As independent contractors we are responsible for providing our own vehicles. This costs money.

But what is a reasonable estimate for the costs of buying/renting, maintaining, fuelling and insuring our bicycles, e-bikes, mopeds or cars?

We decided to look at how far drivers travel on average for the time they spend on orders (this does not include waiting time). We then multiplied these by the official HMRC expense rates, which determine how much you can claim in your tax return.

Of course if we are using a moped or a car then we face the additional cost of H&R insurance. For this we have used the minimum hourly rate from Zego.

Here’s what we found:

Hourly vehicle costs are currently a hot topic.

Since May 2022 Deliveroo have claimed that riders are guaranteed to earn at least National Minimum Wage plus costs for the time they spend on an order. This month NMW was increased to £11.44 per hour.

Deliveroo have never explained what they mean by ‘costs’ but the GMB union are currently running a survey of drivers to establish what assumptions they should use in their negotiations with Deliveroo - have your say here.