# Drive Uber to pay debt - Los angeles



## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

Hello.
i have driven for uber 2 years ago and realized my earnings for 31 trips in a week was 416 dollars which wasnt much, but i was driving from 7 am to 7pm which isnt the best hours i realize later. Now i recently bought a car that i still owe 7k in car loan payments for and have medical bills i need to catch up on . I have been reconsidering after this break to drive for Uber and Lyft again. 

I have friends who claim to make $1,500 a week and even $2000 a week. dont know if that is true or not but it is tempting cause i feel i need to pay off some things that is holding me back to earn actual money.

I live in los angeles - and would like to earn close to $1000 a week. is that possible? or are the numbers exaggerated? is it worth it to drive for uber to pay off my car loan? literally what are the best hours to work- should i work weeknights besides night surging prices on friday and saturday? i know i have to keep in mind gas, maintenance, tax owed end of year (which all this i know no proper way to calculate) . what bonuses should i focus on in my area?

i need some help/advice as currently my life is under alot of financial pressure/stress and would appreciate all your expertise to help guide me in the right direction.


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## Merc7186 (Jul 8, 2017)

Have you tried the Uber game yet?

Recommended and takes about 5 minutes.


On a serious note, you can make as much money as you want with Uber, the question is how far you willing to sell your soul to do it. If you are willing to drive 12-15 hours per day for 7 days a week, deal with drunks, then the sky is the limit.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

I did drive for a month about 12 hours each day and still felt I was short changed due to down times and low pool pay during non peak hours..


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

If you made $416 working 12 hours a day for 5 days, that seems pretty low to me. That would be 60 hours and $416/60 = less than $7 per hour. And you're in LA where your rates are somewhat higher than ours here in Miami. 

If that was 12 hours for 6-7 days, that's really awful.

Obviously the LA market is different from my Miami market, but here in the daytime 11am - 3 pm is usually pretty dead during the week unless there is some major event going on. In addition, often the most productive time of the daytime shift is usually 6am - 8 am. If you start here at 7 am, you'll rarely get an early airport ride to start the day off on a good note.

I work part-time, but sometimes that means I'll work more hours on fewer days. When I do that, I usually start at 6 am, work until about 11-Noon, and then rest until 3-4 pm. If it's a weekend, I might rest until 5 pm and then go back out until 9 pm. 

You have to play with the times and see what works for you. I'd say what you were previously doing was NOT working.

I think in most places the most productive hours are late nights, but then you have to deal with drunks, etc. I choose not to do that, but if you want to make more, that's an option.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

That’s what I gathered from research. It feels even when you make up to 1k a week the amount of miles and maintenance for a car that is still being financed defeats the purpose. Am I wrong?


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## Tihstae (Jan 31, 2017)

Hsaid said:


> That's what I gathered from research. It feels even when you make up to 1k a week the amount of miles and maintenance for a car that is still being financed defeats the purpose. Am I wrong?


You are not incorrect.


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## Irishjohn831 (Aug 11, 2017)

Drive Uber to increase debt !!


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## JimKE (Oct 28, 2016)

Hsaid said:


> That's what I gathered from research. It feels even when you make up to 1k a week the amount of miles and maintenance for a car that is still being financed defeats the purpose. Am I wrong?


First of all, you have to consider whether it's rational to wonder about $1K per week given your previous experience. Honestly, I would put other driver's claims in the same garbage bag where I put their claims of amazing sexual prowess.

Second, you should research whether rates have gone _down_ in the two years since you've driven. They may well have.

And third, you have to consider whether the impact on your car -- whether financed or paid for -- outweighs the income.

I find driving works for me, in my market, with lower rates than LA, but somewhat higher productivity that what you have described, and working part-time. But you have to analyze it from your own perspective.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

I am trying to. If I were to make close to 1k a week minus all the expenses and all could round up to 800 and change - my car payment is 370 plus 150 for insurance to cover me and the rideshare service so off the bat that’s a week worth of driving. I want to hear from those driving for a long while or have a similar financing situation if it pays off down the road? Numbers wise?


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## flyntflossy10 (Jun 2, 2017)

you need to remember, everything you have to do to make 1k a week, you're doing that to a new car


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## BSki (Aug 3, 2017)

This is a poor financial decision. All you are doing is taking the value out of your vehicle and putting it towards the loan. You are not 'making' anything, simply shifting money from one place to another.

Trying to make $1k a week is either going to require some serious cherry picking skills at LAX (and risk deactivation) or your going to put in around 50-60 hours of driving. It's possible, but damn, that is a tough job. You'd be better off getting an actual job.

