# Automobile Depreciation



## Telomostro

Has anyone figured out (or know of a table that helps you figure out) what is the cents amount per mile worth the depreciation of your car, in other words:
In any given month of UBER I put about 3-4000 miles on my odometer which means about 40,000 miles a year on my car (brand new).
When it will be time to sell/trade in this car the accumulated miles will make this car worth nothing or next to nothing but I would like to figure out an exact science by which determine a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned.
It's easy to fall blindly into the "apparent" money earning on a weekly basis, but what will the cost (of earning this money) be on the back end..?


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## UberHammer

Go to KBB.com and click "check my cars value". Answer all the questions. Get the value. Then do it again, but this time add 10,000 miles to it. Get the new value. Take the difference of the first value and the second value and divide that by 10,000. That's your depreciation per mile driving that car for Uber.


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## Telomostro

Thank you UberHammer I will check this out although my experience is that when you go to trad in your car at the dealer they whipe their butt with the KBB figures and calculations, they use the Black Book and that has a different set of rules on depreciation (unfortunately)


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## UberHammer

Telomostro said:


> Thank you UberHammer I will check this out although my experience is that when you go to trad in your car at the dealer they whipe their butt with the KBB figures and calculations, they use the Black Book and that has a different set of rules on depreciation (unfortunately)


There are other sites like Edmunds.com that have similar tools as well. You'll find pretty much all them depreciate a car based on mileage the same amount.


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## Simon

What kind of car?


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## Telomostro

Thank you...
you seem to be into this subject so I ask you... have you figured out a good or acceptable ratio ov miles put on the odometer vs. net in your pocket.
For example:

if you in one day put 300 miles in and net $200 ($240 gross) that means you earned an average of 67¢/mile, now with gasoline at approx 12¢/mile we are down to 55¢/mile, if your car cost about 50¢ per mile between maintenance and depreciation (and this last figure is totally arbitrary in this case) then you are really *WORKING FOR FREE* is that the case...?


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## Uber-Doober

Telomostro said:


> Has anyone figured out (or know of a table that helps you figure out) what is the cents amount per mile worth the depreciation of your car, in other words:
> In any given month of UBER I put about 3-4000 miles on my odometer which means about 40,000 miles a year on my car (brand new).
> When it will be time to sell/trade in this car the accumulated miles will make this car worth nothing or next to nothing but I would like to figure out an exact science by which determine a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned.
> It's easy to fall blindly into the "apparent" money earning on a weekly basis, but what will the cost (of earning this money) be on the back end..?


^^^
On a Prius or a Maserati Quattroporte?


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## Simon

Yea we need the car your talking about.


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## Casuale Haberdasher

Telomostro said:


> Has anyone figured out (or know of a table that helps you figure out) what is the cents amount per mile worth the depreciation of your car, in other words:
> In any given month of UBER I put about 3-4000 miles on my odometer which means about 40,000 miles a year on my car (brand new).
> When it will be time to sell/trade in this car the accumulated miles will make this car worth nothing or next to nothing but I would like to figure out an exact science by which determine a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned.
> It's easy to fall blindly into the "apparent" money earning on a weekly basis, but what will the cost (of earning this money) be on the back end..?


POST # 1 / @Telomostro : ♤♡♢♧

Yeah, what @Uber-Doober asked!


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## Telomostro

I am so sorry.... forgot to mention the most Important thing:

*2015 HYUNDAI SONATA*


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## MikeB

Telomostro said:


> Has anyone figured out (or know of a table that helps you figure out) what is the cents amount per mile worth the depreciation of your car, in other words:
> In any given month of UBER I put about 3-4000 miles on my odometer which means about 40,000 miles a year on my car (brand new).
> When it will be time to sell/trade in this car the accumulated miles will make this car worth nothing or next to nothing but I would like to figure out an exact science by which determine a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned.
> It's easy to fall blindly into the "apparent" money earning on a weekly basis, but what will the cost (of earning this money) be on the back end..?


