A viral online post suggested that purchasing 12 WagonR cars and hiring drivers to list them on uber, rather than spending ₹74 lakh on a Tesla, could yield far greater financial returns. The post mapped out a simple formula: with each WagonR generating a net monthly profit of ₹34,000 and running for 1.5 years, the fleet could net around ₹73.44 lakh—enough, its author claims, to buy a Tesla while keeping the 12 cars as a permanent income stream.
Don’t buy a Tesla for ₹74 lakhs. Buy 12 WagonR cars and join Uber.
— Nalini Unagar (@NalinisKitchen) October 8, 2025
Driver salary: ₹15,000
Income: ₹3,500 × 26 days = ₹91,000
Monthly fuel cost: ₹20,000
Uber commission: ₹22,000
Net profit: ₹34,000 per car
12 cars × ₹34,000 × 1.5 years = ₹73.44 lakhs
After just 1.5… pic.twitter.com/iYcVTNR96p
However, in a detailed response, a seasoned startup founder critiqued the simplistic math, arguing that real-world business cannot be reduced to an optimistic spreadsheet. The rebuttal breaks down the financial realities often overlooked:
- Car Loan EMIs: For 12 vehicles at ₹6.5 lakh each (totaling ₹78 lakh), monthly payments with typical bank interest rates would exceed ₹1.5–2 lakh, sharply eating into profits.
- Maintenance & Tires: Real-world upkeep costs for a fleet run about ₹3,000–₹5,000 per car monthly, totaling ₹40,000–₹60,000.
- Insurance & Permits: Regulatory expenses approach ₹2–2.5 lakh each year for the fleet.
- Driver Salaries: The suggested ₹15,000/month salary is highly unrealistic. Most full-time Uber drivers in India earn between ₹21,000 and ₹35,000/month, depending on city, work hours, and incentives.
- Downtime: Vehicles rarely run every day. Even five non-operational days per month can slash expected earnings by ₹15,000–₹20,000/car.
- Taxes & Depreciation: Actual profit is usually 30–40% lower after accounting for income tax and diminishing car value.
- Operational Overhead: Managing 12 cars and drivers means hiring at least one employee to handle scheduling, maintenance, disputes, and trip tracking—a significant added operational cost.
The founder pointed out that individuals capable of buying a Tesla have already built businesses; they are unlikely to run such a high-touch operation for “passive” income. Moreover, the harsh reality is that most fleet owners struggle to cover even their monthly EMIs, let alone accumulate the capital for a luxury EV in short order. The critique concluded that business models promising effortless wealth by simply scaling up—without considering the full range of risks and hidden costs—are misleading and overlook the complexity of actual fleet management.
In summary:
While the initial post makes the math of an Uber fleet sound quick, easy, and overwhelmingly profitable, experts warn against confusing clean spreadsheet calculations with real-world outcomes. The realities of loan repayment, maintenance, insurance, downtime, proper driver compensation, tax, and management overhead dramatically reduce the feasibility and profitability of such schemes. As most fleet owners will attest, easy paper profits rarely translate into genuine success on Indian roads.
