Long term: Does pizza/food delivery really destroy your car?

Yes to all

Any time a car moves there is wear. On an ICE car the constant start and stop of the engine will wear it exponentially as during the startup is when there is the most wear on a motor.

Mileage ruins a car for sure.

https://entrecourier.com/delivery/real- ... instacart/

Wear and Tear..

DiamondDallasPage wrote: ↑ Even if you maintain your car? I'm talking doing pizza/food delivery for 30 hours a week, 5 days a week.

I know there will be increased wear and tear and maintenance costs. But outside of more oil changes, ATF changes, fluid changes, tire changes.

Will your ball joints and bushings get ruined too?
Does all the stop and go shorten the lifespan of your engine? Even if you don't drive hard?
Does all the constant gear shifting from all the reversing, having to do turn arounds, maneuver parking lots, tight spots shorten the life of your transmission? I was told it's bad for your transmission.

Every part of the car is being used more, so technically everything is going to get ruined...eventually. Cars don't break due to age. All the parts have a useful life before they wear out/are out of spec. The more you use the car, the closer the parts get to their end of life. If you dont drive hard, avoid all pot holes etc maybe you can have a bit longer life compared to someone who drives hard, but you cant stop the wear. Your car is a consumable.

yes, baked in pizza smell alone ruins your car on top of the severe service wear and tear already mentioned

If this is something you want to do, the best thing would be to buy an older, fuel efficient beater. Like an older Corolla or Civic.
These have very small tires/rims, so the tires are about as cheap as you can get to replace. Parts are readily available, they are easy to work on and you can take them to pretty much any independent shop. They've been known to go many hundreds of thousands of kilometres.

I would try to spend around $5000 on the car including fixing anything that's broken. That should get you something decent with low total cost of ownership.

As others have said, it will be hard on the car, you'll go through a lot of gas, oil changes, tires, and brakes. You'll have to spend quite a bit of money fixing issues and you won't be making any money while the car is being fixed. The car will smell like food all the time. Make sure the compensation for doing the work is worth it before committing!

mau108 wrote: ↑ Any time a car moves there is wear. On an ICE car the constant start and stop of the engine will wear it exponentially as during the startup is when there is the most wear on a motor.

Doesn't It only have wear on the motor if the engine is cold starting? Heard that a hot motor has no wear when constant starting.

That’s just silly. Taxi does this all the time.

DiamondDallasPage wrote: ↑ Doesn't It only have wear on the motor if the engine is cold starting? Heard that a hot motor has no wear when constant starting.

Guess it depends on where the deliveries are, but I don't think they turn their cars off nearly as often as the number of deliveries they do.

djeffery wrote: ↑ Guess it depends on where the deliveries are, but I don't think they turn their cars off nearly as often as the number of deliveries they do.

I deliver in a small city that is 8km from end to end, so max 16km round trips. But many of our trips are as short as 0.5km round trip. I also turn my car off doing each delivery unless it's a prepaid or cash where I know I can make it back to the car within 45 seconds. Otherwise gas is way too expensive right now to be wasting money on extra gas. Too many things can go wrong (and they often do) like customers taking forever to come to the door after several rings and knocks, the transaction machine not getting signal right away in bad areas, etc. The part-timer at my place keeps his car running all the time even while waiting for deliveries. His car isn't shut off until he gets home at the end of the night.

DiamondDallasPage wrote: ↑ I deliver in a small city that is 8km from end to end, so max 16km round trips. But many of our trips are as short as 0.5km round trip. I also turn my car off doing each delivery unless it's a prepaid or cash where I know I can make it back to the car within 45 seconds. Otherwise gas is way too expensive right now to be wasting money on extra gas. Too many things can go wrong (and they often do) like customers taking forever to come to the door after several rings and knocks, the transaction machine not getting signal right away in bad areas, etc. The part-timer at my place keeps his car running all the time even while waiting for deliveries. His car isn't shut off until he gets home at the end of the night.

You're better off getting an e-bike and a thermal bag for distances that short.

Chrno wrote: ↑ You're better off getting an e-bike and a thermal bag for distances that short.

This plus trailer and cooler to keep the food fresh.

From pro wrestling to delivering pizza. What a fall from grace.

My uncle has been doing food delivery (Uber, door dash, etc) for 2-3 years now and has always been using his Kia Niro EV and he says he's saved a lot on gas and maintenance. Battery still gets pretty much the same range. He even got back $8k on tax.

paksau wrote: ↑ This plus trailer and cooler to keep the food fresh.

From my experience of delivering food on an e-bike in Toronto, there will be too much vibrations from the road surface on that trailer and the food will get spilled everywhere inside their containers and customers will give a thumbs down.
Most bike deliveries use a thermo backpack because your legs and body act as a cushion against all the vibrations.
But e-bike food deliveries is definitely a pretty good easy part time job to make some extra income. You will be faster than the car delivery drivers and have basically 0 cost.

AtlsNBP wrote: ↑ From pro wrestling to delivering pizza. What a fall from grace.

Bang!