When you sell a one year old car with 40K miles on - it has issues. The issue is that the car is out of warranty and that the car has not been used as an average personal car is used: i.e. 10-12,000 miles per year. Car with 40,000 miles in one year has been used as a taxi. That issue is going to seriously undermine its marketability, or market value. Regardless of what the KBB value says any buyer will be seriously concerned with the way the vehicle has been used, which in turn will diminish any value given by KBB. This is why rental companies would normally sell their fleet within the first 4-6 months of service. Usually, rental cars showing at the dealers auctions would have 10-25,000 miles on it. These cars are sold at the dealers auctions about 20 to 25% less than the price of identical brand new car, depending on mileage. Keep in mind that these vehicles are still under a factory warranty, and bought by dealers are being reconditioned at the dealerships service, then branded "Certified Pre-Owned" to extend the factory power-train warranty to 100,000 miles. Then dealership makes profit selling it. In order for you to sell a car to a private buyer you have to attract the buyer. If you use it for Uber to the point that your new car as you put it "worth nothing or next to nothing" you are only going to attract a buyer to buy this vehicle from you by the price. Which has to also be "next to nothing" to conduct the transaction.
So, if you want to figure our "exact science", which determines a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned", you have to use exact data, such as make/model of the vehicle, its factory warranty duration/mileage, type of buyer you are going to produce, i.e. dealer trade vs. retail buyer, time. Its hard to predict what model in what area would be in a higher demand in any given year.
If you are planning on "making money" Ubering and have let say 150,000 miles on your car in let say 4 years, then depending on your luck you may produce a buyer then, but I seriously doubt you are going to get any serious amount. Again, it depends on what you got. But, if you are Ubering in a 50,000 Infiniti you may get 5-7K for it, then you've lost $43,000 "making money" for Uber. If it is a Kia and it survives to 150,000 miles then you may have just lost 15 grand.
I would try by all means to sell the car with under 25,000 miles Ubering on it being just 5-6 month old, even if I have to lose 15-20% of I paid for it brand new.
Uber gig comes with a very high price attached to losing your car equity fast. Uber modestly omits that fact in their "Make $5,000- month driving your car!" commercials, but that is a different subject.


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## Telomostro

Yeah Mike.... I understand what you are saying and unfortunately I cannot disagree a bit... :-(


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## Desert Driver

Telomostro said:


> Thank you UberHammer I will check this out although my experience is that when you go to trad in your car at the dealer they whipe their butt with the KBB figures and calculations, they use the Black Book and that has a different set of rules on depreciation (unfortunately)


That's why the wise person *NEVER* trades a car in. The fiscally responsible person will *ALWAYS* sell his/her automobile and pocket more cash rather than hand it over to a sleazy auto dealer.


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## Telomostro

Desert Driver said:


> That's why the wise person *NEVER* trades a car in. The fiscally responsible person will *ALWAYS* sell his/her automobile and pocket more cash rather than hand it over to a sleazy auto dealer.


Yeah... but you forgot a small detail: When you sell the car on your own the person has to pay CASH or get their own financing (if they manage), they are much more prone to purchase a car from a dealer (who also offers warranty) than from an individual, trust me I went through that route a few times.


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## Jeremy Joe

Uber-Doober said:


> ^^^
> On a Prius or a Maserati Quattroporte?


Remember hon', you're dealing with a Uber driver, not a Mensa member! so don't get frustrated and overworked. Chilll!!!!


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## Telomostro

I drive for UBER because they give me a navigator and so I can always find my home


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## Chris Dee

That's some serious mileage. My vehicle sits during the week unless I need it to tow, haul or take friends out. When I Uber I stay put much of the time until I get a request. For the two days I work I rarely go over 200 miles and that equates to ~600 miles a month. How in gods name to you hit 3K to 4K a month ??? wow... I hope to hell you are making some cash with this type of mileage.


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## MikeB

I did 6 days a week for 10 to 12 hours Ubering. That's after I drove to the Uber work site 40 miles and then back home. So, 1000 miles a week is nothing special or strange to me. Yeah, I was grossing 8 grand a month before rate cut, but feel that Ubering is not cost effective.


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## Telomostro

I stay put most of the time myself but when I don't have a gig (and sometimes that can be a whole month) I Uber 12 to 15 hours a day and that is when I can easily put 250 miles in one day, in weeks like that I have made 7-800 dollars or even 900 like this past week.
If someone shoots you to SW 122nd Street and 67th Ave you are not gonna stay put there because an hour or longer may go by before you get your next call so there.... you put another 10-15 miles in your car to come back to civilization and get frequent hits. If you operate like that 12-15 hours you easily put 200 miles in a day, multiply that by twentysome days you do that in a month and there you have it: 3 to 4K miles easily.


