# My sloppy weekly accounting, 12/29/14-1/4/2015



## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

For the benefit of any would-be drivers or reporters or passengers or myself (feedback/suggestions/analysis always welcome) or anyone else just simply curious about how much we make, I'm going to share all of my information here on a weekly basis.

So, starting with last week, here's everything I have.

I drove 702 miles.

After Uber fees, I made $481.

My receipts show only $60.45 in gas for that week (though I did fill up on the 28th), and $5 for a car wash.

I was online 53.9 hours.

I made one single $30 tip (it was on NYE).

Anything I'm missing?


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## tigger (Oct 9, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> For the benefit of any would-be drivers or reporters or passengers or myself (feedback/suggestions/analysis always welcome) or anyone else just simply curious about how much we make, I'm going to share all of my information here on a weekly basis.
> 
> So, starting with last week, here's everything I have.
> 
> ...


Hey Jax,
That about sums up my week. Though I drive a prius and filled up for $25. Did not car wash and worked about 25 hours. I got no tips.
All I got to say is you put in way too many hours. Maybe it's a smaller market that you operate in.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

I believe Uber went live in March 2014 here, so it's still a growing market, I think.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> For the benefit of any would-be drivers or reporters or passengers or myself (feedback/suggestions/analysis always welcome) or anyone else just simply curious about how much we make, I'm going to share all of my information here on a weekly basis.
> 
> So, starting with last week, here's everything I have.
> 
> ...


Yes. Depreciation on your car. How much value did your car lose through having 700 miles put on it? KBB can help with this. Look for the value of your car with the number of miles it would have had, had you not Ubered, now. Then get another value with a year's worth of extra Uber miles on it. Subtract the second value from the first. Divide the result by the number of miles you Uber in a year. Multiply that number by 702. That will give a very rough depreciation expense figure for the week.

Next, total the extra amount you expect to or did spend over the last year on servicing, oil changes, tires, brakes, mechanical repairs due to Ubering. Divide that number by the number of yearly Uber miles you do, and multiply by 702. That will give you a maintenance, repairs etc expense for the week.


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

Congratulations


JaxBeachDriver said:


> For the benefit of any would-be drivers or reporters or passengers or myself (feedback/suggestions/analysis always welcome) or anyone else just simply curious about how much we make, I'm going to share all of my information here on a weekly basis.
> 
> So, starting with last week, here's everything I have.
> 
> ...


Congratulations
You help to aave a lot of money to our clients
You are a perfect travis succeed story
Keep doing such s nice job
And dont forget; travis loves u


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

Thank you, @elelegido

At the beginning of that week, I had 141,306 miles on my 2008 Honda Pilot. It's not worth very much at this point. I have not yet driven a full year. Current kbb private party value: $6,738.

On 12/9/2014, I had 139,437 miles, today I have 142,125. So that's roughly 3,000 miles in a month, 36,000/year. I'll just call it 178,000 miles after a year. Kbb private party = $6,072.

$666 equity lost in a year. $666/36,000 = ~.02 depreciation per mile
702 miles x .02 = $14.04


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## Just_in (Jun 29, 2014)

elelegido said:


> Yes. Depreciation on your car. How much value did your car lose through having 700 miles put on it? KBB can help with this. Look for the value of your car with the number of miles it would have had, had you not Ubered, now. Then get another value with a year's worth of extra Uber miles on it. Subtract the second value from the first. Divide the result by the number of miles you Uber in a year. Multiply that number by 702. That will give a very rough depreciation expense figure for the week.
> 
> Next, total the extra amount you expect to or did spend over the last year on servicing, oil changes, tires, brakes, mechanical repairs due to Ubering. Divide that number by the number of yearly Uber miles you do, and multiply by 702. That will give you a maintenance, repairs etc expense for the week.


I agree.

If you drive 702 miles you should make 900. to 1000 at least maybe more. At least that's the way it is if you drive for a high end car service or even a Taxi. The more miles you drive the more you make. With Uberx the more miles you drive the less you make. In order for driving to be sustainable hence regulation of rates, the amount of driver's on the road. That is why legit car services charge more per mile. So the driver (owner) can earn money and sustain the car service and make a living at the same time. New Transmission is around 2k depending on the car you drive. With UberX rates that is one month in the hole. Good tires 500 to 1k one two weeks in the hole.

Forgive me for repeating what is already known. With Uberx rates like Nashville or even LA in the long run it's a lose lose situation.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> Thank you, @elelegido
> 
> At the beginning of that week, I had 141,306 miles on my 2008 Honda Pilot. It's not worth very much at this point. I have not yet driven a full year. Current kbb private party value: $6,738.
> 
> ...


No problem. Not dissin' your ride, but this is exactly why older, higher mileage vehicles work on UberX. $14 per week depreciation is excellent.

How much do you anticipate for (or did spend on) consumables (tires, brakes etc), servicing and repairs?


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

@elelegido

Annual maintenance (things I had done in 2014):

Oil changes: ~$30 every 7k miles would be about 5 oil changes in a year at 36k miles of driving = $150

I did have my radiator replaced for about $750, but I can't remember if that was 2014 or 2013. I'll count it anyway.

Brake job: $100

60k Michelin Tires (for an suv): $650

Just had the timing belt package done on Christmas eve, rear shocks replaced, and got a new cabin filter for about $1,009.