If you want to make money. Go lease a honda clarity. It runs on Hydrogen, honda pays for the first $15k in fuel (good for about 52k miles) and the lease is 20k miles per year. You also get a $5k CA rebate on the car. With this, you have eliminated maintenance and fuel costs and bumped your revenue by 30%-40% for 3 years. I think the current wait is 12 months to get the car.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

It’s seems hat the concenses is that this is not a good idea or worth it when you still owe 7k in car payments


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Its not worth it as a full time endeavor. Get a full time 40 hour a week job and do about 20 hours Fri and sat night, prime time. You'll earn more in both areas. If you can pull something better than min wage during the week, youll pull ahead.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

ive been strugglig to find a consistent full time job as i work in the production world and most of the work is freelance. long hours and underpaid. so i thought maybe i can take a hiatus for a couple of months and do just uber. it feels stressful to juggle all those factors at once at the moment.


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## steveK2016 (Jul 31, 2016)

Hsaid said:


> I am trying to. If I were to make close to 1k a week minus all the expenses and all could round up to 800 and change - my car payment is 370 plus 150 for insurance to cover me and the rideshare service so off the bat that's a week worth of driving. I want to hear from those driving for a long while or have a similar financing situation if it pays off down the road? Numbers wise?


Whats hard to swallow is you are making such high payments on a 7K vehicle. In pay less than you on my Cadillac CTS and I owe more than $7k... Good on you for getting ride share insurance, I know many markets are lucky to have it and 150 isnt terrible.


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

for those who work JUST WEEKENDS. how much do you averagely pull in earnings friday thru sunday ? mainly uber x and pool ?
(the poll results for the poll i posted are sad)


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## flyntflossy10 (Jun 2, 2017)

My area doesnt have pools, and I only work 5-10 hours a week. But I'm consistently running 20-30 an hour working 8-1 weekend nights. So to start, you'd need to be working bar time hours. I also noticed you said you have medical bills to get rid of as well. Its your decision. But personally, I think depreciating your car would be worth paying those off. But like someone said, changing your hours would be a big start towards a little more success.


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## Lmartdc (Nov 3, 2015)

JimKE said:


> First of all, you have to consider whether it's rational to wonder about $1K per week given your previous experience. Honestly, I would put other driver's claims in the same garbage bag where I put their claims of amazing sexual prowess.
> 
> Second, you should research whether rates have gone _down_ in the two years since you've driven. They may well have.
> 
> ...


I live in DC and drive Uber part time (20 hours a week) and average about $500 a week. I've had $600 or $700 weeks as well when there were events in town.

There are full time drivers in the DC market who are clearing $1,500 or more per week (I've seen the screenshots).

I don't know how the LA Uber market is but I think you should be able to make at least $1,000 per week.


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## rickasmith98 (Sep 26, 2016)

Hsaid said:


> That's what I gathered from research. It feels even when you make up to 1k a week the amount of miles and maintenance for a car that is still being financed defeats the purpose. Am I wrong?


If you have just the goal to pay off your car note or to pay off that and your medical bills and then stop driving or cut way back on rideshare, I'd say go for it. What is a year if it gets you in a place that you feel better. Hopefully you will not have completely worn out your car by then and have good miles left on it. But if you get stuck and keep chasing that next payment or bill, it's like chasing your tail and you'll ultimately be worse off in the end than where you started.


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## leroy jenkins (May 27, 2015)

short answer: Get a full time job or 2 part-time jobs. anything besides ubering. 

Then Uber on weekends or off time and keep good track of your costs/mileage. And don't use a newer car.

Good luck.


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## I_Like_Spam (May 10, 2015)

Hsaid said:


> I have friends who claim to make $1,500 a week and even $2000 a week. dont know if that is true or not but it is tempting cause i feel i need to pay off some things that is holding me back to earn actual money.
> 
> I live in los angeles - and would like to earn close to $1000 a week. is that possible? .


Anything is possible. But in LA, Uber Partners get 96 cents a mile minus the Uber taste,it less than 72 cents.

You'd have to have 1300 or so paid miles to earn $1000 before your expenses. Almost 200 paid miles every day of the week.

Doesn't seem very probable


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

Lmartdc said:


> I live in DC and drive Uber part time (20 hours a week) and average about $500 a week. I've had $600 or $700 weeks as well when there were events in town.
> 
> There are full time drivers in the DC market who are clearing $1,500 or more per week (I've seen the screenshots).
> 
> I don't know how the LA Uber market is but I think you should be able to make at least $1,000 per week.


Sounds doable. What hours you working and what are your tips?


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## Lmartdc (Nov 3, 2015)

Hsaid said:


> Sounds doable. What hours you working and what are your tips?


I work evenings from about 9pm to 12 midnight. I always make sure I'm clearing at least $70 in those three hours. In the DC area that is totally doable and often I clear $80 or $90 even. I also drive friday night from 9pm to 2am and it's easy to clear $120 to $175. I drive some Saturdays but not always. I do drive most Sunday evenings and it's also very profitable here.