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## TidyVet

Chris Dee said:


> That's some serious mileage. My vehicle sits during the week unless I need it to tow, haul or take friends out. When I Uber I stay put much of the time until I get a request. For the two days I work I rarely go over 200 miles and that equates to ~600 miles a month. How in gods name to you hit 3K to 4K a month ??? wow... I hope to hell you are making some cash with this type of mileage.


I work in Boston, drive 700 miles/week. Post-Uber Pay = $1300/week


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## Telomostro

TidyVet said:


> I work in Boston, drive 700 miles/week. Post-Uber Pay = $1300/week


wow... I guess in Boston UBER pays A LOT more.


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## TidyVet

Hmmmm... Yeah, pretty much to be honest.

$1.20/mile, $10 cancellation fee.

I think we will see a rate cut this spring.


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## Aquiles

Telomostro said:


> wow... I guess in Boston UBER pays A LOT more.


Yes but it is the toughest US to drive, former car pasture grid instead of planned streets and synched traffic lights. Oh throw in 8 feet of snow and come drive in hell. Lol. Money is good but not enough.


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## Luberon

Telomostro said:


> Thank you UberHammer I will check this out although my experience is that when you go to trad in your car at the dealer they whipe their butt with the KBB figures and calculations, they use the Black Book and that has a different set of rules on depreciation (unfortunately)


Short version: Your brand new car (depreciation) and low earnings per mile are hitting your bottom line harder than you thought

The only exact science is actually trading in your car. KBB and Edmunds are a good tool but they cant tell you the _future _value of a 2015 car.
I get around this by using an older model year. In your case, the trade in price of a 2011 Sonata with 160k miles will be a good indicator of how much value your car will have left after four years of X. You can divide this by four to get an annual rate. Am sure you will be way more reluctant in using your car for X when you do that.

According to KBB 2011 sonata with 160K is worth $4800 while the same car with 48k mi is worth $10,400. So at a minimum Uber miles cost you *$1400/ year* in depreciation (assuming you bought this car for personal use then decided to Uber anyway). This is minus any added maintenance costs.

If you bought this car exclusively to Uber then it is much worse. A new Sonata has $22K MSRP and in four years it will be worth under $5k. A net loss $17k or* $4,250 per year.*

Your mileage/$$ ratio is also on the low side. Because you use a brand new car, your actual expenses per mile will be very close to IRS $.575 meaning you are losing 50 cents or so for every mile driven. Since you average gross fares of 750$ per 1000 miles (75 cents per mile) you make 25cents profit for every mile driven.

Most UP.net geeks think you need to make at least $1 for every mile driven for X to make sense. But it isa judgement call that only you can make.

You can plugin your own figures, the basic conclusions will remain the same.


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## Luberon

Telomostro said:


> Thank you...
> you seem to be into this subject so I ask you... have you figured out a good or acceptable ratio ov miles put on the odometer vs. net in your pocket.
> For example:
> 
> if you in one day put 300 miles in and net $200 ($240 gross) that means you earned an average of 67¢/mile, now with gasoline at approx 12¢/mile we are down to 55¢/mile, if your car cost about 50¢ per mile between maintenance and depreciation (and this last figure is totally arbitrary in this case) then you are really *WORKING FOR FREE* is that the case...?


It is clear that you are barely making minimum wage at best. Other than quitting Uber your choices are:
1. Working smarter and putting on fewer dead miles
2. Garaging or trading in your car for a depreciated car. Say a 2008 Prius or 2011 Sonata with 50K miles
3. You should also consider Lyft or other services in your market that will make you more efficient


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## Bart McCoy

MikeB said:


