How much does it cost per mile to drive for DoorDash?

For accept/decline decisions, use your marginal cost: gas (price per gallon ÷ MPG) plus maintenance/repairs/tires (AAA's 2025 average is 11.04 cents per mile on a new-car basis) plus whatever you reserve for extra wear and earlier vehicle replacement. A typical older gig car lands around 25–40 cents per mile. AAA's full all-in cost for an average NEW car is 77 cents per mile at 15,000 miles a year — useful context, but it isn't your out-of-pocket decision number.

Is the IRS mileage rate my actual cost per mile?

No. The IRS standard mileage rate (76 cents for the second half of 2026) is an optional deduction rate based on average fixed and variable vehicle costs across the fleet of American cars. It is not a measurement of your personal cash spending, which for an older, paid-off car is usually much lower per mile.

What Does Driving Really Cost Per Mile? Gig Driver Calculator

Your marginal (decision) cost per mile

The cash an extra mile actually takes out of your pocket. Gas default $3.86 (EIA U.S. average $3.855, week of July 13, 2026, rounded up to the cent) — use your local price.

Gas $/gallon

Your car's real MPG

Maintenance, repairs & tires $/mile AAA average $0.1104 — or your last 12 months' spend ÷ miles

Extra-mile wear & replacement reserve $/mile your judgment — see note below

Your number appears here

About the wear reserve: there is no universal per-mile depreciation figure for an older car — AAA's $4,334/year depreciation is a new-car average, not your car. Enter what you want to set aside for accelerated value loss and earlier replacement. A quick way to estimate your own: look up your model's used price at two different mileages and divide the price gap by the mile gap. Left blank, it counts as zero — which flatters every offer, so pick something.

Maintenance/repair/tire default 11.04¢/mi and full-cost context figures: AAA Your Driving Costs 2025 fact sheet (new-car basis: manufacturer-scheduled maintenance, wear repairs over 5 yrs/75k mi, one tire set). Gas default: EIA weekly U.S. average, 7/13/2026. Reviewed July 2026

Marginal cost vs full cost — the distinction that pays your rent

Two different questions hide inside "what does driving cost": what does one more mile cost me tonight (the accept/decline question), and what does this whole gig cost me per mile over the years (the is-this-worth-doing-at-all question). Offer decisions run on the first — gas, wear items, and the value your car sheds with each mile. The second adds everything: insurance changes, registration, financing, and the day the car needs replacing.

For context on the full picture, AAA's 2025 Your Driving Costs puts an average new car's all-in cost at $1.00/mile at 10,000 miles a year, 77¢ at 15,000, and 66¢ at 20,000 — the per-mile figure falls as fixed costs spread over more miles. Your paid-off 2016 Corolla is cheaper than all of those, which is exactly why it's the right gig car.

The IRS rate is neither of these numbers

The standard mileage rate (76¢/mi for the second half of 2026) is an optional deduction rate based on average fixed and variable vehicle costs. It is not a measurement of your cash spending. Happy consequence: an efficient older car usually spends far less per mile than it deducts per mile — the gap is real economics in your favor. The mileage deduction page handles that side.

Worked example

Gas $3.20 ÷ 28 MPG ≈ $0.11 + maintenance $0.11 + wear reserve $0.08 → $0.31/mile marginal cost (money on this site rounds up to the cent). At 600 miles a week, counting your $0.31 instead of pretending it's zero surfaces $186/week of invisible cost — that's why this number comes first.