Own Car Over Rental: Real Taxi Profit Comes From Skill A real taxi driver covers rent, platform and park commissions, fuel, and car washes, yet still earns because the craft matters. Owning your car beats rolling or renting even now. Driving for the soul keeps discipline and results. Park Tikhii connects drivers to Yandex with round‑the‑clock support to start quickly.
A Bad Volga Purchase Pushes a Turn to Taxi Work A shiny Volga 3110 bought at the top of the market turned out to be a near‑lemon: coolant leaks, then a failing gearbox. A Sberbank loan covered repairs, but the new debt demanded steady income. Taxi work became the solution, even though the car wasn’t bought for taxi. The detour into driving began as a way to fix one mistake.
Earning Trust on Radios and Grinding Through Tosno The first shifts in May 2011 ran on radio dispatch in small‑town Tosno with battered back‑street roads. Only local short trips came at first; long runs went to veterans. Staying late, covering gaps, and showing up on time built a reputation. Better orders followed, and income grew accordingly.
Taxi Income Fuels Real Estate Leads and Stability Driving doubled as prospecting: business cards in the car, conversations turning into small real‑estate deals. By late 2011 taxi began to dominate as earnings stabilized. The benchmark of 2,000 rubles per day shift was reached by November. Plans to quit faded as work and money aligned.
First New Car: Aveo Bought and Quickly Paid Off In January 2012 a new Chevrolet Aveo arrived, financed with 50% down and a credit for the rest. The loan was closed by September of the same year. The Aveo felt taller and more appealing than the initially considered Lacetti. Satisfaction with the choice remained strong.
Crash, Insurance Repair, and the Decision to Trade In August 2012 a ZIL box truck cut across from a gas station, leading to a side impact despite braking. Full insurance restored the car within a month. Persistent electrical failures and two tow‑backs followed. A trade began to look wiser than nursing a problem child.
Cruze Upgrade and Comfortable Credit in the Golden Years The Aveo went in on trade for a red Cruze hatchback priced at about 840,000, with the old car valued around 370,000. The new loan felt comfortable enough to avoid self‑denial. Though set for five years, it was paid off in about two and a half. Those were easier years when a new taxi car was realistically within reach.
Settling on an Octavia After a Dead‑on‑Arrival Wagon Later, the search targeted a Skoda Octavia as the best choice in class. One promising wagon stalled during a showroom start and wouldn’t revive, ending that option. Another pre‑facelift Octavia A7 was found and bought. A Chevrolet Nexia was also considered, but the needed spec wasn’t available.
Car Prices Soar While Value Stalls Car prices jumped: a Solaris that ran 940,000–1,200,000 in 2021 now sits near 2,400,000. Feature lists grew—keyless entry and start buttons—but the core car remained largely the same. Powertrains shifted to Chinese 1.5‑liter turbo setups in some builds, with uncertainty about the transmissions. The gap between wages and car costs widened sharply.
Missed Mortgage Opportunity and Tosno’s Rising Prices Looking back, rotating cars should have given way to buying an apartment on a mortgage. Earlier payments would have been almost laughably small by today’s standards. One concrete case: about 14,444 a month for a three‑room in Tosno in 2019 with 20% down. Now, old‑stock one‑rooms there run roughly 3.5–5.5 million, and newer buildings reach 6–7 million, close to St. Petersburg levels.
COVID Wake‑Up: Stop Drifting, Start Owning The COVID years delivered a hard lesson as prices climbed across the board. Waiting only made everything more expensive. The priority shifted from drifting through earnings to owning assets. Even small acquisitions beat standing still.
Running a Small Taxi Fleet and Watching Money Leak Renting out cars like an Octavia or a Ford Fusion showed a pattern: drivers paid the lease and blew the rest on rentals, clubs, and short‑term fun. Savings and plans were often absent. Asked about the future, many shrugged and trusted luck. The income leaked away as fast as it arrived.
Delegating Money to a Spouse Brings Hidden Risks Handing household finances entirely to a partner felt easier than managing them personally. Fatigue from long taxi shifts made it tempting to avoid hard conversations. This conflict‑avoidant habit let excuses pass and red flags accumulate. The approach proved costly.
Gambling, Vanishing Cash, and a Hard Ultimatum A spouse’s betting habit drained money behind a front of passive‑aggressive answers and vague purchases. Despite working like a mule through 2019–2021, there was never enough—even for a battery. In September 2021 the truth hit: poverty despite nonstop work. An ultimatum followed—start working or divorce—and the choice landed on divorce in October.
Paying Off Her Debts and Counting the Cost Post‑split, credits and personal loans taken under trust surfaced, some even under his good name. More than a million rubles were repaid by him, while her total obligations hovered around three to four million. Cash saved for a car—742,000—had been taken, with only 50,000 left in the box. Trust without oversight became the most expensive line item.
Finding a Partner Who Manages Finances Well Soon after, a new relationship formed in January 2022. For three years the partner has managed shared finances cleanly and effectively. The personal credo remains: earn as a man, let the woman allocate. Hope rests on this being the right person at last.
Doubts About Having Children Amid Financial Uncertainty Children never arrived: youth and self‑focus early, silence on the topic later, and some medical hurdles along the way. At 41, doubts center on financing a child through unpredictable earnings. Others manage on less, yet worries persist about health costs, like a 200,000‑ruble tonsil surgery. Even personal dental genetics hint at potentially heavy bills.
