# Considering driving Lyft Express Drive. Change my mind.



## tonytone1908 (Aug 5, 2019)

So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.

I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.

I know some of you will say paying that much a week is crazy but in my area they are enacting a 2017 or newer requirement. I would never, nor would I be financially able to, buy a car to beat the shit out of it like that. Again, I spend that much a day going to my job that I hate anyways, I could almost pay for the days I work my current job just by taking rides there and back. Also have to consider, I only get scheduled 30 hours a week as is, and spend way too much time BS'ing around when I could be making money, even if it's shitty it's better than what I'm doing currently.

Bottom line... if I'm going to spend that much money every day on one ride to work and one ride home, is it dumb of me to at least try to make a positive out of my no car hardship with that same money and guarantee at least SOME income on even the crappiest rainy days?


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Don't.


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


Check the forum for your city.

I wouldn't. I understand your situation but I think you'd be frustrated quickly.

It's shittier than you imagine.


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## MHR (Jul 23, 2017)

Please please please go check in on the Florida forum and do some reading before you make a decision.

You have the opportunity to be forewarned and armed with information before you decide if this is a route you should try. 

Don’t blow it.


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## TomTheAnt (Jan 1, 2019)

Why in the hell would you spend $22+ one way to go to work you hate??? WTF??? Do you live in the middle of nowhere with no jobs??? Kind of hard to believe...

You need to evaluated your priorities regarding work vs. commute and if the commute still wins, then go to the local section here and see what people are talking about.


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## R3drang3r (Feb 16, 2019)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


You're going to spend almost $1,400 a month for a new vehicle. I don't care how bad your credit is you can still go to a dealer and buy a new car for less than that.
You expressed concern about tearing the car up. Chances are you're going to start doing this and at some point you're going to get tired of it. if that happens with the rental They'll end up taking it back and totally screw your credit. If you finance the new car you'll be glad you did because you'll keep it and continue to enjoy it. You'll also be working towards improving your credit.


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## doyousensehumor (Apr 13, 2015)

R3drang3r said:


> You're going to spend almost $1,400 a month for a new vehicle. I don't care how bad your credit is you can still go to a dealer and buy a new car for less than that.
> You expressed concern about tearing the car up. Chances are you're going to start doing this and at some point you're going to get tired of it. if that happens with the rental They'll end up taking it back and totally screw your credit. If you finance the new car you'll be glad you did because you'll keep it and continue to enjoy it. You'll also be working towards improving your credit.


This.

Although... devil's advocate here:

He is already spending $44/day now in uber rides. For the same amount you could have a rental car. He only works at day job 30 hrs/week. I see where he is coming from.

I suppose you could try it for just one week. Break down the numbers and time spent and make a decision whether to keep doing it. The results would speak for themselves.

Alternate choices is a cheap non comercial rental. Or cheap craigslist car.


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


I only recommend this for long enough to save for a down payment on a new car. You can't write off mileage on rentals. You will owe a good amount of money come April 15th.


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## doyousensehumor (Apr 13, 2015)

nosurgenodrive said:


> I only recommend this for long enough to save for a down payment on a new car. You can't write off mileage on rentals. You will owe a good amount of money come April 15th.


Also he'd be ubering 3-4 hours a day just to pay for the rental to his day job.


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## R3drang3r (Feb 16, 2019)

doyousensehumor said:


> This.
> 
> Although... devil's advocate here:
> 
> ...


 I understand he's spending $45 a day for transportation.
I just think going through Lyft or Uber for rental or just going for a rental is a poor decision.
car dealers will find a way to sell a vehicle to anybody. Good credit or bad credit they will make a deal. I'm sure they can go make a deal for Less then $1,400 a month. It also helps to build their credit for the future.


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## tonytone1908 (Aug 5, 2019)

Other factors to consider:


R3drang3r said:


> I understand he's spending $45 a day for transportation.
> I just think going through Lyft or Uber for rental or just going for a rental is a poor decision.
> car dealers will find a way to sell a vehicle to anybody. Good credit or bad credit they will make a deal. I'm sure they can go make a deal for Less then $1,400 a month. It also helps to build their credit for the future.


