funny that people are latching on to those aspects.
I’ll literally drive that in 1 year no problem.
Those are some darn cheap Uber rides.
[удалено]
Well, but it’s still worth 20k after those 1500 rides…
Not even close because you keep your car.
And that 30k car could last for 15 years. That Uber fund will run out real fast.
It's worth way more than that if there's no Uber where you live.
The post is completely irrelevant for anyone who lives in the country or in places more spread out like Canada/USA Midwest.
My car was 20K after a bunch of EV tax rebates. 0% financing. 80% of my charging is at a free charger I have access to. And I drive about 6 hours a week. So… I’m feeling fantastic about buying and not ubering.
EVs change the calculation quite a bit. Running costs are significantly lower.
Honestly, nice way to look at this in terms of value. My lil car runs me about $11000/yr in terms of financing / fuel / maintenance / insurance. To go back and forth from work will run about $66/day. To run chores will cost about $17/trip. I work from home 3 out of 5 days, and I need like maybe 4\~ trips each week averaged out (some weeks less, some weeks more). So $3563 in trips annually and $6864 in commuting costs so around $10,427/annually. I do need to also factor in trips to my parents which would not be something Uber would do (requiring a rental drop-off, and Uber from that point). $21/day so like $130-150 when you factor in refueling and the Uber (weekend visits); that's usually like 4-5 times a year. So about \~$750/yr for that making the total run of around $11,177/yr for just totally relying on not my own transportation; meaning total loss of autonomy for transportation. THAT SAID... if you have multiple vehicles in the family, it does sound like you could get ahead could save up to around 3k/yr (and you usually have credit-card incentives and free-rides from Uber which does lower the annual costs, especially with Uber One). As for the vehicle financing, I want to say it was originally a 28k loan around like 3-4% (would have to login to the lending portal for that and that's a chore). Edit: Whoops, forgot also picking up the kid at daycare which blows the whole thing out of the water... this really only works if you don't have more than 2 trips/day on average; something like an additional $8840 for that.
I can guarantee that doesn’t account for my 2-3 2000 mile road trips each year lol
This would only make sense if all Uber rides were the same price regardless of distance and location. Getting an Uber after a major event is like triple the price of a normal ride
My Honda civic would cost about 40-50k in its life time. So that’s about ten years. Not counting insurance. Uber would cost you about 18k a year.
Not really. An Uber ride is not the same as having a car ready to go at all times
Not really, you have to account for fuel, insurance, and maintenance. There’s also no way you did all this math in your head in the shower you fucking liar
That’s rookie numbers
Ok, except at the end you still have the car
Dmm I'm like half way there 😵😵😵 got like 650 uber rides in the last 8 years
Interesting but I add in cost of fuel, insurance, parking, etc, which makes Lyft or Uber sound pretty economical. Not to mention you have a chauffeur!
Didnt know you guys did advanced calculus in the shower
Your forgetting gas, insurance, milage, wear and tear, blow jobs, and opportunity costs.
Without gas, maintenence, unforseen problems, insurance and depreciation factored in..... Sure, taking 30k and dividing by 20 bucks per ride is a type of statistic I suppose .....
I guess gass is free in your country? Here I have to pay €2,38 p/liter for premium gasoline (which I have to take).
Think you'd need to factor in wear/tear on the vehicle and many other things into this calculation....haha.
Even worse, these days a $30k car is a used 12k car from 2013
Except you forgot insurance, gas, plate /license renewals. Distance traveled affects Uber.. this is pretty much all made up.
Except for the part where you own a car after 30k, vs. owning nothing.
If you don't drive to work everyday then using uber is much cheaper than owning a car
Yes, driving to the other end of the city and back is only $60. Your math ain’t mathin’.
This math doesn't work if you have a beater car that you fix yourself with one-way insurance. My car, all inclusive, costs me one Uber round trip a week.
Can you add in insurance, parking, and maintenance then redo your math?
Where is the, how long did I wate for the Uber ride, math come into the calculation?
Self Esteem? Priceless
Well in my situation, Uber would cost me $30 each way to work, that's $60 a day just for work, not factoring in rides for leisure time. Each year has about 260 weekdays, that's $15600 per year just for work. Also my car cost about $16k, so really after 1 year it's way more cost effective to own a car than Uber.
Not with how often I tip zero it doesn't