My Napkin Math Why Lyft / Uber Makes Zero Sense

Edit: Look at how many of you come beckoning to the defense of Lyft / Uber...

Some napkin math. Working 12 hr shifts. 5-6 days a week. ~55k miled every 6 months. Drive for 2 years is 220K miles.

Once a car approaches 150,000-200,000 miles, the likelihood of major repairs (like transmission or engine issues) increases. The car is likely also worth less than $5,000, it's often more cost-effective to replace it rather than invest in major repairs. (i.e. totalled)

You are spending roughly 30k for a nice, new fuel economy vehicle.

So some more math for you. You are making ~1.2k weekly or 62.4k annually. Over two years that is 124.8k.

You spend roughly 20-30 USD daily in gas. (9,125 anually). Oil changes every 5k miles or roughly 22 oil changes anually at ~45 USD each ( 990 annually).

Tires last ~40k miles. So you will need ~4 sets of tires for the lifetime of the vehicle. Each tire is ~100 USD for a grand total of 1,600 USD for lifetime of vehicle.

Car: 30k USD Millage: 220k Gas: 18,260 USD Oil: 1,980 USD Tires: 1,600 USD

52,200 USD (bi-annually)

This is of course assuming you have literally zero issues other than basic maintenance costs. When you run over a nail or whatever, you are spening more than this perfect scenario.

You make 124.8k - 52k (vehicle costs) = 72.8k 72.8k / 2 = 36.4k annually.

Those are the numbers, you make 36.5k annually after accounting for vehicle expenses!

You are working stupid hours to top it all off, so yes McDonald's is looking pretty good. Lets say you are making 12 USD / Hourly and live within walking distance.

124052= 24,960 USD / annually (Standard) (12*1.5)2652= 24,336 USD / annually (OT)

49,296 USD / Annually

Congrats, McDonald's wins!

Note: I've never personally had a car make it to 220k miles before repair costs totalled a car. Owmed 5 cars the last 8 years. Always bought used other than my current one.