I can only drive 2017 or newer here. Any car I'm gonna find and afford will be too many miles most likely.



nosurgenodrive said:


> I only recommend this for long enough to save for a down payment on a new car. You can't write off mileage on rentals. You will owe a good amount of money come April 15th.


Why would I write off mileage on a rental?



TomTheAnt said:


> Why in the hell would you spend $22+ one way to go to work you hate??? WTF??? Do you live in the middle of nowhere with no jobs??? Kind of hard to believe...
> 
> You need to evaluated your priorities regarding work vs. commute and if the commute still wins, then go to the local section here and see what people are talking about.


I'm a waiter and if I worked locally I'd only make $50-100 a night. The area I work in I can make up to $300 so in a way the cost, as shitty as it is, is worth it to me.


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

tonytone1908 said:


> Other factors to consider:
> 
> I can only drive 2017 or newer here. Any car I'm gonna find and afford will be too many miles most likely.
> 
> ...


Florida only allows two year old vehicles? Wow.


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## tonytone1908 (Aug 5, 2019)

doyousensehumor said:


> This.
> 
> Although... devil's advocate here:
> 
> ...


My thinking is that, I'm spending the money anyways, if I go to work and it's raining or just plain slow, that money was wasted 100% At least I now have the ability to make SOMETHING for my money and for that day. I'm also trying to fill in wasted hours in the morning, at night, and days off. My job doesn't leave me the availability to really find any other kind of 2nd job nor does it leave me the energy to be on my feet even more as I feel like one of my knees is going to go out on me at any moment as it is.

To top it all off, my roommate just got his son back and needs my help watching him while he's at work and this would open me up to do that thereby saving him vast amounts of money on babysitters. There's just so many factors going into this and this seems like the only feasible option. I know the pay ain't great but it's better than sitting around doing nothing wondering why I'm so broke?


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

Says online that it only needs to be a 2012.

Actually, on uber's website for South Florida it says 15 year old vehicle or newer.


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## tonytone1908 (Aug 5, 2019)

nosurgenodrive said:


> Florida only allows two year old vehicles? Wow.


Apparently some cars are grandfathered in but that could change as well and those drivers could get knocked out. I figure that might ease up driver congestion possibly? Seems like they're pushing as hard as they can to make as much money off you as possible though. Funny because I remember when Lyft always had crappier cars.



nosurgenodrive said:


> Says online that it only needs to be a 2012.
> 
> Actually, on uber's website for South Florida it says 15 year old vehicle or newer.


I'm talking about Lyft, not Uber.

Oddly enough I tried to get into their program but the website won't let me sign in. Says I have a driver account already when I don't, and suggests to do a password reset. Screw that. Or it says its having a technical issue. Been like that for days.


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## Jennyma (Jul 16, 2016)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


This is one of the reason I think that you should do it. You need the car for personal transportation. I did it when my car was in the shop and I even made a profit that week after paying for the rental. Do it.


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## New2This (Dec 27, 2015)

tonytone1908 said:


> Apparently some cars are grandfathered in but that could change as well and those drivers could get knocked out. I figure that might ease up driver congestion possibly? Seems like they're pushing as hard as they can to make as much money off you as possible though. Funny because I remember when Lyft always had crappier cars.
> 
> 
> I'm talking about Lyft, not Uber.
> ...


If I were going to do this, I'd do Uber over Lyft for any number of reasons.

If there's a Greenlight Center near you go see if you can get on Uber. It's busier and will pay better.


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## The Gift of Fish (Mar 17, 2017)

tonytone1908 said:


> in my area they are enacting a 2017


They can sit and spin if they do that here.


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## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

The pay on Gr*yft* (and F*ub*a*r*, for that matter) is garbage as it is. On Dist*ress* *Drive*, Gr*yft* pays even lower rates.


