My automotive experience includes driving well over 400 cars, working for a few used car dealerships, changing oil for Jiffy Lube, delivering for Domino’s Pizza and Door Dash, and finally – High Performance Driving Events (HPDE) including SCCA Autocross and PCA track days.
I’ve been fortunate enough to buy a Porsche Boxster at 21 using my Domino’s Pizza earnings. The Porsche was my first track car and was the first car I really modified, however I really learned to race using my 2300 lb. Mazda 2. I raced my Mazda 2 in solo autocross events for 5 years before I sold it. I also owned one of my bucket list cars, a MK6 GTI, for roughly a year before the Turbo blew. Anyways, I love cars and I enjoy talking about them.
Gig economy companies like Uber, DoorDash, and Lyft hire people as independent contractors. That means it is up to us to track our business expenses in driving food or people from point A to B. Door Dash Drivers are now required to fill out form 1099-NEC instead of 1099-MISC. Quarterly Payments Luckily for us, the federal tax rate is only 15.3%. That includes social security and Medicare. As a self-employed person, the IRS expects you to send in your estimated…
In recent weeks, Door Dash has upgraded their app with the ability to Dash on the way back to your starting point or zone, chat with customers through the app, and get your pay sooner with a debit card. At the same time, gas prices soared an average of $0.75 in the wake of the Russian - Ukrainian war. While many Californian's have reported $7 per gallon, the east coast is seeing prices around $4.45 per gallon. Even Costco and…
It is a little known fact that cars were on the road in the late 1800's, way before Henry Ford came up with the first car produced on the moving assembly line, the Ford Model T. While steam power was the way to go in trains throughout the 1700's, the technology did not catch up to automobiles until the 1800's. Steam was impractical. Steam engines needed as long as 45 minutes to start up in cold weather and they needed…
For years, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has been publishing data on how crash-avoidance technology has saved lives. As published on AutoTrader.com on December 22, 2021, "Every major automaker agreed to make automatic emergency braking standard on nearly all of their new cars by September 1, 2022." While I am all for safety, this tech will come with unintended consequences. The Brands in Compliance The following brands have been equipped more than 95% of their new cars with…
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, there are over 150,000 car crashes each year due to snowy road conditions. Over 1300 deaths and 116,000 injuries occur each year due to snowy and icy conditions. Over 70% of the U.S. population live in areas that see snow every winter and nearly 24% of all winter car accidents are due to snow and ice. It is important to know how to handle yourself in snow or ice. In…
In the past year, Acura has been teasing the rebirth of the Acura Integra. In fact, they just recently showcased the 2023 Acura Integra Concept vehicle. The verdict? EVERYONE HATES IT. YouTube Comments are flooded with disappointment and comparisons to the Nissan Z and Toyobaru Twins- cars that the Integra does not even compete with. I personally think the new Integra is keeping to its true original form and I think it will be an excellent modern Integra platform. Hear…
As a car enthusiast who lives in the North East, I experience quite a bit of snow. Now that it is getting cold outside with temperatures reaching 34 degrees Fahrenheit last week in Pennsylvania, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about cars and winter safety. Here are 10 ways to ensure that you and your car are ready for winter. Purchase Winter Tires - This is the most important step. Winter Tires are tires that perform well in…
I don't normal stray from the topic of personal finance, but I do have an interest in all things driven by a motor. In fact, I have a Car Talk page where I talk about my car ownership experiences here. When I was 9 years old, my father bought a 1998 Kawasaki 900STX Jet Ski. The most exciting time of my childhood is when I earned my PWC (Personal Water Craft) drivers license at 11. You read that right! Pennsylvania…
DoorDash and GrubHub are currently the two most popular food delivery apps. As a DoorDash driver, I've come across many other DoorDash, PostMates, GrubHub, and UberEats drivers during my deliveries. I started to notice that many of them work for multiple delivery apps so I started asking questions on what service they think is best. From my sample population, the majority preferred the user interface of DoorDash with GrubHub being a close second. I recognized that DoorDash wasn't perfect so…
After I sold my Porsche Boxster, I wanted to replace it with a 2013 Mazda MX-5 Club. However I did not have the money as I spent all of my Porsche money on paying off student loans. Instead, I bought a 2012 Mazda Mazda2 (Yes the U.S. model name is Mazda2) manual transmission with only 32,000 miles for $9,600 out the door. That included taxes, registration and inspection fees. After 5 years and 66,000 miles, I sold the car for…
