# I Just Got a Lyft Express Drive Rental



## PhillyPat (Feb 19, 2019)

Today I showed up at the Lyft Express Drive Center here in Philly. After giving them my license and credit card I watched a 20 minute on-boarding video. When that was done they brought me outside to do a walk-around of my brand new Hyundai Santa Fe!

It's nice being able to conveniently get into a rental like this. It has unlimited mileage. The cost really makes this not so great of a deal. It is $219/week ($253 actually). They have Lyft Rental Rewards which is where you can get money off your rental. The $219 comes down to $139 if you do 90 rides/week. Down to $119 if you do 110 rides/week and $44 if you do 135 rides/week (which is pretty ridiculous).

This is obviously not a long term solution for anyone, but it could be a short term one, like it is for me. I only plan on having this for two weeks or so. I'm looking into getting something financed. Something that has good fuel economy and isn't $1000/month. But until then I'll be having fun cruising around in my new Santa Fe!


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## Gtown Driver (Aug 26, 2018)

You're doing this the best way you should. Just a short time investment where you work your ass off and make as much money as possible. Then after that give it back and get something financed that you own for much cheaper.


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## TheDevilisaParttimer (Jan 2, 2019)

PhillyPat said:


> Today I showed up at the Lyft Express Drive Center here in Philly. After giving them my license and credit card I watched a 20 minute on-boarding video. When that was done they brought me outside to do a walk-around of my brand new Hyundai Santa Fe!
> 
> It's nice being able to conveniently get into a rental like this. It has unlimited mileage. The cost really makes this not so great of a deal. It is $219/week ($253 actually). They have Lyft Rental Rewards which is where you can get money off your rental. The $219 comes down to $139 if you do 90 rides/week. Down to $119 if you do 110 rides/week and $44 if you do 135 rides/week (which is pretty ridiculous).
> 
> ...


Good luck bro


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## BeansnRice (Aug 13, 2016)

Yeah .... get rid of it.
1-2 weeks max... find a way to get your own cheapo ride QUICK!
Smh


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## Roadmasta (Aug 4, 2017)

Beat the hell out of it.


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## 240BIGWINO (Jul 1, 2018)

Congrats on your new ride. I did this until I bought a $2400 used car to Lyft in. The rental charges are hell on your hourly rate but it's a good stepping stone to something better. Another cost you haven't factored is Lyft pays you less per mile on ExpressDrive. It all adds up to over $1200 a month in expenses.


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## PhillyPat (Feb 19, 2019)

Yes, my earnings for each mile dropped from 69c to 54c. Everything else stayed the same though. Not too bad.


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## Chibry (Oct 5, 2018)

What are the average hourly pay in Philly? That seems excessive. If you work a 40 hour week, your per hour rate drops $6.32 due to the rental ($253/40). Wow. If you're making $25 an hour that brings it down to $18.68. Say you're driving 10 miles per each hour, that's 400 miles for each 40 hour week. If the car is getting 25 mpg you're going through 16 gallons a week (400/25). If each gallon costs $2.50 that's another $40. So hourly goes down to $17.68. Then the mandatory SS/Medicare 12% tax brings it down to $15.55, say you're income taxed at 10% that brings it down to about $14 an hour. Those are conservative numbers, $25 an hour doesn't seem reasonable with the pay cuts.

Also, how much is the deductible for the express rental? Police tickets? Damage to car?

Anyway, it's smart of you to only drive it short-term, it's not a good deal IMO. I hope you succeed, just consider all the expenses.


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## 240BIGWINO (Jul 1, 2018)

My hourly doing express drive in DC was $3 once everything is taken out.


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## BigBadJohn (Aug 31, 2018)

Now that's a real business plan. Drive 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. Hope you have a good cardiologist.


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## Guyinbp (Oct 7, 2018)

I did it for 2 weeks and lost money the second. On top of it Hertz tried to charge me for bumper damage/crack that I didn't do. Luckily I had before pictures, make sure you take them if you are renting


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## BostonTaxiDriver (Nov 23, 2014)

Guyinbp said:


> I did it for 2 weeks and lost money the second. On top of it Hertz tried to charge me for bumper damage/crack that I didn't do. Luckily I had before pictures, make sure you take them if you are renting


Did Hertz bill you separately for the "damage" -- or quickly deduct from your debit or credit card in a lump sum?