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## mbd (Aug 27, 2018)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


Try rental and also see how much personal miles you can use
To keep rental you have to do set of runs , maybe 20 runs a week.


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

tonytone1908 said:


> Why would I write off mileage on a rental?


You can't. That's the point.

With you're own vehicle, mileage write off is a huge tax saving.

If you go the rental route, just make sure you keep receipts for all expenses.

As others mentioned, Express drivers are paid less per mile than drivers with their own vehicles.

So, you pay an exorbitant rental rate, get paid less money, and are on the hook for that rental fee every week.

By all means, test it out for a little while, maybe long enough to bank money for your own used car that won't be used for Lyft. Then you can cut them loose when you see fit.

If you do it, definitely pay attention to how many personal miles you put on it as, ironically, Lyft charges you more for personal mile overage than they pay you for driving people around.


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## mbd (Aug 27, 2018)

Express rental bad for majority of the drivers, but in this case , it might work out for him for few weeks.


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## SinTaxERROR (Jul 23, 2019)

nosurgenodrive said:


> I only recommend this for long enough to save for a down payment on a new car. You can't write off mileage on rentals. You will owe a good amount of money come April 15th.


You are mistaken. You can either write off the cost of the rental itself, plus gas, insurance, etc, as actual cost OR write off the mileage. This applies to any vehicle, owned or rented for commercial or business purposes.


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## Uber_Yota_916 (May 1, 2017)

Be sure to ask for the T-shirt upon receiving the keys. Don’t mind the big letters on the back. “Indentured Servant”.


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## mbd (Aug 27, 2018)

SinTaxERROR said:


> You are mistaken. You can either write off the cost of the rental itself, plus gas, insurance, etc, as actual cost OR write off the mileage. This applies to any vehicle, owned or rented for commercial or business purposes.


I am not sure if you can write off all the rental itself... your personal miles will go against the rental ...so maybe70- 80% will count... I don't think irs cares, so it might not matter.
Writing off rental miles- is that allowed ?


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## Seamus (Jun 21, 2018)

nosurgenodrive said:


> Says online that it only needs to be a 2012.
> 
> Actually, on uber's website for South Florida it says 15 year old vehicle or newer.


Thats old information. For new drivers only the 2017 rule went into effect just recently. Apparently they are too oversaturated with drivers even by their standards.


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## SinTaxERROR (Jul 23, 2019)

mbd said:


> I am not sure if you can write off all the rental itself... your personal miles will go against the rental ...so maybe70- 80% will count... I don't think irs cares, so it might not matter.
> Writing off rental miles- is that allowed ?


I agree, business expenses only can be written off. I always thought rental vehicles could be written off with mileage as well vs actual cost write down. I could be mistaken as well.


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## charmer37 (Nov 18, 2016)

The Gift of Fish said:


> They can sit and spin if they do that here.


I know right. Lyft is crazy if they expect drivers that have later model cars to upgrade to a newer 2017 at these low rates...A good portion of lyft money is coming from the express drive program.


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## Asmedious (Jul 25, 2019)

Damn, I just got 2017 with less than 5000 miles on it, and think that I might be nuts to be driving it for what they pay. If eventually, they require something even newer then that I doubt that I will stay with this driving thing.


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

mbd said:


> Writing off rental miles- is that allowed ?


From the link to Intuit in the Lyft dashboard.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/e...nter-my-lyft-rental-fees-information/00/27138


> Things are a little different when you rent a vehicle instead of driving your own. You can only claim a mileage deduction for a vehicle you own or lease. The Lyft Express Drive program is a short term rental agreement, so the miles you drove don't qualify for the mileage deduction. However, you can deduct some or all of your Express Drive Rental fees and any gas you purchased to drive your rental for Lyft.


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## Jo3030 (Jan 2, 2016)

Another Uber Driver said:


> The pay on Gr*yft* (and F*ub*a*r*, for that matter) is garbage as it is. On Dist*ress* *Drive*, Gr*yft* pays even lower rates.


