Good, efficient, used vehicle for ride sharing? (EG. Uber / Lyft)

[hayden55]

Honestly I've noticed once vehicles get too old its hard to get them for a reasonable price. I had a hard time finding good shape low mileage vehicles under 3000$ (unless you like beater vehicles but Uber users will report shoddy vehicles). This was what led me to my 2010 Prius. No accidents. Prefect bod and a clean interior. In 2016 with 93k miles I was otd at the dealership for $7600. Even had them throw in New all weather mats, New wipers, and they aligned the front end. (Easily a $150 value).
Gas mileage won't matter too much but as a taxi in the inner city my Prius gets 50-65 mpg whereas a standard vehicle gets about 30.
But don't worry about mpg too much, just get something reliable (Japanese) that requires no maintenance.
50k miles later to 140k all I've done is a set of tires, $12 of oem spark plugs, four $19 oil changes (supertec 0w-20, oem oil filter), engine coolant for $25 with Toyota coolant, and blown out all air filters (they really don't get dirty with a hybrid I guess).
Man I didn't spend much on my civic but I worked on that thing constantly to the point I just got fed up and sold it, so this car has been amazing.
My vote is gen 3 prius (expensive), next is gen 2 Prius (less expensive), next is gen 2 insight (same price as gen 2 Prius), then next would be to add in corolla, civic, camry, then accord. Try and skip some of the old honda hybrids as there batteries are harder to replace and a lot more expensive to replace than the Toyotas.

[hayden55]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Paint it black and that's Uber XL black big money! $$$$ jk (but I wish)

[hayden55]

I would look into XL as you make a sizeable amount more! But... They are more picky and its not even available in my area. Lol
Black as well. They like hand select you so as to keep the value of the service high and limit drivers.

[redpoint5]

Can't say from experience if Black or XL is worth it, but my friend had bought a new Acura and rarely gets called for Black service. Instead he's picking up the normal bar crowd at the cheap rates in his expensive vehicle. One drunk guy jumped on the trunk, and someone else put a dent in the door. Uber paid to repair it, but what a hassle.

Regarding fuel economy, if you're putting in 50,000 miles a year like my friend, the difference between 30 MPG and 50 MPG is about 666 gallons, or close to $2,000 more at $3/gallon.

[19bonestock88]

Looking again st the Mazda5, it falls into a weird place within Uber’s sizing... it seats 6, which means 5pax... Uber in some places classifies it as an XL, but an XL has to seat 6pax... I don’t wanna drive a full size van or something like that, but the little van will take care of the UberX rides where they try and stick 5 people in a car...

[Hersbird]

Sort of off/on topic, how is ridesharing ridesharing? Seems to me it's 95% taxi service. I'm libertarian and think anybody should be able to enter an agreement with a fellow willing citizen without government intervention but come on, if taxis have to do it so should all the rest, or vice versa, leave taxis alone. This is going to play out in many other areas as well, what I hope is where people embrace it in one area like Uber, they will see the good in many other areas. Vrbo or Airbnb have a strong foothold in breaking hotels the way we know them, I say we could do it with education and healthcare as well, probably a bunch of other ways as well.

As far as car I always vote minivan as the best taxi. You can still buy a brand new 2019 Grand Caravan for like $22,495 even less in active military or FFA member. MPG is not the best but it's not bad, we always get 18 city and have gotten 30 highway. Our 2011 is the same as a 2019 and with 80,000 miles on it is worth about $8000 if you look used. We have had not a single problem with this van, just brakes, tires, and oil changes.

[redpoint5]

I take exception to ridesharing too. You're not both going to the same destination usually. It's a taxi service. I've got no sympathy for taxis because most of the prominent ones are cartels. Back around 2004 I was looking into starting a taxi service in Portland, but found out it's a cartel too. You've got to convince the existing taxi companies that you deserve to play their game, and somehow that's supported by law.

I'd love to see all areas become more self-regulating. Heck, I don't find anything wrong with seeking medical care from someone that has advertised their experience and qualifications accurately. For instance, I don't need a doctor to ask me "this one, or that one" when doing an eye exam for prescription lenses. Any monkey with the skills to operate the equipment will do. In fact, skip the monkey and just have a robot ask me and flip through the lenses.

This is the year 2000, and we've still got doctors looking at things and interpreting what they see rather than a machine looking and comparing to a database of millions of other images. I guarantee a machine can see at higher detail, taking more points of reference, and make a better prediction about what it's seeing.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

As far as car I always vote minivan as the best taxi. You can still buy a brand new 2019 Grand Caravan for like $22,495 even less in active military or FFA member. MPG is not the best but it's not bad, we always get 18 city and have gotten 30 highway. Our 2011 is the same as a 2019 and with 80,000 miles on it is worth about $8000 if you look used. We have had not a single problem with this van, just brakes, tires, and oil changes.

The problem with a minivan is fuel economy. If we use the EPA combined mpg and a fuel cost of $3 a gallon the difference between a Caravan and Prius is $9230 every 100K miles.

A guy at my work drove Uber for two years full time before landing his current job. He was driving his Ford C-Max 75,000 miles per year. At those kind of miles the extra fuel cost is $575 per month. That is the car payment!

[redpoint5]

Thanks for mentioning that. I'd add C-Max and Fusion hybrid to the list. They are excellent vehicles that get 45 mpg. Both are axed too, so they might hold their value since they will be the newest of their kind.

[vskid3]

I might be a little biased as I just bought one, but Camry hybrids can be found about as cheap as Prii (at least in my area). You get a good size, normal looking car that should return mileage similar to most compact cars.

Sounds like you're already using your Ion, what's the profitability of ride-sharing in your area? I did all the work to drive my Prius for Uber and Lyft, but ended up never doing it after the reality of it set in (low pay, having to work nights/weekends to hope to make that low pay). And that's with a paid off car that I don't care about putting miles on, not something I specifically bought for ride-sharing.