I have some damage on my rental in Boston due to snow and ice events. I hope they will bill me separately when I return it and let me pay it off monthly instead of grabbing it all at once from my debit card.

...

OP: since late November, the deductible on ExpressDrive dropped from $2,500 to $1,000 but decreased my mileage rate between $.05 and $0.18 per mile or so!

Still not sure which of my rides will be between that $.05-$.18 range or if that's a generic range for all rental drivers based on the city where operating. And...I think there was another rental decrease in mileage just last month but maybe an increase in wait time? Too lazy, confused and frustrated to actually check...

I don't make much in Boston hourly due to these lower rates for non renters.

If I do 85 rides weekly, my bonus is $85; 105 is $130; 125 is $200...a bit different than your market.


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## Iann (Oct 17, 2017)

Also check around in your area for private parties willing to rent or lease you a vehicle. 
This way you can do both Uber and Lyft.


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## Boca Ratman (Jun 6, 2018)

why the hell is Express 20% less per mile?


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## Iann (Oct 17, 2017)

I had to do the Lyft rental for about 2 months.
I really feel like they give you a honeymoon phase for the first week then it's all downhill from there. 
I was pissed when it snowed here in Portland and there wasn't any kind of surge at all.
I worked my ass off to get a little over 70 rides to get the first $70 bonus. 
This was sad and embarrassing I made less than minimum wage. 
Here take a look...


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## Antvirus (Jan 6, 2019)

PhillyPat said:


> Today I showed up at the Lyft Express Drive Center here in Philly. After giving them my license and credit card I watched a 20 minute on-boarding video. When that was done they brought me outside to do a walk-around of my brand new Hyundai Santa Fe!
> 
> It's nice being able to conveniently get into a rental like this. It has unlimited mileage. The cost really makes this not so great of a deal. It is $219/week ($253 actually). They have Lyft Rental Rewards which is where you can get money off your rental. The $219 comes down to $139 if you do 90 rides/week. Down to $119 if you do 110 rides/week and $44 if you do 135 rides/week (which is pretty ridiculous).
> 
> This is obviously not a long term solution for anyone, but it could be a short term one, like it is for me. I only plan on having this for two weeks or so. I'm looking into getting something financed. Something that has good fuel economy and isn't $1000/month. But until then I'll be having fun cruising around in my new Santa Fe!


Don't say that I didn't warn you in a previous post. Fine print Pat (peak hours, gas, tax, irs tax, destination miles)
So 54 cents a mile is not too bad? And on top of that you want get to a car loan as your end goal? To do Lyft?? Lyft?? Just Lyft???
Oh dear god man. You dropped the soap and are currently reaching down to pick it up. You are just a small cog that results in the disappearance of surges and prime time rates. When you don't see them and you're working for sub base while under immense pressure, blame yourself...



Chibry said:


> Also, how much is the deductible for the express rental? Police tickets? Damage to car?


We're just trying to help Pat...



240BIGWINO said:


> My hourly doing express drive in DC was $3 once everything is taken out.


Can you explain the "Unlimited Miles"
I thought I read that destination mode counts as personal miles and you would be charged for those.
So if the "unlimited miles" portion of the story is true, then I could drive the car to California and back? Like go visit my friends for a week, take no rides and pay $253?


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## Iann (Oct 17, 2017)

@Antvirus Yes! Unlimited miles when using the Lyft Hertz rental.
You could go to on a roadtrip for a week if you want.


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## KK2929 (Feb 9, 2017)

240BIGWINO said:


> Congrats on your new ride. I did this until I bought a $2400 used car to Lyft in. The rental charges are hell on your hourly rate but it's a good stepping stone to something better. Another cost you haven't factored is Lyft pays you less per mile on ExpressDrive. It all adds up to over $1200 a month in expenses.


------------------------

LOL !!! As a new car renter, he has never gotten the old rate , meaning he is not missing anything. Why worry about something you have never had? The change cost me $6 per 100 miles with pax in the car. Anger about something we have no control over is wasted energy.



Iann said:


> @Antvirus Yes! Unlimited miles when using the Lyft Hertz rental.
> You could go to on a roadtrip for a week if you want.