> When you sell a one year old car with 40K miles on - it has issues. The issue is that the car is out of warranty and that the car has not been used as an average personal car is used: i.e. 10-12,000 miles per year. Car with 40,000 miles in one year has been used as a taxi. That issue is going to seriously undermine its marketability, or market value. Regardless of what the KBB value says any buyer will be seriously concerned with the way the vehicle has been used, which in turn will diminish any value given by KBB. This is why rental companies would normally sell their fleet within the first 4-6 months of service. Usually, rental cars showing at the dealers auctions would have 10-25,000 miles on it. These cars are sold at the dealers auctions about 20 to 25% less than the price of identical brand new car, depending on mileage. Keep in mind that these vehicles are still under a factory warranty, and bought by dealers are being reconditioned at the dealerships service, then branded "Certified Pre-Owned" to extend the factory power-train warranty to 100,000 miles. Then dealership makes profit selling it. In order for you to sell a car to a private buyer you have to attract the buyer. If you use it for Uber to the point that your new car as you put it "worth nothing or next to nothing" you are only going to attract a buyer to buy this vehicle from you by the price. Which has to also be "next to nothing" to conduct the transaction.
> So, if you want to figure our "exact science", which determines a fair "Ratio" of miles put on the odometer vs. money earned", you have to use exact data, such as make/model of the vehicle, its factory warranty duration/mileage, type of buyer you are going to produce, i.e. dealer trade vs. retail buyer, time. Its hard to predict what model in what area would be in a higher demand in any given year.
> If you are planning on "making money" Ubering and have let say 150,000 miles on your car in let say 4 years, then depending on your luck you may produce a buyer then, but I seriously doubt you are going to get any serious amount. Again, it depends on what you got. But, if you are Ubering in a 50,000 Infiniti you may get 5-7K for it, then you've lost $43,000 "making money" for Uber. If it is a Kia and it survives to 150,000 miles then you may have just lost 15 grand.
> I would try by all means to sell the car with under 25,000 miles Ubering on it being just 5-6 month old, even if I have to lose 15-20% of I paid for it brand new.
> Uber gig comes with a very high price attached to losing your car equity fast. Uber modestly omits that fact in their "Make $5,000- month driving your car!" commercials, but that is a different subject.


so what if you buy a 50,000 infiniti, keep it for 10 years, and do no Uber
i guess you just lost $50,000?
i mean a lot of people dont Uber. they dont get paid for not 1 of the 100,000 miles they put on their car
but i guess getting paid from Uber at $1/mile, $100,000, is worse than getting paid $0/mile, for using your car just for pleasure???????

i mean seriously, explain to me the different of having a second car just for uber, and you put 100,000 paid miles on it. or having a second car,and driving it 100,000 miles for pleasure,with hundreds of dollars on gas ,and thousands on maitenance. Do you lose worse ubering? or worse driving for pleasure?


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## Bart McCoy

Telomostro said:


> Yeah... but you forgot a small detail: When you sell the car on your own the person has to pay CASH or get their own financing (if they manage), they are much more prone to purchase a car from a dealer (who also offers warranty) than from an individual, trust me I went through that route a few times.


right, a dealer just makes it quicker and easier to get rid of a car
but if you have time,and dont need the money right away, you can hold out and sell it privately. but it definitely may take longer because not everbody has cash or can get a loan right away. When you sell it to a dealer, they can let it sit. But will come along eventually. But you can sell our car to a private person until they have the cash/cashiers check


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## Uber-Doober

Bart McCoy said:


> so what if you buy a 50,000 infiniti, keep it for 10 years, and do no Uber
> i guess you just lost $50,000?
> i mean a lot of people dont Uber. they dont get paid for not 1 of the 100,000 miles they put on their car
> but i guess getting paid from Uber at $1/mile, $100,000, is worse than getting paid $0/mile, for using your car just for pleasure???????
> 
> i mean seriously, explain to me the different of having a second car just for uber, and you put 100,000 paid miles on it. or having a second car,and driving it 100,000 miles for pleasure. Do you lose worse ubering? or worse driving for pleasure?


^^^
Yeah, but that person that paid 50 Large for his Infiniti doesn't have to spend 14 hours a day behind the wheel and watch his life slowly whither away while maybe stopping over at the AM-PM Mini Mart for a lousy tuna sandwich for lunch while trying to make ends meeet. 
And BTW.... over the period of those 100K miles he's gonna need at least two timing belt replacements @ $1,500. each. 
And if he tried to 'finesse' a belt for another 10,000 miles and it flies off the toothed pully, then guess what? He has pistons running into valves, and there's a $7,000. engine. 
That $1.00 per mile doesn't mean squat because he's spending it as he goes, and the big stuff just pops out of nowhere. 
He either pays it, or they drag the car off to the bone yard.