Headlight: $20

Fuse: $5

Floor mats: $25

(Need catalytic converter, as I mentioned before. That'll be a 2015 expense.)

Total maintenance estimate for 2014 = $2,709.

I think that's higher than a normal year, but who knows.

Should I divide that cost into yearly estimated uber miles driven?

$2,709/36,000 = ~ $0.08/mile


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

Gallon of gas $2.50 (lower than that right now). I get roughly 20 mpg. That's $0.13/mi.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

elelegido said:


> No problem. Not dissin' your ride, but this is exactly why older, higher mileage vehicles work on UberX. $14 per week depreciation is excellent.
> 
> How much do you anticipate for (or did spend on) consumables (tires, brakes etc), servicing and repairs?


Not at all! I wouldn't do this a new car! It would make me sick.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

pako garcia said:


> Congratulations
> 
> Congratulations
> You help to aave a lot of money to our clients
> ...


I'm not trying to be a success story. I'm trying to publicly disclose the real, unbiased numbers. I hope other people post their stories, too, so we can see who should/shouldn't be doing this, and so on.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

Looks like my cost per mile is about $0.23/mile.

My personal insurance is $1,000/year. That's $0.03/mile.

So $0.26/mile?

I am interested in getting fully licensed, vfh medallions and commercial insurance. I just want to make sure it's worth it first.


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## pako garcia (Oct 30, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> Looks like my cost per mile is about $0.23/mile.
> 
> My personal insurance is $1,000/year. That's $0.03/mile.
> 
> ...


Suddenly it looks like the the cab profession start to be the more demmanding, more lucrative, more excited, more attractive than any other ptofesion even lawyers wants ti be cab drivers now
Travis should be proud of this disruption of business


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> @elelegido
> 
> Annual maintenance (things I had done in 2014):
> 
> ...


I need to see what the IRS rules are on how to treat car repair expenses. But if you're using the standard IRS mileage deduction, it doesn't matter because these costs are partly what the deduction is for.

If you're calculating costs on a per week or month basis for your own purposes to see your real earnings, you can do it in as much or as little detail as you like. For regular, predictable expenses such as tires (every 50k miles or whatever), oil changes & routine servicing it's easy. For each expense, tires for example, divide the cost ($650) by the expected life (60,000 miles) and you get 1.083 cents. That's your tire cost per mile. So tire cost for the week was 702 x 1.083 = $7.60.

Then you can do the same for brake jobs. If you need this every 10,000 for example, brake cost per mile is 100 divided by 10,000 = 1c per mile. $7 for the week.

You also can do this for all things you know the approximate anticipated life of - timing belts, shock absorbers, catalytic converters etc.

Add all these expenses up and that's your total maintenance & service expense, by week or month or however you calculated it.

One offs like radiators are more difficult - you don't know when a Rad's going to blow, or an engine sensor will throw a code. But to account for this in your expenses, decide on an amount you think you might spend on future unpredicted repairs in the next year. Guesstimate involved. Take the figure you predict, divide by 36,000 and that's your provision per mile.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

702 miles this week x $0.26 = $182.52

$481 - $182.52 = $298.48 - $5 car wash = $293.48 net for ~54 hours.

293.48/54 = $5.43/hour.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

I would not include personal insurance cost as you pay that anyway. Uber expenses should be those expenses directly related to Uber miles.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

elelegido said:


> I would not include personal insurance cost as you pay that anyway. Uber expenses should be those expenses directly related to Uber miles.


Gotcha.

I'm trying to get a semi-accurate accounting of cost per mile. Seems like figuring 25 cents per mile is fair. You think? That's a lot better than I thought I was doing, frankly.

So now I can use that number to figure out whether certain trips are worth it.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

pako garcia said:


> Suddenly it looks like the the cab profession start to be the more demmanding, more lucrative, more excited, more attractive than any other ptofesion even lawyers wants ti be cab drivers now
> Travis should be proud of this disruption of business


Does it sound like I'm promoting Uber?! Do you think showing that my hourly wage was $3 under the minimum wage will make people want to drive for uber?!!!!


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## Older Chauffeur (Oct 16, 2014)

So, assuming that you make enough to use it in figuring your taxes, the 56 cents per mile covers your vehicle expenses so far? Congrats on a well thought out analysis and post.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

elelegido said:


> I need to see what the IRS rules are on how to treat car repair expenses. But if you're using the standard IRS mileage deduction, it doesn't matter because these costs are partly what the deduction is for.
> 
> If you're calculating costs on a per week or month basis for your own purposes to see your real earnings, you can do it in as much or as little detail as you like. For regular, predictable expenses such as tires (every 50k miles or whatever), oil changes & routine servicing it's easy. For each expense, tires for example, divide the cost ($650) by the expected life (60,000 miles) and you get 1.083 cents. That's your tire cost per mile. So tire cost for the week was 702 x 1.083 = $7.60.
> 
> ...


Just got a call. I'm going to try to see if I can do a bit more math and get a more accurate number.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

JaxBeachDriver said:


> Gotcha.
> 
> I'm trying to get a semi-accurate accounting of cost per mile. Seems like figuring 25 cents per mile is fair. You think? That's a lot better than I thought I was doing, frankly.
> 
> So now I can use that number to figure out whether certain trips are worth it.


From what you've put, I'd say 25c sounds about right for your car.

No, not promoting Uber, figures are impartial; they are what they are!


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