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DING BING BONG #1/27 2013-12-08

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Most drivers are young because they are naive and do not understand the real economics of their deal with Uber. One problem with being an Uber Driver is the depreciation on the vehicle. To get to $100,000 gross you need to drive almost 80,000 miles. For every mile you are paid to drive, there is a mile you need to drive to get back to the area where people are looking for rides. This is true whether you are doing airport runs or bar runs, though it probably varies by area. I have tracked my own driving for many days, and while it varies each day, this 1 for 1 figure is pretty close. The cost for Uber here is $2.55/mile. I've been an UberX driver for about 2 months in Orange County, CA, which is a fairly new market for UberX. You need about $2,000/week, or about $400/day to reach this $100,000/year average figure. This seems very unlikely given the volume of ride requests I have seen. I have grossed over $300 in a single day, but that is the exception. In speaking with other drivers in more mature markets where Uber has stopped adding drivers, it is even less likely since there are so many drivers that they can only get a decent number of ride requests on the weekends. $50,000/year gross for an UberX driver would be a stretch and $100,000 as an average is highly suspect. Maybe an Uber Black or Uber SUV car can do this but I would expect it would take more than one driver on either of those services to get to that level. Even at the more realistic $50,000/ year gross, that is $40,000 after Uber's cut. Gas for 40,000 miles is about $1,300 if you get 30 mpg. Maintenence may be low on a new car and I don't really know what that would be. After 4 years, your new Uber financed car has about 220,000 miles on it and mwould have a very low valuation if you were to sell it at that point. That is probably a $5,000 depreciation loss per year on a typical vehicle. If you are an individual, I don't think you can deduct all that depreciation on your taxes. You now are down below $33,000/year. This is about what you would make if you had a 40 hours/week job at $16/hour. The amount of time spent waiting around for a ride request is far greater than time spent actually driving. From my experience, to get to a $50,000/year level, you need to put in far more than 8 hours/day. Last night I drove by 2 accidents before the police arrived. In each case, at least one of the vehicles looked totalled. Driving so many extra miles especially late on the weekends will increase your chances of participating in one of these accidents. I have my own business which I run out of a home office. I am quite happy to do this same work while I wait for a ride request from the Uber system. It works out well for me, but anyone contemplating becoming a driver needs to look at the economics realistically. Those looking at the future for Uber also need to take these factors into account. While there are plenty of naive people out there, there is not an endless supply.