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Rideshare Driving and Your Vehicle: Making the Most of Those Extra Miles

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uber lyft rideshare driver mileage

Uber and Lyft drivers can keep track of their miles in a number of ways

Many people don’t realize the obvious wear and tear that is going to happen by using their cars for business. Mileage tracking is an often-overlooked aspect of the business and one of the largest missed deductions for rideshare drivers.

You’re putting a lot of extra mileage on your car by using it as a rideshare vehicle. There are tools out there for whether you’re driving for Uber or Lyft that will track these miles and turn them into tax deductions for the business.

Tracking Your Mileage

Many people are unsure of how many miles they can write off or the potential merits behind tracking these miles. It is good to know what you can do with your miles with a cost benefit analysis in mind.

Older cars in particular can be at risk if you’re using them for your Uber business. Now, the story would be a little different if you’re driving in a brand new Dodge Charger.

Depending on the car your driving, mileage driven, and the amount of money you make, there could be some major factors to decide if being a rideshare driver is worth it or not. That is when an application like QuickBooks Self-Employed (QBSE) becomes a major asset to use. This app can be used to track your mileage for tax purposes.

How Do Uber and Lyft Track Mileage?

Much of the work of mileage tracking is left up to the driver. Both of these apps provide minimal reports. For example, Uber will only reflect how much you’ve driven with a paying passenger in the car.

It comes in with a summary at the end of the year. This gives the illusion that you can only deduct miles that you were paid for and that is simply not the case.

Lyft on the other hand provides on-trip mileage, similar to Uber, but will also provide you with the total amount of miles spent in driver mode, meaning driving from one passenger to another and waiting for them as well.

It doesn’t account for time spent outside of driver mode, which is another tracking downfall.

Comparing Trip Mileage Between Apps

Using just the Uber app you’ll find the least amount of money saved, followed by Lyft. Your best bet will be to use an app like QBSE. This will allow you to have a full picture for the amount of time you’ve driven and give you a fuller deduction.

These miles can then be taken and used for proof that your car was used much more than each individual app will track.

This post contains sponsored links from Dodge Offers.