What Ride-Share Drivers Can Do To Cover Surprise Car Repairs
As either a full-time job or a part-time hustle on the side to generate additional income, working as a ride-share driver can be a very attractive means to make ends meet. You get to make your own hours, get out of the house or office and be your own boss. You even get to spend the time in your own comfortable car.
That last point, though, can easily slip from a “pro” to a “con,” because utilizing your own vehicle for constant on-the-job driving can add up to a lot of wear and tear — and with that wear and tear comes a surprising amount of repair and maintenance costs. Here's what ride-share drivers can do to handle surprise car repairs.
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The Cost of Being a Ride-Share Driver
Recently, MoneyLion spoke to Alexander Kaplan, general manager of Gotham Ride Chauffeur Service, who made it clear that ride-share drivers can pay a high cost.
“Before I started Gotham Ride, I drove Uber in New York for about two years,” he said. “The app shows what you earned. It doesn’t show what the car cost [is] to earn it.
“City driving wrecks vehicles faster than any dealer estimate,” he said. “I was burning through brake pads at 22,000 miles. A pothole on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway one February took out a wheel bearing, [costing] $800 that the app never warned me about, plus another $180 for the alignment.”
Kaplan also explained that it’s not just repair costs that get you as a ride-share driver. There are a number of commercial fees that can surprise you, especially in a metropolitan environment. The cost of those fees force drivers to work more and longer, which then increases the damage done to the vehicle.
“In New York City, you don’t drive ride-share part time,” Kaplan explained. "You need a car with TLC plates, which means commercial insurance on your own vehicle or a weekly rental from a fleet. Either way, 60 hours a week is the floor or you lose money. That’s 50,000 miles a year minimum, sometimes 70,000.”
That amount of mileage on a car can certainly take its toll, especially year after year.
How To Financially Prepare for Ride-Share Wear and Tear
While being a ride-share driver comes with a number of costs that can surprise you, that doesn’t mean you should give up on the idea. It simply means that you have to financially plan ahead. In fact, Steven Lazaroff of Compare Mechanic offered a number of suggestions to MoneyLion — suggestions which may allow ride-share drivers to prepare for and protect against hidden driving costs.
Set aside revenue into a “maintenance pool” that you only use for eventual repairs and maintenance.
Always get a second repair estimate on any maintenance that costs over $500.
Don’t always opt for the cheapest mechanic (as they may cut corners on things like brake inspections — while that will allow you to skip paying $80 for a new brake pad, but it could cost you $400 to replace the damaged motor the mechanic misses).
The most important thing, according to Lazaroff?
“Pick one independent shop, geographically close to your home base, build a relationship with the owner, explain to the owner that you are running the car as a ride-sharing business venture, get him or her to understand that your financial success is his or her financial success. Treat the relationship as a partnership. The owner will see in you a potential long-term client instead of a 'fair-weather' client and will work with you to catch a $200 problem before it becomes a $2,000 one.”
This article was provided by MoneyLion.com for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial, legal or tax advice.
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