# Realized Average xchange cost per mile (5 months)



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

Now that I have some time with my xchange lease (2015 Prius C) under my belt (Since early Oct) I can provide some realized figures on the cost.

I've made x20 $142 payments for a total of $2840 (Includes this coming Sunday's payment that I haven't realized yet, not including the first week... which had no xchange charge).

The car has 23k miles on it (Total odometer - TNC + Personal + dead miles). I've averaged 12 cents per mile. The car does 49mpg avg easy, figure $2.7/gal average for $1267 in fuel costs. = 6 cents per mile in gas.

The car is about at the end of the Toyota Factory Warranty (basic) and maintenance plan. So, auto costs will go HIGHER from here. But it does show that the first 25k miles of the Xchange lease are pretty cost effective. Basically, if you pay the same rate but your lease isn't new, you get the crap end of the stick.

I can add insurance if you all want, but I have it through Metromile, who doesn't bill for Uber miles. YMMV value is large here.

Takeaways

-The faster you drive an xchange car into the ground, the cheaper it gets.
-If you can utilize the car more fully (drive more or split the car with another driver) you can DRAMATICALLY increase your ROI (my GF will be starting soon, but she's discouraged by the new driver comm. rate and lack of guarantees -probably going to collect the sign bonus then run).
- The xchange lease is HIGHLY tax efficient. While your costs scale down the more you drive, what you get to write off stays the same!
- You have to drive a LOT but an xchange lease's potential gas savings, maintenance savings, etc. can give you better return on your investment, than a cheap(er) used car that gets half as much mileage.
- I put a lot of dead miles on because it's cheap and allows me to aggressively pursue fares. It's hard(er) to do this when you own the car and your costs scale linearly.

There are certainly ways to reduce costs further than an xchange lease. However, the nice thing about xchange is that your costs are generally very predictable.

TL;DR - xchange can be a good value if you drive a lot.


----------



## ZMenterprise (Jan 17, 2016)

How long is the lease for?


----------



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

ZMenterprise said:


> How long is the lease for?


It's a 3 year term but you can give the car back after 30 days and 2 week notice.


----------



## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

I'm about a month into my Xchange Lease. I love it. Got a 2013 Japanese sedan. I Uber/Lyft enough to cover insurance/lease & use the car for my day business doing insurance.

As I tell my pax, I drive you around a few hours a week in order to have use of the car the rest of the week. I also tell them if Uber/Lyft were my only means of support, I'd soon be living in the car until they repo'd it...


----------



## ZMenterprise (Jan 17, 2016)

Yeah the lease program isnt too bad. As long as you also use it for personal use


----------



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

ZMenterprise said:


> Yeah the lease program isnt too bad. As long as you also use it for personal use


Don't follow you here. You definitely get more efficient use out of it the more you use it for ANY purpose. But if you only drove it for Uber/lyft that wouldn't make it a bad deal inherently.


----------



## ZMenterprise (Jan 17, 2016)

Your right. Depends where you live. For me, parking is a pain so having to deal with 2 cars and moving them between spots for street cleaning was a pain. Decided to just keep the lease and get rid of my fun car lol


----------



## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

12.3 cents per mile is NOT so stunningly great...also, just how much insurance do you have to pay to lease the vehicle, and how much are you on the hook for something you're not covered for happens to the car???

Also, didn't you have some sort of down payment, closing cost, registration etc???


----------



## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

Also:
1) it's only affordable-ish because you put around 50k miles per year on the car... Significantly less?Then the price six.

Also, there are far more comfortable, flashy, and drive able vehicles at very similar costs per mile.

Some of em also happen to qualify for UberSelect, get tips, and receive reviews like "nicest rideshare car I've gotten, EVER" 


Null said:


> Now that I have some time with my xchange lease (2015 Prius C) under my belt (Since early Oct) I can provide some realized figures on the cost.
> 
> I've made x20 $142 payments for a total of $2840 (Includes this coming Sunday's payment that I haven't realized yet, not including the first week... which had no xchange charge).
> 
> ...


----------



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

Adieu said:


> 12.3 cents per mile is NOT so stunningly great...also, just how much insurance do you have to pay to lease the vehicle, and how much are you on the hook for something you're not covered for happens to the car???
> 
> Also, didn't you have some sort of down payment, closing cost, registration etc???