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## Bart McCoy

Uber-Doober said:


> ^^^
> Yeah, but that person that paid 50 Large for his Infiniti doesn't have to spend 14 hours a day behind the wheel and watch his life slowly whither away while maybe stopping over at the AM-PM Mini Mart for a lousy tuna sandwich for lunch while trying to make ends meeet.
> And BTW.... over the period of those 100K miles he's gonna need at least two timing belt replacements @ $1,500. each.
> And if he tried to 'finesse' a belt for another 10,000 miles and it flies off the toothed pully, then guess what? He has pistons running into valves, and there's a $7,000. engine.
> That $1.00 per mile doesn't mean squat because he's spending it as he goes, and the big stuff just pops out of nowhere.
> He either pays it, or they drag the car off to the bone yard.


so the guy that uber's his car needs 2 timing belts during the 100k miles
but the guy driving his car for pleasure needs zero timing belts for 100k miles? really now?
and the infinit only loses pistons if you uber it
if you drive for pleasure your car never breaks down?
gotcha. my bad, didnt know you were a car expert


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## Uber-Doober

Bart McCoy said:


> so the guy that uber's his car needs 2 timing belts during the 100k miles
> but the guy driving his car for pleasure needs 0 timing belts for 100k miles? really now?
> and the infinit only loses pistons if you uber it
> if you drive for pleasure your car never breaks down?
> gotcha. my bad, didnt know you were a car expert


^^^
Haha... you're always full of sarcasm. 
What you can't get through your little skull is that the person who buys the car for pleasure isn't going to be putting 100K on the clock in two years, and he isn't going to be spending the money that he supposedly makes by doing Uber incrementally for living. 
You can't be comparing apples and oranges because the person that uses his car as a "tool" isn't in the came category as a so-called pleasure driver. 
Something tells me that you don't drive and never HAVE driven your own vehicle as an owner/operator, so you're only seeing one little ignorant mis-perceived segment. 
And BTW.... the cars that you discuss in your above posts are all going to be picked up from you by used car dealers or wholesalers at below wholesale book. 
I wouldn't buy a ten year old car with over 100K on the clock anyway. Never have. Never will. Never had to.


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## Bart McCoy

Uber-Doober said:


> ^^^
> Haha... you're always full of sarcasm.
> What you can't get through your little skull is that the person who buys the car for pleasure isn't going to be putting 100K on the clock in two years, and he isn't going to be spending the money that he supposedly makes by doing Uber incrementally for living.
> You can't be comparing apples and oranges because the person that uses his car as a "tool" isn't in the came category as a so-called pleasure driver.
> Something tells me that you don't drive and never HAVE driven your own vehicle as an owner/operator, so you're only seeing one little ignorant mis-perceived segment.
> And BTW.... the cars that you discuss in your above posts are all going to be picked up from you by used car dealers or wholesalers at below wholesale book.
> I wouldn't buy a ten year old car with over 100K on the clock anyway. Never have. Never will. Never had to.


see unless you're god, you dont know what people do with their personal cars for pleasure
clearly i could by my car for pleasure only, and go on nothing but trips
i could live in boston, drive to florida and back in one weekend, and that one trip would be more miles than some part timer put in, in a month!
i could take several of these type of trips a year. I can do this, because this is american and I can do what I want. So even though I dont Uber at all, the mileage on my car still could resemble as if I was ubering.

it just seems like the motto hear is do not depreciate your car by getting paid by Uber to put miles on it
however its clearly okay to run up as many miles as possible on your own personal time without receiving any payment
some have hinted that depreciation only happens when you Uber or lyft
more experts


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## MikeB

Bart McCoy said:


> so what if you buy a 50,000 infiniti, keep it for 10 years, and do no Uber
> i guess you just lost $50,000?
> i mean a lot of people dont Uber. they dont get paid for not 1 of the 100,000 miles they put on their car
> but i guess getting paid from Uber at $1/mile, $100,000, is worse than getting paid $0/mile, for using your car just for pleasure???????
> 
> i mean seriously, explain to me the different of having a second car just for uber, and you put 100,000 paid miles on it. or having a second car,and driving it 100,000 miles for pleasure,with hundreds of dollars on gas ,and thousands on maitenance. Do you lose worse ubering? or worse driving for pleasure?


