# 500$ a month



## Erin Castaloochie (Jun 26, 2018)

would making 500$ With uber/lyft a month be too much wear and tear on the vehicle? Doing it for a about a year. Don't wanna tack tons of miles on, my regular job does well, I'm just looking for an extra income. Oh also, how many hrs do you think that would take total?


----------



## Frustrated!!!! (Jul 7, 2017)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> would making 500$ With uber/lyft a month be too much wear and tear on the vehicle? Doing it for a about a year. Don't wanna tack tons of miles on, my regular job does well, I'm just looking for an extra income. Oh also, how many hrs do you think that would take total?


Every market is different only take suggestions from drivers who live in your city.


----------



## Erin Castaloochie (Jun 26, 2018)

Anyone from Tampa?


----------



## AllGold (Sep 16, 2016)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> Anyone from Tampa?


There's a forum here specifically for Tampa: https://uberpeople.net/forums/Tampa/


----------



## Dave Styles (Apr 6, 2016)

It's not going to be easy making $500 a month profit with Uber. In some markets drivers lose money driving for Uber.


----------



## Erin Castaloochie (Jun 26, 2018)

Dave Styles said:


> It's not going to be easy making $500 a month profit with Uber. In some markets drivers lose money driving for Uber.


So if nobody makes money doing it, why do people do it? Lol. I see tons of posts on how everyone's bashing it but they still doing it lol.


----------



## Frustrated!!!! (Jul 7, 2017)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> So if nobody makes money doing it, why do people do it? Lol. I see tons of posts on how everyone's bashing it but they still doing it lol.


Exactly that's why I commented what I did. Every market is different I make more than people with degrees. A guy on here said you better off delivering pizza than lyft,uber.


----------



## QbanMike305 (Jan 4, 2018)

$500 a month isn't hard to do. Try different things for yourself until you find what works for you. Perhaps, start by spending 5 hours on a Saturday and 5 on a Sunday. See where that takes you and adjust as needed.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> would making 500$ With uber/lyft a month be too much wear and tear on the vehicle? Doing it for a about a year. Don't wanna tack tons of miles on, my regular job does well, I'm just looking for an extra income. Oh also, how many hrs do you think that would take total?


Tampa is a horrible market,

Florida in general get's treated extra awful by uber and lyft. Extra special terrible.

Every city in florida ranks in the bottom pay (per loaded mile) in the country.

There are cities with similar costs of living with 30-40%+ higher pay rates than Tampa has, not even joking here.

Florida rates are just god aweful and the way I personally calculate expenses, it's very diffficult to turn a profit, if it's even possible.

if you NEED to do this, my advice is to go to the super El cheapo used car lots and buy the cheapest Minivan (4 DOOR ONLY) available that's 2006 or newer. Uber doesn't actually age out vehicles, so in the next 5 years, you will probably be able to use a 1999 car. 2006 should be pretty safe for quite a while.

Just so you know, on the ages of cars... In Florida uber allows older cars (currently 2003 for tampa and Orlando) than they allowed in 2014 (2010 or newer i believe)

So literally, if the pattern holds true, your car will never age out even if you buy a car from 2006.

See if you can get one on the super cheap and you should be able to use it for a year or two and toss it when maitenance gets too bad.

WHATEVER YOU DO, don't get into a rent to own deal with Uber or Lyft, they could easily take 20-30 hours a week just to break even and pay for the car.

$500 a month part time is possible, but it will take an insane number of miles (I'm guessing 750-1000 miles a month, or 9,000 to 12,000 a year) if you don't live in a particularly busy area for vehicles for hire, you could have another 50+ miles per day you work just getting somewhere with good business. I have no idea where the business is good or not in Tampa

As far as how many hours a month that will take?

Who fricken knows... it will vary considerably as the tourist season waxes and wanes, also the NFL season could easily contribute extra weekend money as well, Tampa is afterall an NFL city.

No clue as to how many hours, luck has a great deal to do with it. If you get plagued with no-shows 10 hours driving could pay as little as $40-50

Florida is the worst state to do this in, and Tampa is the second worst city to do this in.

Don't buy a house where you need $700 a month in uber income to keep your head above water. This is the most important thing to take away from these comments.

All things equal, i would look at cheaper apartments, move, and not do uber.


----------



## Erin Castaloochie (Jun 26, 2018)

I would only do this for 6 months to a year till I finish my schooling. I make a good amount with my primary job. I don't NEED to do this but it would certainly help .


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> I would only do this for 6 months to a year till I finish my schooling. I make a good amount with my primary job. I don't NEED to do this but it would certainly help .


Give it shot, but make sure to squirrel away $100 or more a month to savings for expected mechanical issues. (mechanical issues with the car are to be expected doing this, trust me)


----------



## SEAL Team 5 (Dec 19, 2015)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> I see tons of posts on how everyone's bashing it but they still doing it lol.


It's an addiction. Just like crack or alcoholism. It's called Uberism. Once you get the full taste of a 3x surge it's hard to put the crack pipe, I mean the driver's app down.



Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Tampa is afterall an NFL city.


With a drunk, forgetful, suspended, female Uber driver molesting quarterback.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

SEAL Team 5 said:


> It's an addiction. Just like crack or alcoholism. It's called Uberism. Once you get the full taste of a 3x surge it's hard to put the crack pipe, I mean the driver's app down.
> 
> With a drunk, forgetful, suspended, female Uber driver molesting quarterback.


Yeah that team...


----------



## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

I'm in Daytona. This week with Uber I have about $150 (including tips) and 32 hours online. About $4.50 an hour. Now Add that to Lyft's $7 and I did make about $11 an hour gross. Also this is a bit unusual. It's usually not this bad for me.

However I think it shows just how bad it can get. My worst day I made $19 on Uber in 9 hours.