----------------------
Make certain you read the small print. My agreement states that I cannot take the car out of Calif for personal reasons, only for business, meaning no personal or non-business related trips. I use the Drive Flex program - Lyfts new rental program. It is great. It serves my needs and I have no regrets.


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## Iann (Oct 17, 2017)

Just trying to help a bit. I take the OP us from Philly so I did a Craigslist search for Uber Rentals and this came up. 
I didn't look into it to see the details.

This way you could do both Uber and Lyft and make more money. 
In most places you will be busier running Uber and use lyft as your side *****.


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## Antvirus (Jan 6, 2019)

Boca Ratman said:


> why the hell is Express 20% less per mile?


Same reason a loan shark charges a vig and threatens to break your legs...

I don't care anymore. Do it! Ant it up!

Who pays when you get a flat tire?
What's the deductible?
What if a tree falls on the car tomorrow?
If your acceptance rate falls below 93% what happens?
If you didn't complete enough peak rides then what happens?
JFC...


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## Iann (Oct 17, 2017)

@Antvirus

Who pays when you get a flat tire? You do

What's the deductible? $250

What if a tree falls on the car tomorrow? $1k deductible you're responsible for

If your acceptance rate falls below 93% what happens? Nothing

If you didn't complete enough peak rides then what happens? Nothing! You now have a week to complete 20 rides at any time.


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## June132017 (Jun 13, 2017)

Seem's like a pretty good deal to me. I guess i'm missing something though. 10 cents is pretty brutal though after you're already paying them $250 to rent it.

How does EZ Pass work? I know they charge for that when you rent a regular car that's why i'm asking.


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## PhillyPat (Feb 19, 2019)

All the cars come with an EZ Pass unit installed. Any tolls are just deducted from your earnings.


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## Rosalita (May 13, 2018)

Sorry, but that's not a deal. That's indentured servitude. Should be able to get a regular rental from Enterprise, gas-friendly, for a month for that kind of money, with unlimited miles.


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## beezlewaxin (Feb 10, 2015)

Iann said:


> I had to do the Lyft rental for about 2 months.
> I really feel like they give you a honeymoon phase for the first week then it's all downhill from there.
> I was pissed when it snowed here in Portland and there wasn't any kind of surge at all.
> I worked my ass off to get a little over 70 rides to get the first $70 bonus.
> ...


Your taxes and fees are only $2.18? That's crazy! In Las Vegas the rental is advertised at $219/wk and we pay $54.60 in taxes and fees which brings the total cost to $273.60/wk. Max bonus is $140 for 95 rides.


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## AnotherUberGuy (Oct 26, 2018)

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are you allowed to drive Uber in this vehicle?


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## NOXDriver (Aug 12, 2018)

PhillyPat said:


> I'm looking into getting something financed


SOOOO CLLOOSSSEEE to having a good idea.

If you are financing a car you have to tell your bank its on ride share. There was a mass message sent out to everyone that lenders have to be updated. No gap insurance will pay for commercial use.

If you can't save up $5k and get a decent car to drive into the ground then you should not be an IC as you have no business sense.



Iann said:


> I had to do the Lyft rental for about 2 months.
> I really feel like they give you a honeymoon phase for the first week then it's all downhill from there.
> I was pissed when it snowed here in Portland and there wasn't any kind of surge at all.
> I worked my ass off to get a little over 70 rides to get the first $70 bonus.
> ...


How many hours did you work?? I need a good laugh. There is no way a rental in commercial use is $40/day. Either you are not insuring properly or its a shady stolen car they need to drive into the ground quick.

The tax along on a rental car is at least 25-50%.. and you're talking PHILLY??!?!?! That's $2k a month for full coverage insurance.

Post or link to the rental agreement so we can tell you how you're getting screwed.


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## PhillyPat (Feb 19, 2019)

AnotherUberGuy said:


> Sorry if this is a dumb question, but are you allowed to drive Uber in this vehicle?


Nope. You can only drive for Lyft.


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## bobby747 (Dec 29, 2015)

BASED on my wheelchair van...you are paying so much and do it a couple weeks and drop than suv. way to much at todays prices...buy a buy here pay here eco car first...can you really or do you really want to have to be owned by them to do 120 rides a week....not me...i been leasing 2.2 years now....my lease is alot lower....


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