What costs more: Using your own car or taking an Uber?

App-based services like Uber and its competitors in the sedan taxi industry can be more economical than owning your own car‚ number crunchers say. Your saving could amount to R14‚000 a year.

The MyTreasury website has done the sums and if‚ like many South Africans‚ you drive less than 50km a day‚ Uber will save you money.

This is the conclusion of their calculations‚ which took into account vehicle maintenance and petrol costs.

MyTreasury based its calculations on a Toyota Corolla‚ the most common car used by UberX driver-partners.

Illustrating the depreciation of buying a vehicle‚ it noted that the Toyota Corolla 1.8 Exclusive sells for R300‚900.

Assuming that you replace your car in five year intervals‚ My Treasury calculated the car’s depreciation and financing costs at R61‚000 per year. "This takes into account that you able to finance the car over five years at prime and sell it at the average market price. The current listed price of a 2010 Corolla 1.8 Executive is around R120‚000 on Auto Trader."

Adding insurance into the mix‚ they were quoted R1‚500 per month (R18‚000 per year) for comprehensive insurance with a minimal excess.

Including the cost of washing your car once a month‚ at an average of R150‚ your annual cleaning costs come to R1‚800 while licences‚ tolls and fines come to about R2‚000 per year.

While petrol costs will vary‚ MyTreasury calculated an average estimate of R27‚000 a year.

"Putting all these numbers together‚ the cost of car ownership for the average South African driver works out to R111‚000 a year.

By comparison‚ the money saving benefit of using Uber comes down to how much you drive.

"If you drive less than 50km per day (that’s 1‚500 km per month or 18‚000 km per year)‚ selling your car and using Uber will save you money‚" says MyTreasury.

"We calculate that the average South African‚ driving 40km per day (14‚575 km per year)‚ would save as much as R14‚000 per year by selling their car and switching to Uber."