Study: Using Uber, Lyft will be cheaper than owning a car

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dealmaker

Study: Using Uber, Lyft will be cheaper than owning a car
The cost of owning a car could be more than traveling exclusively with ride-hailing services in Seattle and Denver by 2027, according to a new study by QuoteWizard. Two commuters – one in Seattle and one in Denver – agreed to travel using only Uber and Lyft for a month to determine how much it costs to get around that way. QuoteWizard compared that data with AAA’s estimated costs of personal car ownership and factored in the price reductions analysts expect to see when ride-hailing services adopt self-driving cars. (GeekWire)
 
By 2027?

You can't put a study like this together, I just don't see how possible that can possibly work out....

I used the low end Uber cost in my area and it came out to $23 one way, round trip would be approximately $50....

So $50 x 5 = $250 a week plus some odds and ends to run errands and meet up with friends and family...let's make it a simple $350 a week x 4 = $1400 a month!!

Cost to drive my car per month is, ready for this....

$450-$500!!!!!!!!!

That's car payment
Gas
Insurance


Unless these people are using Uber for extremely short distances and maybe a few times a week than maybe yes, but for the average person it's simply a lie, it would never ever be cheaper!!
 
dealmaker said:
Study: Using Uber, Lyft will be cheaper than owning a car
The cost of owning a car could be more than traveling exclusively with ride-hailing services in Seattle and Denver by 2027, according to a new study by QuoteWizard. Two commuters – one in Seattle and one in Denver – agreed to travel using only Uber and Lyft for a month to determine how much it costs to get around that way. QuoteWizard compared that data with AAA’s estimated costs of personal car ownership and factored in the price reductions analysts expect to see when ride-hailing services adopt self-driving cars. (GeekWire)
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For some people, like myself, this is already true... It depends on the situation... I spend most of my time indoors anyway and when I have to go out, it usually isn 't very far.. It simply isn't worth for me to have a car... When I have to make a trip or something further away by car, I just rent one... Much much cheaper this way... My mothly transportation costs are extremely low because of these apps... But I Iive in Brazil... Car and maintenance costs and taxes are through the roof, so that is a great factor...
Plus, it is very convenient to have a private driver, not having to go look for parking spaces, being dropped off and picked up in front of the restaurants and places that I go to, going through traffic being able to read or do something useful during that time instead of wasting it... These are things that are really appealing to me...:)
 
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Ultimately it simply must end up cheaper to use self driving cars from a pool rather than owning one unless one drives an absolutely huge amount , probably over 12 hours a day , yes to start there may not seem much in it, but give it time to gain efficiency , the same car used almost continuously and it's cost spread across dozens of people , who probably in a sense have cheaper capitol cost and maintenance per use / mile . People will always want to own their own car , but that's not the same as being cheaper. You know what , this isn't even close.
 
By 2027, Lyft and Uber will employ very few human drivers and a large fleet of autonomous vehicles, which drives down costs and prices etc....
 
I think that one of the best improvements that could be made in the short run to have better transportation services would be a completely free market coupled with privatization of the existing public transportation services... That would make services extremely better, competitive in quality and prices... But in a not so far distante future, these self driving cars will probably take over indeed. But even this wouldn't be enough... We could probably have a more efficient traffic with them in the current roads, but privatization of these roads and streets, plus the opening to private investments to the possibility of new roads, streets and access would also be paramount.
 
Jones75 said:
I'll stick with my SUV :D, or use the old fashion way, and flag a cab down when needed.
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That depends where you live. Taxis are unreliable in many parts of the world, problems from personal safety, detours, "faulty" meters, having no change and just plain asking for extra. Ridesharing services are a godsend in these countries.
Personal vehicles can be completely useless in that you won't get anywhere faster and you'll just be paying for parking and depreciation.
 
S2007S said:
Cost to drive my car per month is, ready for this....

$450-$500!!!!!!!!!

That's car payment
Gas
Insurance
More...
Your cost is MUCH MUCH higher than that. Parking, maintenance, depreciation. Never mind risk-based costs because it's almost without doubt the most dangerous activity you engage in recently (not true if you're a crab fisherman trading in the off-season).

The cost of parking is of course dependent on where you live. If you live in an large urban area, it's probably somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 per month--and is pretty easily derived from pricing in the secondary market. If you "drove till you qualified", you probably pay more than that when you consider the value of lost time driving to work, the additional maintenance on rural vs urban property, and additional gas to drive further and additional trips taken because few services are close enough.

In 2013, I actually worked out what owning a car would cost me (in central Denver, no less), and for a 1996 Honda Acord that was fully depreciated. Without maintenance included, it was just shy of $600. If you paid $36k for a car, and it depreciated like a house, that would add $100 more to the monthly cost (but in reality, we know cars depreciate MUCH faster). If you paid less for a used car, you'll get lots back in depreciation, but add lots in on maintenance. Tires, oil, timing belts, and other ordinary maintenance probably adds another $25-50 per month. Unexpected maintenance is dependent on the age of the car and will largely offset depreciation.

I'd expect the ordinary American is somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,200 per month for the privileged of owning a car when you take into consideration what else they have given up for that car ownership...specifically additionally owned / rented (and otherwise unexploited) real property allocated to parking considerations, lost time, decreased health (due to less walking / biking), lost wages due to auto injury.... $30-40 a day goes a long way to paying for a Lyft. Never mind this car ownership trade off is never considered in the light of "every trip by my personal car" vs "every trip in an Uber"; other modes of transportation will of course be factored in.

The question is actually a bit more telling from the Uber drivers' side...their wages vs their costs. And I'm not sure that figure is even positive.
 
There's another bonus with ridesharing - risk and time. If your Uber car has an accident, you order another one and go on with your day. If you crash your personal car then you have paperwork, possibly police and many hours wasted. Then there's the tiring activity of driving...
 
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