Pizza Delivery Hypermiler
 

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased an '09 Toyota Yaris for better fuel efficiency while delivering pizza. First 3 fill-ups have been 35+ mpg (90% pizza delivery miles) with no mods to the car.

Are there any other people in this forum who try to hypermile while delivering pizza or any other delivery service? Also, how much does your fuel efficiency take a hit while delivering compared to all other times on the road? And how often do you sacrifice fuel efficiency to get more deliveries completed during a shift?

I look forward to learning more from everyone on this forum.

Ack! You bought the automatic! A manual would have helped you a lot more, assuming you're mostly doing sub/urban deliveries.

Anyone can hypermile anything. Hypermiling doesn't necessarily mean driving slower (with the exception of highway travel, where it's the biggest help).

I've often thought it would be fun to do an eco-driving clinic with a pizza driver. Too bad you're not in my neck of the woods.

Does the car have a resettable fuel economy display, including "instant" readout?

Your Yaris engine uses very little fuel when idling so coasting in neutral is your best bet.
At 40 MPH coasting in neutral your MPG will be over 200 and it can add up quickly.

Knowing the stop light timing will also help alot if you can avoid getting caught by red lights.

Avoid unnecessary idling whenever possible.

Accelerate briskly but not soquickly that you delay transmission upshifts.

regards
Mech

For your driving, cutting weight would be a huge benefit. I firmly believe in aero at any speed, from looking at the aero drag charts for my cars, but with accelerating so much, it should be a huge gain.

It COULD be worth while to pop out the passenger seat for deliveries, and only put in when needed. Then again, I am sometime considered more extreme on the mileage front. Come GGP, I am popping out the Mustangs passenger seat- she only needs to sit two :)

Wow, a nearly new car for pizza delivery? I looked into a courier job and was told by the bank I cant use the car for a business purpose or they will repo it and the insurance company said if I wrecked the car in my line of business they wont cover the accident. :eek:

MetroMPG,

I would have liked a manual, but I had been looking for a used and fairly inexpensive Yaris for a while and not many of them come up for sale around here. I didn't really want to pay more than $5k for a vehicle, and I didn't know how long it would have been before I found the "perfect" used Yaris.

Why didn't I get something else? Well, one of my criteria was a basic car - no power windows, power locks, power seats, etc. That narrows the choices quite a bit. Another criteria was something not more than 5 years old or so. I've had older vehicles with rust, worn out bushings, worn out gaskets, etc., and I got tired of feeling like I wasn't going to make it to my destination during every trip.

The car I got satisfied all my main criteria except the transmission, but I was willing to sacrifice that to finally get the car I wanted for less than $5k.

As far as a fuel economy display goes, I use a ScanGaugeII. I'm at 39 mpg average on my current tank (almost down to a quarter tank). I'm not sure if it is me getting used to the car or the slightly higher temperatures. Maybe both.
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Old Mechanic,

Having lived in my area for 25 years and having delivered pizza for nearly 2 years in the same area, I know our stop light timing very well, and I definitely try to take advantage of it with hypermiling techniques. I'm glad most of our roads are 4 lanes, so people can go around me just to hit their brakes at the light (and they do a lot).

If I have to stop at the bottom of a hill (stop sign, drop off a delivery, etc.), I use Deceleration Fuel Cut Off (DFCO) which uses no fuel. I coast or slightly accelerate downhill if I know I can coast up the next hill. Otherwise, DFCO uses the least amount of fuel.

I always cut my engine off at the restaurant and while dropping off deliveries. I also cut my engine off at stop lights if I know I will be sitting there longer than just a few seconds.
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UltArc,

I have considered removing the backseat and spare tire. I'll probably argue with myself for weeks about whether to keep them "just in case" or just get rid of them and deal with it.

I have also considered fabricating some rear wheel skirts and removing at least my passenger side view mirror. I'm not sure about other aero mods at this time.
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Cobb,

I paid cash for my car ($5k), and I have commercial auto insurance. The car being repossessed or my insurance not covering damages is not an issue.

39 is good for an automatic delivery vehicle. Sounds like you've got a decent handle on things.

If you can keep it at the pizza place, then you can drive the spare tire there, leave it in a corner or with your stuff, and enjoy the benefits while being on duty and still having the security just a few miles away.

I would probably keep my mirrors, having to navigate different drive ways and streets.

If i'm not being rude, i'm curious what the economics are of pizza delivery. I mostly see SUV's and some newer model cars being used to deliver pizza. I assume it must be a lucrative venture? I thought about doing it once as a second job but (gas, maintenance, insurance?).

Keep both mirrors. You'll need them for parking close to the curbs. Do you have a rooftop sign? Thats a good point to start for aero gains. Pumping up your tires will help too.

Sheepdog,

How much money you can make delivering pizza depends on many things - the vehicle you use in relation to your mileage reimbursement, the tips in certain delivery areas, the amount of business the store gets, the hours you work, and much more.

Some drivers will make minimum wage or worse (if they aren't reimbursed enough for their vehicle expenses). Some drivers will make $10-$15/hr. The really good drivers in certain delivery areas can make $20+/hr. These numbers are after expenses.

There are a lot of details I can go into, but I don't want to take up too much of this thread talking about the details of how to make decent money delivering pizza. If you want to know more, let me know, and I will send you a PM about it.

I do not use a car topper (rooftop sign). Not only does it create more drag, it also makes me a target for potential robberies and can damage the paint. I don't deliver in a risky area, but I don't want to take the chance. Very little business results from car topper advertisement anyway. Luckily my manager doesn't make a big deal about it, and if she did, I'd use a window sign and leave the light off and let if fall off (oops, didn't notice).

By the way, the people driving gas guzzlers probably don't make a lot of money (maybe $10/hr. on average), because most pizza companies don't reimburse their drivers enough to cover the full expenses of gas guzzlers. Also, there are some drivers who deliver as a part-time job to supplement other forms of income, so it isn't a big deal, even though if they found an inexpensive fuel efficient vehicle it would probably pay for itself.