1. Yes, if you bought 50K car and donated it after 10 years - you have used it for 10 years for 50K. At the end you have no car and no 50K.
2. Millions don't Uber and they put miles on their cars. Some 100K over 7 years, some 85K over the same time frame. They are not taxis and don't consider using their cars for taxi. Pleasure or commute, or mostly both, or whatever else they use it for - it is their investments into their machines. What is your question? If their cars depreciate slower without Uber miles on it? Yes.
3. Can you please post your questions in English language, so I can discern and answer them? It is really hard to communicate with someone who can't speak the language.


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## JaxBeachDriver

UberHammer said:


> Go to KBB.com and click "check my cars value". Answer all the questions. Get the value. Then do it again, but this time add 10,000 miles to it. Get the new value. Take the difference of the first value and the second value and divide that by 10,000. That's your depreciation per mile driving that car for Uber.


If you're trying to calculate the depreciation after a year's driving, you also need to change the year of the vehicle. So if you want to know how much your car will be worth next year with an additional 10k miles, tell kbb your car is a year older than it is. Mileage isn't the only thing that depreciates a car. Time does, too.


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## Bart McCoy

I'm just going to have to agree with what Bart McCoy said


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## Desert Driver

JaxBeachDriver said:


> If you're trying to calculate the depreciation after a year's driving, you also need to change the year of the vehicle. So if you want to know how much your car will be worth next year with an additional 10k miles, tell kbb your car is a year older than it is. Mileage isn't the only thing that depreciates a car. Time does, too.


Puke in the backseat depreciates a car, too.


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## Desert Driver

Bart McCoy said:


> I'm just going to have to agree with what Bart McCoy said


Ya know, Desert Driver is going to have to agree with Bart McCoy agreeing with Bart McCoy.


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## rtaatl

If you're running a car service the first thing to understand is that the vehicles you operate are going to have massive depreciation, therefore don't get too attached to them. There lies the Uber conflict...most people are not fully into the business and in some ways "sharing" their vehicles to collect fares that don't add up to maintenance or depreciation. The drivers are in limbo and in the long run will lose out unless they understand to go all in the transportation business or run on a scaled back part time basis.


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## 20yearsdriving

rtaatl said:


> If you're running a car service the first thing to understand is that the vehicles you operate are going to have massive depreciation, therefore don't get too attached to them. There lies the Uber conflict...most people are not fully into the business and in some ways "sharing" their vehicles to collect fares that don't add up to maintenance or depreciation. The drivers are in limbo and in the long run will lose out unless they understand to go all in the transportation business or run on a scaled back part time basis.


Amen


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## SCdave

What is depreciation and how is it different if you drive a car for pleasure or as a business?

If you don't know the answer, you're driving for pleasure, I guess?


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## Uber-Doober

Telomostro said:


> I am so sorry.... forgot to mention the most Important thing:
> 
> *2015 HYUNDAI SONATA*


^^^
I kinda like the Sonata.... even as much as my CLA250. 
But it doesn't have the star in the grille.


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## Uber-Doober

JaxBeachDriver said:


> If you're trying to calculate the depreciation after a year's driving, you also need to change the year of the vehicle. So if you want to know how much your car will be worth next year with an additional 10k miles, tell kbb your car is a year older than it is. Mileage isn't the only thing that depreciates a car. Time does, too.


^^^
Yeh, there is a way to manipulate KBB as far a value is concerned. 
Can't tell you here because it takes paragraphs and paragraphs,but it's doable. 
JaxBeach has it down.


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## Fauxknight

Depreciation in any new vehicle is insanely high, but it ramps down quickly from there. The sweet spot is somewhere between 50k and 150k, where the vehicle depreciates very slowly, but is still in good enough condition to not need any costly repairs. This of course varies by make, model, and the individual vehicle.

40k in one year of Ubering doesn't seem that bad. Running Uber full time individual weeks can break 1k.


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## Million Miler

I'd hire a good CPA (NOT a bookkeeper)… the tax code is so complex it will save you money at tax time.