However, this is from September through end of December. It is pretty slow here during the summer months and my earnings drop to $50 to $60 in three hours.

My tips are starting to get better now but haven't been a huge factor in my earnings.


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## Misaelz28 (Aug 29, 2016)

Hsaid said:


> for those who work JUST WEEKENDS. how much do you averagely pull in earnings friday thru sunday ? mainly uber x and pool ?
> (the poll results for the poll i posted are sad)


500


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## Hsaid (Oct 26, 2017)

It’s been quiet a dilemma for me
I really need the money but also can’t afford to screw my car over which I’m still paying for. Honestly reading a lot of posts in the forum it feels to me this whole system is an appeasing scam that seems to have only a single benefit which is flexibility. But the amount of miles and driving and sitting in a car is not worth the money you make? Specially that rates are lower now and more drivers are out. So far that’s more of what I am seeing
I’d love to hear other perspectives like the five voters who claim they make over 1000 a week. I’d love to hear more positive stories but with a big corporation that doesn’t cover gas or tolls or insurance or wear/tear it doesn’t seem to be worth it even for parttime sake


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## ShinyAndChrome (Aug 18, 2017)

Hsaid said:


> I have friends who claim to make $1,500 a week and even $2000 a week. dont know if that is true or not but it is tempting cause i feel i need to pay off some things that is holding me back to earn actual money.


These are not good friends because good friends do not lie to each other. And that is a lie.



Hsaid said:


> It's been quiet a dilemma for me
> I really need the money but also can't afford to screw my car over which I'm still paying for. Honestly reading a lot of posts in the forum it feels to me this whole system is an appeasing scam that seems to have only a single benefit which is flexibility. But the amount of miles and driving and sitting in a car is not worth the money you make? Specially that rates are lower now and more drivers are out. So far that's more of what I am seeing
> I'd love to hear other perspectives like the five voters who claim they make over 1000 a week. I'd love to hear more positive stories but with a big corporation that doesn't cover gas or tolls or insurance or wear/tear it doesn't seem to be worth it even for parttime sake


You're catching on!

Figure your true cost per mile (my sig is a starting point you could use). Now do a few shifts and see what you pull in gross. Be honest about the actual costs and then figure out your take home. Remember also that taxes on 1099 income like rideshare absolutely brutal, so if you make $700 gross and it takes 1000 miles to do it your total costs include not only the wear and tear on the car but also 1000 * $.535 deductionmeans you have to pay taxes on $165 as well, in addition to your per mile costs on the car.


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## Simivallyans (Nov 10, 2017)

Not true special this 3week


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## RNUber3 (Mar 17, 2017)

Sign up for lyft, you'll make more. And fill in the gaps when one ot the other is slow. I waited and now am kicking myself for it. So at least you have the option.


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## brick656 (Jun 18, 2017)

Hsaid said:


> for those who work JUST WEEKENDS. how much do you averagely pull in earnings friday thru sunday ? mainly uber x and pool ?
> (the poll results for the poll i posted are sad)


I'll do 4-5 hours (9p-1a) on a weekend or game night and do $150 easy. If I get in a college area, I may not be able to get out because I get stacked pings around campus. I don't chase surge or cherry pick long trips from the airport. Its a losing proposition and a waste of my time. I pick up a pax, take them to their destination, then sit and wait for the next pax. I keep in between travel time to a minimum. If their destination was out of the city area (dropoff after a game or from a bar), I'll start heading back that way. Otherwise, I take almost every ping I get. If I turn one down, its because I'm ready to head home.

My vehicle is also paid off, so no payments there. I haven't driven all day in Pittsburgh yet, but interested in giving it a try to see how it goes.


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## zipzoom (Aug 23, 2015)

When we are throwing all these numbers around are we really talking about GROSS earnings or NET. Are we deducting the gas from these numbers? and what about all those extra oil changes needed, maintainence and car washes? Hey and don't forget that driving Uber for 12 hour days will put 50K on your spedometer in no time and considerably decrease the value of your car. If you really want to have an honest conversation with yourself deduct at least 33% of what get from Uber. That is your real paycheck. Working for Uber is a lot like using Payday advance services. You get the money now but you pay it back down the road.


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## UberTrent9 (Dec 11, 2018)

Do the math, let's be conservative with the numbers for arguments sake:

$100 a day x 5 days a week= $ 500 a week, x4 weeks= $2k a month cash.

Not a bad haul, even for those who "rent a car" from RS places...

I see people *****ing ALL THE TIME about that, but it makes no sense. If you just did $100 a day like I said above, you'll make money.

You're not getting rich, but who is?


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