[Flippen4RideShare]

My Big Experiment

I live in San Pedro, CA, the southern tip of Los Angeles County.
I decided to fill my tank up on a Saturday night, drive a long day into the prime-time hours in the busiest sections of our city and see just exactly how much I’m earning.
Here are my results:

Drove hours 4PM to 12 Midnight Saturday Prime Time.

I drove the first few hours in my local area. It seemed to be going slow and no surge pricing, so I drove up to the Santa Monica/Beverly Hills area (another 31 miles) to hopefully pick up some better rides and earnings. I drove the rest of the night between Santa Monica and Downtown L.A. region, finishing my last trip in the Hollywood Hills, just under the Hollywood sign at Midnight.

Cost to fill the tank: $27.50
Miles Driven: 157.5
Miles per gallon: $19.69
Number of Trips: 18
Total of Fairs: $138.83
Total Earnings: $90.23 (after Uber costs - around 35% total Uber fees)

Hours online: 6 hours
Miles driven online: 82.1

Surface earnings: $90.23, which turns out to be an average of $15.04 per hour for the 6 hours online, not the 1.5 hours it took to drive to and from a zone with good activity.
But if you factor in my gas costs, I earned $62.73, which works out to $10.46 hourly.

Take in to account of wear and tear on my vehicle for driving it for working purposes (the government allows $0.55 allowance on tax write-offs) which Uber does not reimburse, then miles driven online at 82.1 x $0.55 is $45.16.

Lets add this up properly:

$138.83 - Fares
-48.60 - Uber Fees
-27.50 - Gas
-45.16 - Wear and Tear ($0.55/mile vehicle costs)
_______
$17.58 - Total Actual Earnings before taxes

$2.93 - Hourly average

I welcome any feedback, thanks for reading.
- Phillip

 

[Singsong]

0.55 is the IRS deduction. I would hope that your actual costs are lower than that. But even then the net pay is still very very low.

 

[Chicago-uber]

Yeah, looks like you accrued too many dead miles :-(

 

[Flippen4RideShare]

Re: "Yeah, looks like you accrued too many dead miles"

only 18.99 dead miles out of the 82.1 driven while online

 

[Chicago-uber]

Re: "Yeah, looks like you accrued too many dead miles"

only 18.99 dead miles out of the 82.1 driven while online

I thought you said miles driven was 157.5.

 

[limepro]

The .57 cents includes gas.

So 45.07/6 = $7.51 per hour

 

[Fauxknight]

The .57 cents includes gas.

Well $.575/mile this year, but yes it includes gas.

Hopefully your actual costs are lower than $.575/mile otherwise you are straight up going to losing money a lot of nights. Much of what we really earn and live off of is that margin between actual costs and IRS costs. The good part about living off that margin is that you don't pay taxes on that part of your earnings. I had a huge trip the other week, but that meant a lot of dead miles to get back to town. On paper I lost money on the trip, but after rough calculations on more realistic expenses I made close to $15/hour for the trip, and none of that is going to be taxed.

 

[LAuberX]

Flippen your results are perfectly average.

Minimum wage and a worn out car.

Uber On

 

[glados]

Your actual costs definitely should be much less than $0.575 per year. Prius tends to get $0.25 to $0.30.

Any difference is a tax deduction that you can claim at the end of the year, and reduce your tax bill. So you can add another $0.06 / mile of profit, for any mile (paid or dead).

 

[Flippen4RideShare]

Thanks for the input folks. Agreed, gas included and actual IRS deduction $0.575. Also agreed that total dead miles would include the drive to the zone while offline (32.5 miles in each direction.) Therefore, adjusting my calculations:
147.5 Miles driven while working for Uber (63.11 miles with rider in car; 84.39 dead miles); total miles on that tank 157.5 (10 miles driven personal)

$138.83 - Fares
-48.60 - Uber Fees
-84.81 - Wear and Tear ($0.575/mile IRS deduction)
______________
$5.42 - Total Actual Earnings before taxes
$0.90 - Hourly average

 

[limepro]

Why were you offline for those 32 miles? What if you went online and got a ping bringing you to the city? Even if you don't get a ride in that time at least you have a chance at getting one and cutting down on dead miles.

 

[naplestom75]

Yep. $10.00/hr is about what u can expect to "make" over a long period of time like an 8 hour or 10 hour. Barring any particularly good luck.

 

[Flippen4RideShare]

n on dead mile

Because I was getting caught in a loop of $4 dollar rides twice an area... a bad zone. I turned it off so it wouldn't trap me in those zones and allow me to reach a better hot zone.