I have recently seen a growth of people renting cars to do Uber and Lyft with multiple companies, and here I go with my personal and professional opinion.
The first question that many may ask is; Is it better to rent a car? The short and simple answer is a big NO. I know that many will have different opinions, that they say that it gives them business, that I don't know what I'm talking about, etc. This is my opinion from my point of view. I invite you to calculate what you earn per hour after expenses, and you will see that it is around $8 and $10 per hour, but that is after working 85+ hours in a week. If that's okay for anyone, good luck with that.
Once again, people do not call for reason and calculations. Nobody does real numbers. Many people are acting out of desperation, necessity and making pure mistakes.
In May 2023 I was involved in an accident where next to the Fort Lauderdale airport a tornado threw a piece of a tree against my car, causing severe damage. The first thing I did was call Uber, and their response was that they did not cover those types of damages. I had 3 passengers in the car at the time. The tornado passed over us. It was a very ugly and scary experience, for a moment I thought I was going to lose my life.
After doing research, I realized that my personal insurance had protection against damage from natural disasters. If it hadn't been for that coverage, I would have simply lost my car because the total repair was around $7,000 USD.
Result, I had to rent a car and I did it with Hertz through Uber. I had a Tesla rented for 2 months. Now I want to tell you my experience.
When you rent a car, with anyone, there are always going to be hidden costs that you have no idea exist. These costs are usually charged to you when you close a rental contract. A mistake that many make when renting these cars is that they do not provide insurance coverage to avoid paying so much. The cost of insurance at basic Hertz is $11.99 per day. If you don't put insurance on it, any damage that happens to the car will be out of your pocket. In a city like Miami and Broward, where the risks of having accidents are quite high, it is advisable to purchase insurance.
In December 2023, unfortunately, I had another accident where I was not at fault. My car was a total loss. I had to rent a car again with Hertz to resolve while I finished the accident process and bought another car. This rent was for 2 months and 3 weeks.
I am going to use only Hertz as an example, since it is with whom you make multiple rentals. My experience with Hertz was extremely horrible both times due to the hidden and unjustified charges. The result of renting with Hertz was that the weekly fees, plus taxes, plus charges, amounted to more than $450 USD per week. You have to add insurance to this, which is $83.93 per week. In the end, you end up paying more than $530 USD a week.
There is a charge called Tesla Rebill that is charged to you whenever you have to deliver the car or exchange it. Sometimes, when Hertz makes calls to close contracts for car maintenance, they will charge you that fee. Always, but always at contract closings, they make inexplicable charges and when you try to consult with one of the agents they simply tell you to call the billing department. That department never responds.
Now the question everyone has. Is it better to rent? Let's go there. You have a car. Your car is getting between 300 and 400 miles a day. You're making it wood for the fire. The money you are generating is practically the value of that depreciation, you are not generating money in profits from your resources. Eventually, your car will lose its value and be full of problems. In all that time, with the little money you earn you must do maintenance, buy tires, change brakes, make minor and major repairs, perhaps transmission, suspensions, etc.
Some people say, in order not to damage my car, I better rent, or I don't have a car, I'm going to rent. The weekly cost you have renting a car is like what you would have to pay weekly if you were using your car. You would have to set aside around $2000 per month from your earnings, which you will be spending on everything related to your car and collect to cover its depreciation.
What about renting a car?
You have a weekly expense of around $450 or more. This means that you have to work many hours a day and 7 days a week to be able to get the rent money and generate profits for yourself. Renting a car practically makes you a slave to Uber and Lyft, where you must accept all the low-paid rides to generate income. Is it worth spending 12 to 14 hours a day, 7 days a week stuck in a car to earn $700 clean? No, it's not worth it.
What other disadvantage does car rental have? Well, the seasons. Right now the low season is coming in Miami and Uber and Lyft are already reducing what they pay even more in order to balance their profits over the next 6 months. In other words, not even driving 14 hours a day during the low season with the number of drivers on the street will generate the necessary income to pay the rent and make profits.
The best thing that many can do and that in fact I have been doing for a few weeks is to look for a regular job and get out of Uber and Lyft permanently. The payment conditions are going to worsen. I have said it before, and I repeat it again, we are an exploitable, sublime society, with a tendency to endure abuse and that does not unite. These conditions are what allows Uber and Lyft to pay in the future $0.25 cents per mile and $0.00 per time. I have predicted it for months, as I predicted that the increase in rates due to high demand (Surge) was going to disappear.
I don't mean to discourage anyone. Everyone is free to do what they want, but the experience is not going to be good for many. Those who do not understand numbers and are closed to the concept that money is made, then continue thinking that money is made. Congratulations to you.
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