Distress Drive just made me chuckle entirely too hard


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## nosurgenodrive (May 13, 2019)

SinTaxERROR said:


> You are mistaken. You can either write off the cost of the rental itself, plus gas, insurance, etc, as actual cost OR write off the mileage. This applies to any vehicle, owned or rented for commercial or business purposes.


.58 a mile is a much better tax write off.


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## Uberisfuninlv (Mar 22, 2017)

In his situation it makes sense since he’s paying $44 a day already. He should be renting a car he can make back some of the money on. If he wasn’t and say he was taking the bus everywhere I would say heck no techno!


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## Jennyma (Jul 16, 2016)

WAHN said:


> You can't. That's the point.
> 
> With you're own vehicle, mileage write off is a huge tax saving.
> 
> ...


It was good before they limited personal miles


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## Smell My Finger (Jun 11, 2019)

You're better off selling weed


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## WAHN (May 6, 2019)

Smell My Finger said:


> You're better off selling weed


I believe that's available in the Cargo - After Dark Edition. 

https://uberpeople.net/threads/cargo-after-dark-edition.341486/


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Another Uber Driver said:


> The pay on Gr*yft* (and F*ub*a*r*, for that matter) is garbage as it is. On Dist*ress* *Drive*, Gr*yft* pays even lower rates.


lol Distress Drive is great

gonna have to use that one


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## Agent 0 (Jul 30, 2019)

PLEASE don’t do a rental with Lyft. You will LOSE money filling up the car with gas while they send you $3 rides every hr. If you have driven in your personal vehicle and switch to this you will absolutely see a difference in the type and amount of rides you get. There are no benefits to this. You literally have to grind 24/7 in one of their cars. It is not worth it. Save yourself.


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## nouberipo (Jul 24, 2018)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


Lyft is purposefully making the 2017 requirement so that drivers HAVE to lease from them and then work for the lower rates. Anyone who can afford (or get financing) a 2017 or newer card is not going to be doing rideshare thus forcing drivers into this new low wage category. It seems to be working brilliantly so far, from their end, as they indicated that 35% of Lyft drivers don't own a car!!



mbd said:


> Try rental and also see how much personal miles you can use
> To keep rental you have to do set of runs , maybe 20 runs a week.


you also get paid less than if you use your own car which is what Lyft wants......lowering the pay even more through requiring 2017 models or higher lmfao


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## KK2929 (Feb 9, 2017)

tonytone1908 said:


> So, let me explain my situation. My license is fine, my car crapped out on me about a year ago, for the first time in my life I work farther than a 15 minute walk away from work. My roommate and I work for the same company, no car either, we were sharing U/L rides for the last year, met a guy, gives us a deal for cash with appointments made... now the roommate has moved on to the new store, and I'm stuck paying for rideshare all by myself.
> 
> I'm a waiter, in South Florida and especially this time of year, every day is a crap shoot considering we have patio seating, and if your section is the patio and it's going to rain all day, you make nothing. Not bad if you have a car and your only expense was the gas but it costs me $45 to get to work and back with my valet driver. Sooooo... considering the rental program is about... $45/day... it seems to not be a bad deal for me, if work sucks, I leave, and the money I spent on rides that day doesn't go to complete waste since i can now use those hours to drive, on top of the 2-3 hours before and after work i planned on driving anyways.
> 
> ...


-----------------------------
Bottom line -- both companies are taking 50 % of your earnings. That means the car rental, which will cost $240 per week, will require you to earn $480 just to pay for the car. Another $500 for gas and your earnings. Is your market in So. Fla strong enough that you can earn that kind of money? I do not think that you can continue working the restaurant job and drive ride share, but who knows. 
Try it for a month and see how it goes. Note: you will be spending a lot of time in the car. Maybe think about going to a trade school. You currently are making life much tougher then it has to be. Driving full time for Uber or Lyft is not the way to enjoy life and is an extremely difficult way to support yourself. Plus, it is going to get even harder because of what is currently going on with both companies and their efforts to please their investors.


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