I never said it was a GREAT rate. I just said what it is.

My base insurance is $50/mo, and 6 cents per mile for all non-uber miles. So, it varies (metromile). Going to shop farmers and see if I can sneak into USAA.

Either my personal insurance or uber's insurance covers the car in the event of a loss, I have $1k deductibles on the personal policy and Uber's is also 1k. So up to 1k in exposure to loss per incident.

Xchange takes care of all the TTL, closing, registration, etc. They register the car to themselves on the title/registration then add you as a Leasee. $200 refundable deposit but you have to complete the lease term.


----------



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

Adieu said:


> Also:
> 1) it's only affordable-ish because you put around 50k miles per year on the car... Significantly less?Then the price six.
> 
> Also, there are far more comfortable, flashy, and drive able vehicles at very similar costs per mile.
> ...


I already stated there are more cost effective approaches. I posted what my scenario is without too much editorializing.

There's a lot to be said for driving off the dealership lot for a $200 deposit and having the ability to break the lease by forfeiting a negligible deposit. Also 50MPG is pretty sweet.


----------



## Trebor (Apr 22, 2015)

Old post but it sounds like you know what your talking about..

On the xchange lease, if the car breaks down, who fixes it? Does this come out of my pocket? What if I return the car not working?


----------



## Null (Oct 6, 2015)

Trebor said:


> Old post but it sounds like you know what your talking about..
> 
> On the xchange lease, if the car breaks down, who fixes it? Does this come out of my pocket? What if I return the car not working?


Uber just started a warranty plan for "break downs" that they pay repair costs. There are some exceptions. Otherwise you're responsible for repairs.


----------



## Trebor (Apr 22, 2015)

Null said:


> Uber just started a warranty plan for "break downs" that they pay repair costs. There are some exceptions. Otherwise you're responsible for repairs.


Do you have anymore info on this warranty plan you can link to?


----------



## Leonard818 (Oct 4, 2015)

I've some queetions thanks in advance. 

What is the car gets 49 mpg? Prius? 
Whats weekly cut? 
can it returned before 3 yrs? 
Is there any number of rides has to be done and meanwhile maintain acceptance rate?


----------



## dirtylee (Sep 2, 2015)

Lease is great for FT drivers. Putting on 1 - 2k miles a week on a car you fully own is a terrible idea.


----------



## UberDez (Mar 28, 2017)

Leonard818 said:


> I've some queetions thanks in advance.
> 
> What is the car gets 49 mpg? Prius?
> Whats weekly cut?
> ...


All these questions are answered in the thread just read the thread



Adieu said:


> 12.3 cents per mile is NOT so stunningly great...also, just how much insurance do you have to pay to lease the vehicle, and how much are you on the hook for something you're not covered for happens to the car???
> 
> Also, didn't you have some sort of down payment, closing cost, registration etc???


12.3 cents is great for the average person, not everyone knows how to go find police auctions and do their own work.

For my newer SUV that qualifies for every level of Uber my cost is around 22 cents a mile including depreciation, insurance, gas, maintenance and estimated repairs. (paid for the car in cash so no car payment so i only figure in depreciation which is on the low side since I bought the car at auction)

My gas efficient sedan (35 mpg) costs just over 12 cents a gallon for all the same costs

Obviously per mile fluctuates since their are fixed non milage costs if I drive more then 800 miles a week my costs go down, less and the per mile cost goes up.

Beth cars were bought at auction so my depreciation is very low since if I bought them drove them for 6 months 20k miles I could still sell them for more but I figure in a more standard deduction for depreciation for the vehicle make model and year

I did a rental via lyft once and what was nice about it is not having to worry about the car or the milage at all, I just drove the piss out of it. I'm more careful about dead miles in the cars I own


----------



## shanefitz74 (Feb 27, 2017)

Got ****ed on the Bama lease they breached the contract so I had them come pick up the car immediately no 2 week notice no more payments of any kind...had car for 17 months put 85000miles on it so it was a good time to get out....i had a lot of issues with Bama over the course of 17 months so what different about Xchange lease?....thats my only option for a car the Bama lease was suppose to help build your credit but it didn't cause they don't report to the credit agencies...so I'm back to square 1 and need a car...