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## MRJdriver

Any new car is a losing proposition for ideal depreciation. Ask anyone in the car business, vehicles lose less value as they get older. So if depreciation is your biggest concern (and it should be!) then buy the most reliable older vehicle you can find. Depreciation is your biggest cost driving for Uber. How so you ask? Well, for one, cars depreciate for 3 reasons, time, mileage and wear and tear. Secondly you have a new car payment. You will be upside down from day one if you are putting "Uber miles" on your car. So your only option is to drive it until it dies. Gas mileage is another concern but if you don't have to worry about depreciation, mpg is less worrisome. So if mpg is now your biggest concern, buy an efficient vehicle. You can get 30+ mpg car pretty reasonably these days. You want to buy an electric car? Great, but look into the cost of a new battery cell first. You are talking thousands of dollars to replace. Diesel? Yes please! Although it generally costs more at the pump, it's tried and true and diesel vehicles hold their value and often times they are more acceptable with higher miles. Look at what taxis drive around town, they have been in the business for years. If you are using Uber strictly in a business sense, then I suggest you buy the vehicle that nets you the best return and plan on rotating vehicles regularly. If you want some style, or just use Uber for extra cash on the side, then drive whatever you like or have. Uber on peeps.


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## Clifford Chong

Fastest depreciating cars are usually models that are near a redesign date. The 2014 Kia Sedona minivan had the highest depreciation in its class since it hasn't redesigned in over 8 years and Kia announced a redesign for the next model year.

Another thing is brand perception. Hondas and Toyotas generally hold their value better than American brands. For sports car and trucks, it varies.

Fleet vehicles are also terrible at holding value. Check your local Hertz/Avis website to see what cars they mostly sell. (Since those two are among the biggest rental corporates).


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## Fauxknight

Clifford Chong said:


> Another thing is brand perception. Hondas and Toyotas generally hold their value better than American brands. For sports car and trucks, it varies.


Toyotas and Hondas are well known to be reliable as high mileage vehicles, thus they are less prone to issues as used vehicles and can command a higher price.

High MPG vehicles go up in price when gas prices are higher...or at least when the perception is that the price is high, go news networks. A lot of Toyotas and Hondas happen to fall into this category as well because of they make more high MPG vehicles that most other manufacturers.

Trucks, and other work vehicles, are always in demand to actually be used for work, so they tend to be on the high end of value retention.


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## Clifford Chong

A dollar change in gas prices will not have much impact on gas saving vehicles. It has to be very drastic to where it will change public perception. If gasoline goes from 2.50 to 4.30+, then yeah, it will have an impact

Like I said, cars near a redesign date tends to depreciate fast. Even cars that are notable for holding value like civic/accord/camry that's going to be redesigned next year is bound to do terrible at holding value. But you're right about trucks and work vehicles since they're always being used and hardly wasted.


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## Fauxknight

Clifford Chong said:


> A dollar change in gas prices will not have much impact on gas saving vehicles. It has to be very drastic to where it will change public perception. If gasoline goes from 2.50 to 4.30+, then yeah, it will have an impact.


Right, its not a daily swing, but a few years ago when gas prices hit $4 there was a huge rush in purchasing higher MPG vehicles, and then this last year or two when prices dipped under $2 people mostly stopped caring about their MPGs. Prius sales haven't gone down, but they are stagnant compared to their previous growth and the rest of the market...they also have a redesign actively under way.


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## cybertec69

Telomostro said:


> Yeah Mike.... I understand what you are saying and unfortunately I cannot disagree a bit... :-(


So you fell for ubers BS, that's why I bought a used 2013 Hyundai, and am in the process of leaving this dead end gig, the only one making money is uber not the driver, but 90% of drivers would not know better, I call those uneducated fools, that will always be in debt do to ignorance and constantly making the same mistakes.


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## SCdave

cybertec69 said:


> So you fell for ubers BS, that's why I bought a used 2013 Hyundai, and am in the process of leaving this dead end gig, the only one making money is uber not the driver, but 90% of drivers would not know better, I call those uneducated fools, that will always be in debt do to ignorance and constantly making the same mistakes.


Hey, hey...I am not constantly making the same mistake, the same mistake, the same mistake...oh cr^p...now I get it...sigh


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