We are once again in the middle of tax season so mileage tracking has become a big topic through my email and Facebook Page. It is very important that Uber drivers and Lyft drivers accurately track their miles when they are driving on either Uber and Lyft. Uber drivers and Lyft drivers need accurate mileage records in case the IRS decides to audit them. Most drivers have caught up to their tax responsibilities and now keep records of their mileage, but it continues to be a pain to keep track of every mile driven on Lyft and Uber. Lyft only provides on-trip miles and miles driven to a passenger before the ride, but not online miles. Uber only provides trip miles, which in my experience is about half of every mile driven while I am online.
For additional tax resources, check out my popular online Rideshare Taxes course for Uber Drivers and Lyft Driver!
The Best Mileage Tracker for Uber Drivers and Lyft Drivers
I have started using Automatic Pro recently as I am renting out my cars on Turo and want to keep track of them in case they are ever stolen or misplaced. In addition to live location tracking, it also has a handy summary of miles driven per trip and per day, which is pretty convenient. It also has other capabilities, such as notifying you if you were in a crash or if there are any issues with your car from your OBDII port. Automatic shows information for any check engine faults so it makes diagnosing car and engine problems much easier.
I have the Pro version of Automatic because it has a 3g cell phone modem, so it can remotely track cars and tell me the status of the cars. The cheaper Automatic Lite (currently sold out) functions similarly to the Pro version but it does not have cellular service so you will need to keep your Bluetooth on and paired with the Automatic dongle in order to track your mileage. For most drivers, I believe that Automatic Lite would be better since it is $50 cheaper and works the same if you keep your Bluetooth turned on.
Automatic works for many cars but not all cars so make sure to check on Automatic’s website to ensure that your vehicle is compatible with Automatic.
What Do Uber Drivers and Lyft Drivers Still Need to do?
Uber drivers and Lyft drivers still need to write down their odometer reading at the start and end of the year. This is to find out how many total miles you have driven for the year, so you can calculate how many personal miles you have driven. Automatic will provide the number of business miles but you still need the total number of miles driven on the car for tax purposes.
If you find yourself using Automatic, ensure that you are writing down the odometer either once a week or once a month so that you can accurately determine the number of personal miles. Automatic unfortunately doesn’t log your odometer readings so you will only have total mileage for the day, subject to errors in GPS tracking and loss of signal.
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