----------



## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Null said:


> I've made x20 $142 payments


You're paying $615/mo ($7,384/yr) to lease a car. Wouldn't you be be much better off finding a way to just buy an 8 to 10 year old 3rd row minivan for less than that, qualify for UberXL - and then drive it until the wheels fall off?

Driving XL would mean you will earn about 30% more than you are now, driving the same hours - or earn what you do now, driving fewer miles.

At the end of a lease, you have nothing. When that old minivan or SUV you paid $6,000 for becomes not suitable for driving (after a year or three) you still have an asset to sell or trade-in, (or give to your teenage kid going off to college) reducing it's acquisition cost significantly. Even if you spend $3,000 in repairs over two years, you'd still be ahead by thousands.

I bought a 2005 Hyundai Entourage last July for $3,990 - and it's still going strong.
and a 2009 GMC Acadia SLT2 (XL & SELECT) for $4,150 last November.
I could sell both of them tomorrow for around what I paid, giving me the cash to purchase another vehicle.


----------



## sidemouse (Apr 2, 2017)

I never heard leasing being cheaper than owning...

Did you forget to include all the periodic scheduled maintenance costs, or do you just not do it?
I'm sure it needs an oil change by now, probably should've had several already...
For example:
Prius recommended maintenance every 5,000 miles:
-Replace engine oil and filter*
-Rotate tires and check condition (tread depth)
-Set tire pressures to correct psi
-Check that all exterior light bulbs are functioning
-Inspect front and rear brake components
-Inspect and top off fluid levels
-Perform multi-point inspection with print-out
-Road test of vehicle
*10,000 miles for synthetic oil

At 15,000 miles:
Brake discs and pads (Inspect)
Floor mats (Inspect)
Windshield wiper blades/inserts (Inspect)
Fluid levels (Inspect)

Does the dealership just do this for you?
I never heard of such a lease, I was always under the impression the person leasing was still responsible for it all... And I would imagine if you don't take care of it that your relationship with the dealer won't be so rosy much longer.


----------



## UberDez (Mar 28, 2017)

If I was on an xchange lease and wasn't planning on buying it at the end I'd drive that thing to the ground. I'd probably do oil changes only and only do them every 15 to 20k miles. 
However I was under the impression that maintenance was included on the xchange uber leases, if they're not they're even a bigger rip off 

Only people doing these lease don't have the money to buy a car cash or good enough credit to finance.


----------



## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

If you only do oil changes every 15-20k miles and the engine seizes, you just bought an engine.
Sticking to the factory service schedule is a lease requirement - and included 'maintenance' does not mean 'repairs'.


----------



## UberDez (Mar 28, 2017)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> If you only do oil changes every 15-20k miles and the engine seizes, you just bought an engine.
> Sticking to the factory service schedule is a lease requirement - and included 'maintenance' does not mean 'repairs'.


Your engine is not gonna seize with 15k mile intervals especially if u use synthetic a lot of cars now a days come with 15k mile intervals

However if u are doing those long oil change intervals the engine probably wouldn't last over 100k as it will developed sludge .

One of my cars is 10k intervals but I usually do it after 8k . The days of 3k mile oil changes is over


----------



## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

UberDezNutz said:


> Yhe days of 3k mile oil changes is over


I agree. But the point was that on a lease you are responsible for damage to the vehicle - including repairs due to poor maintenance (and drivers need to be aware of the factory warranty limitations (a 10 year/100,000 mi warranty doesn't mean a whole lot if you drive 1,500 miles a week).


----------



## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

Michael - Cleveland said:


> I agree. But the point was that on a lease you are responsible for damage to the vehicle - including repairs due to poor maintenance (and drivers need to be aware of the factory warranty limitations (a 10 year/100,000 mi warranty doesn't mean a whole lot if you drive 1,500 miles a week).


You mean a 2 year 100,000 mile warranty?

Doing this they are about 1 in the same


----------



## UberDez (Mar 28, 2017)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> You mean a 2 year 100,000 mile warranty?
> 
> Doing this they are about 1 in the same


Yep did 60k miles of driving last year 47k of Uber/Lyft miles


----------



## Michael - Cleveland (Jan 1, 2015)

Mears Troll Number 4 said:


> You mean a 2 year 100,000 mile warranty?
> 
> Doing this they are about 1 in the same


That was the point - a 10 yr warranty means nothing if you exceed the miles in 2 years.


----------