If I were you I would do my calculations expecting about $5 an hour. So for $500 expect to work about 100 hours. This seems to be pretty near the reality in Florida. You probably just don't want to do Uber. You probably also want to do Lyft. That should help you some.

And yes you will put a lot of miles on your vehicle. I put on 30k-40k a year.


----------



## Frustrated!!!! (Jul 7, 2017)

touberornottouber said:


> I'm in Daytona. This week with Uber I have about $150 (including tips) and 32 hours online. About $4.50 an hour. Now Add that to Lyft's $7 and I did make about $11 an hour gross. Also this is a bit unusual. It's usually not this bad for me.
> 
> However I think it shows just how bad it can get. My worst day I made $19 on Uber in 9 hours.
> 
> ...


I feel bad for you guys in Florida it sucks in your market !!!!!!!!


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

touberornottouber said:


> I'm in Daytona. This week with Uber I have about $150 (including tips) and 32 hours online. About $4.50 an hour. Now Add that to Lyft's $7 and I did make about $11 an hour gross. Also this is a bit unusual. It's usually not this bad for me.
> 
> However I think it shows just how bad it can get. My worst day I made $19 on Uber in 9 hours.
> 
> ...


That's what i cleared AFTER expenses (like 30-40 miles total driving to the taxi shop) in.. 30 hours..

No one is getting rich but the taxi drivers are still clearing more than the uber drivers once you calculate expenses.


----------



## wontgetfooledagain (Jul 3, 2018)

Erin Castaloochie said:


> So if nobody makes money doing it, why do people do it? Lol. I see tons of posts on how everyone's bashing it but they still doing it lol.


This is a key question. It's sort of a mass delusion or lots of people don't want to total up their expenses to see the truth.


----------



## touberornottouber (Aug 12, 2016)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> That's what i cleared AFTER expenses (like 30-40 miles total driving to the taxi shop) in.. 30 hours..
> 
> No one is getting rich but the taxi drivers are still clearing more than the uber drivers once you calculate expenses.


Well I think it depends on various factors. When I worked 50/50 for a taxi company during the recession and right after it during the day I would be lucky to get $40 for a 12 hour shift once deducting for gas.

A very good taxi shift either day (much more rare) or night (FRI or SAT night usually) could bring $200, rarely more, in that 12 hours. Outside of the recession as a day driver I could bring in about $80-$100 consistently in take home on the 50/50 system which is common here (Daytona).

Towards the end I leased a vehicle for $300 a week which included insurance, maintenance, and stickers. I just worked the airport (no dispatch available). Honestly I was lucky to take home $300 a week after expenses. Often I made $200 a week usually working 50-80 hours a week (which mainly consisted of playing mobile games and talking crap with other drivers at the 'port!).

So don't get me wrong with my negative talk. Uber is better than some of the other driving gigs I have had. Especially for flexibility. It's just that for consistent earnings in a lot of areas you are better off doing something else. In Orlando it would not surprise me at all if taxi were better financially for the driver. The rideshare rates are extremely low there and the taxi rates are far better.

As for why I do this? I just like driving people. When I did taxi I would often do it for somewhere between 1-6 months, get sick of it, quit and then come back with either the same company or a different one anywhere from 1 month to 5 years later. With rideshare I can just go online when I feel like it and still "scratch the driving itch". I've been doing rideshare for almost two years now.


----------



## Rockocubs (Jul 31, 2017)

In Indy i could make $500 in about 30 to 35 hours a month based on a $16 hour average this year


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Rockocubs said:


> In Indy i could make $500 in about 30 to 35 hours a month based on a $16 hour average this year


That's Indianapolis

Florida rates are for aweful in comparison

They $500 translated to Florida rates might only be $400 or $350, for the same time/miles driven


----------



## clayinaustin (Jul 11, 2018)

I live in Austin, and I average around $20 an hour before gas, maintenance, depreciation, etc. You won't get rich, but you make more than $15 an hour (depending on your local market) doing basically unskilled labor. I made $600+ last week on 30 hours as a side hustle. (Plus another $120 on Lyft) Good luck!


----------



## Rockocubs (Jul 31, 2017)

Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> That's Indianapolis
> 
> Florida rates are for aweful in comparison
> 
> They $500 translated to Florida rates might only be $400 or $350, for the same time/miles driven


True but point is making $500 a month part time isn't difficult if you want to do it.


----------



## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Rockocubs said:


> True but point is making $500 a month part time isn't difficult if you want to do it.


Making $500 isn't the issue.

The issue is that in some markets making money is borderline impossible after costs.

The worst of there worst paying markets...

All Florida...

To make $500 profit in Orlando... that would translate to about $800-1000 in total "earnings"

Which is in the range of 50-120 hours a month.

Wish I was joking but I'm not.

Making the same in a better paying market... might only take 30 hours and 500 miles

Making $500 here?

Your looking at at least $20 gas for every $100 in revenue.

That's $400 after gas.

No 10c a mile in other costs And that $500 is down to $350. Take tolls out and that $500 is down to $300...

Now if I start with $1000 in earnings.

$20 in gas per $100. $200 in gas...

$800, minus tolls, $700.

10c a mile in other costs on 1000-1200 miles (this is WITH surges factored in)
Your not always getting $1.00 per mile driven here either. You need surges to make it happen.

$100+ in other costs.

$1000 turns into $600. And I'm low balling costs here.

So it's very easy for me to say $500 in profit takes $800 + in earnings which is easily 80+ hours when business is slow.

So $1000 in Florida rates is the same number of fares going the same distance as $2000 in fares elsewhere...

So $500 in profit in Florida could easily be equivalent to $2000 worth of fares compared to somewhere like Seattle or Minneapolis.


----------