1990s Childhood: Little Money, Real Moments Growing up in the 1990s sometimes meant no food at home, but life still felt vivid. Kids weren’t fixated on money; they sought friends, jokes, and real hangouts. Collecting bottles funded ice cream, chips, a soda or a shared pack of cigarettes for those who smoked. The era’s scarcity came with a sense of authenticity.
Money Isn’t the Real Barrier to Raising Kids Past poverty is acknowledged, but today basics are cheaper. Children’s clothes cost little, and infant formula runs about 3–4k a week. That sum is earnable in a single day even driving a taxi. The main obstacle is excuses, not finances.
Honesty About Not Wanting Children and Self-Doubt It’s more honest to say “I don’t want children” than to hide behind money. Doubt in one’s ability to “pull it off” is the true hesitation. Confidence, not cash, decides the choice.
Living on 80–100k and Making It Work A father of two lived on roughly 80–100k a month in Saint Petersburg. Careful spending covered cheap pants and food. Since others now earn more, money still isn’t the bottleneck.
Driving for the Soul and Bearing Others’ Burdens Taxi can be “for the soul,” and turnkey services exist to supply cars with insurance, licenses, and wrap so you can start earning. Orders won’t carry themselves; drivers end up part-psychologists, like bartenders. Society seldom pities strugglers, and a taxi driver often becomes the only shoulder.
A Ride That Turned a Breakup Around A rider sobbed after finding women’s clothes at her boyfriend’s place; he said they were his mother’s. A calm talk in the car ended with the fare waived and a phone number shared. Later she wrote that she reflected, talked to him, and they moved back in together.
Tough Love for Drunk Heartbreak A man lay crying on wet asphalt, drunk and devastated that his wife left. He was told to stand up, be glad she left, and stop wallowing. A passing grandmother laughed and agreed.
“Orders Are in Danger”: A Courier’s Breakdown In wintery Murino, a Yandex courier lay face down in the snow, howling that “orders are in danger.” After ensuring no real emergency, the scene was left to professionals. Stepping deeper risked needless entanglement.
From Cab Burnout to Car Rentals Tired of people, a top-trim Cerato was put up for rent via Avito. A GPS tracker with engine kill was installed with a small monthly fee. The first renter was fine; the second proved why the tracker was needed.
Flexible Payments Breed Losses Allowing late payments felt humane but wasn’t businesslike. After three unpaid days, the car was found unlocked in a ditch by a dacha, keys in the glovebox, and the front-left damaged. The renter had nothing to take in court, so the owner retrieved the car and paid for repairs.
Three Crashes Later, Repairing Beat Replacing The car went through three serious crashes, including a bus hit. About 300,000 rubles went into bodywork, yet panel gaps still show. Given current prices, repairing and keeping it was cheaper than buying another.
Old Beaters Work; Illusions Don’t During COVID, very old cars like a Ford Fusion rented out smoothly as “passive income.” Normal taxi-spec cars drew renters misled by bloggers into expecting easy windfalls. Reality delivers rent, risk, and responsibility the moment they wake up.
Own the Car: Debt-Free Days vs Daily Owing Owning means you can rest when sick and owe no one. Renting or “raskat” means waking already owing about 1,700–2,000 rubles a day on a 2016 car. In “raskat,” repairs, next-year insurance, and tires are your burden without ownership.
Same Money, More Headaches; Real Drivers Count Costs Renting cars out yielded about the same income as driving your own, with far more hassle. A real taxi driver pays commissions, fuel, and washing and still profits by working smart and counting money. “10k a day” boasts ignore rent and fuel, with some big Chinese SUVs drinking ~13 l/100 km, while a Haval F7 measured around 10–10.4.
Comfort Plus Brings Better Riders, Not Much More Pay In his area, Economy, Comfort, and Comfort Plus fares differ little—roughly 500 vs ~540 vs ~570–580. Comfort Plus takes a higher commission but passengers are calmer and quieter. The real constraint now is mandatory licenses and complete documentation.
Paperwork Shortcuts and Liability Some parks still connect drivers without self-employment status or permits. A renter worked a month like that under a written promise to reimburse full market value if the car was impounded. Everyone knew it would hold only until the first inspection.
Small Scale Bleeds; Real Fleets Need Systems With two or three cars, expect accidents and out-of-pocket costs; luck is the only shield. A 40–50 car fleet needs space, an office, staff, taxes, licensing, branding, trackers with subscriptions, and constant preparation, yet cars still sit idle. Hiring drivers becomes the main show, and an on-the-spot drug test filtered many who refused it.
Leasing Trap and the Capital Myth A taxi-park friend is exhausted but stuck in loans and leases; leasing companies won’t take cars back and push court paths while vehicles wear out. The cycle forces new leases, making exit grueling; only wealthy owners can field business or premium fleets, tying up tens of millions unless driven by love for taxis. Capital doesn’t “work” by itself in taxis; cars crash and depreciate, even if today values hold unusually high, and some Chinese models drop fast—despite a friend snagging a used one around 1.7m vs ~3m new.
Not a Passive Income; Expect Red Ink Renting cars out is an active, risky grind likely to end in losses rather than profit. A rare bright spot is when two reliable nearby renters keep cars busy, though even careful owners crash while others thrash rentals like carsharing. The talk wrapped with an invitation to like, comment, and subscribe, and a promise to reply in the comments.