{"id":11062,"date":"2026-10-14T12:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/?p=11062"},"modified":"2026-10-14T12:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T12:14:28","slug":"pandemic-car-inventory-survival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/pandemic-car-inventory-survival\/","title":{"rendered":"Renting Cars to Uber Eats Drivers: How 70 Unsold Cars Pushed Us Into the Rental Business"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>body{font-family:system-ui,-apple-system,\"Segoe UI\",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;line-height:1.55;color:#111;}.styled_h2{font-size:1.8em;font-weight:bold;margin:1.5em 0 1em 0;color:#333;}.styled_h3{font-size:1.4em;font-weight:bold;margin:1.3em 0 0.8em 0;color:#444;}.styled_h4{font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;margin:1.2em 0 0.6em 0;color:#555;}.q_underline1{background:#ffeb3b;padding:0 4px;border-bottom:3px solid #ffe900;}.q_underline2{background:#99f9ff;padding:0 4px;border-bottom:3px solid #99f9ff;}.q_underline3{background:#ffcccb;padding:0 4px;border-bottom:3px solid #ff99b8;}.video-container-long{position:relative;width:100%;max-width:560px;margin:0 auto;aspect-ratio:16\/9;}.video-container-long iframe{position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;}@media (max-width:768px){.video-container-long{max-width:100%;margin:0;}}table.comparison-table{border-collapse:collapse;width:100%;max-width:700px;margin:1em auto;}table.comparison-table th,table.comparison-table td{border:1px solid #ccc;padding:8px 12px;text-align:left;}table.comparison-table th{background:#f5f5f5;font-weight:bold;}.center{text-align:center;}.alignnone{display:block;margin:20px auto;}<\/style>\n<h2 class=\"styled_h2\">Stuck With 70 Cars in the Pandemic: The Survival Plan That Turned Into Our Worst Miscalculation<\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Introduction<\/h3>\n<p>Hi everyone \u2014 I&#8217;m Suzuki from Eco Drive.<\/p>\n<p>What comes to mind when you hear the word &#8220;failure&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p>For most of us it&#8217;s something to avoid, something we&#8217;d rather not revisit.<\/p>\n<p>This article is about a stretch when Eco Drive \u2014 a used-car business here in the U.S. \u2014 was sitting on 70 cars in the middle of the pandemic, and the move we made to survive it: renting our inventory out to drivers.<\/p>\n<p>It looked like a perfectly rational play. So how did it turn into <span class=\"q_underline2\">the worst miscalculation we&#8217;ve made<\/span>?<\/p>\n<p>Here I&#8217;ll walk you through everything up to the moment we pulled the trigger, exactly as I lived it.<\/p>\n<p>Nobody enjoys failing. It&#8217;s exhausting, and given the choice, most of us would skip it entirely.<\/p>\n<p>I get that. But the way I see it, failure is just what happens after you actually do something.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"q_underline3\">Doing nothing at all is the far bigger failure.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>So let&#8217;s start there, and work our way to the painful one Eco Drive lived through.<\/p>\n<p class=\"center\"><strong>Watch the video version here (with English subtitles):<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container-long\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KbYbI3hF9BY?autoplay=1&amp;mute=1&amp;playsinline=1&amp;cc_load_policy=1&amp;cc_lang_pref=en\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Is Failing Really Such a Bad Thing?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"max-width:320px; margin:0 auto;\">\n<div style=\"position:relative; aspect-ratio:9\/16; max-height:568px; overflow:hidden; border-radius:8px; box-shadow:0 4px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);\"><iframe title=\"What I think is worse than failing [Business]\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FQarU4aXJXs?cc_load_policy=1&amp;cc_lang_pref=en\" style=\"position:absolute; top:0; left:0; width:100%; height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>How do you think about failure?<\/p>\n<p>It stings, right? It&#8217;s frustrating, and in the moment you&#8217;ll grab onto anything that helps.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m no different. The moment something falls apart is genuinely rough.<\/p>\n<p>But failing means you took action. You tried something.<\/p>\n<p>Compared to the failure of having done nothing, I&#8217;ll take it every time.<\/p>\n<p>Standing still is, to me, <span class=\"q_underline3\">the biggest failure of all \u2014 the opportunity you never gave yourself<\/span>.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">There&#8217;s real value in talking about what didn&#8217;t work<\/h4>\n<p>In business, the stories that didn&#8217;t work out often teach more than the success stories.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s because a failure usually contains <span class=\"q_underline1\">the assumptions behind a decision, the risks that were easy to miss, and the pitfall nobody saw coming<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>When conditions are shifting fast, looking at why a call was made \u2014 not just how it turned out \u2014 is what makes it useful the next time around.<\/p>\n<p>And we&#8217;ve made plenty of mistakes at Eco Drive over the years.<\/p>\n<p>One of them still stings, so I&#8217;d like to put it on the table and see what we can both take from it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Stuck With 70 Cars in the Middle of the Pandemic<\/h3>\n<div style=\"max-width:320px; margin:0 auto;\">\n<div style=\"position:relative; aspect-ratio:9\/16; max-height:568px; overflow:hidden; border-radius:8px; box-shadow:0 4px 10px rgba(0,0,0,0.15);\"><iframe title=\"The pile of inventory we were stuck with during COVID [Business]\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dBfNd0b1dH4?cc_load_policy=1&amp;cc_lang_pref=en\" style=\"position:absolute; top:0; left:0; width:100%; height:100%;\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This was right in the middle of COVID. We were sitting on a mountain of inventory with no idea what to do about it.<\/p>\n<p>If I remember right, <span class=\"q_underline1\">we had something like 70 cars<\/span> on the lot.<\/p>\n<p>And we still had to keep the lights on.<\/p>\n<p>So <span class=\"q_underline2\">we were selling cars for next to nothing<\/span>. That was hard to swallow.<\/p>\n<p>These were cars in great condition, and I kept asking myself why on earth we had to let them go at those numbers.<\/p>\n<p>That said, I have nothing but gratitude for the customers who bought from us then.<\/p>\n<p>I spent that whole stretch with a knot in my stomach.<\/p>\n<p>Profit? There was essentially none.<\/p>\n<p>We were scrambling to generate cash, and there was no time to think about what any one car earned us.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Cash Came First \u2014 Profit Came Second<\/h3>\n<p>What we prioritized in that moment wasn&#8217;t profit. It was cash.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"q_underline2\">Just turn it into cash<\/span> \u2014 that was the only thought in my head.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">Side note: when money gets tight, cash can matter more than profit<\/h4>\n<p>In any business that carries inventory, the number you watch in normal times isn&#8217;t the number you watch in an emergency.<\/p>\n<p>Normally it&#8217;s gross margin and profitability. When cash gets tight, though, the priority can shift to getting cash in the door and keeping the business running.<\/p>\n<p>Inventory also tends to cost you the longer you hold it \u2014 storage, upkeep \u2014 and it quietly squeezes your cash as time passes.<\/p>\n<p>So even with good inventory, there are stretches where getting paid sooner wins and <strong><span class=\"q_underline2\">chasing margin on each car simply isn&#8217;t on the table<\/span><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Then Delivery Demand Exploded<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image_1788962081_e1db6302.jpg\" alt=\"Food delivery driver walking to his car\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 700px; display: block; margin: 20px auto; border-radius: 8px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Let me back up and set the scene here in the U.S. at the time.<\/p>\n<p>You probably remember it.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"q_underline1\">Uber Eats was suddenly everywhere<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Uber Eats, DoorDash \u2014 a whole set of companies went from background noise to part of daily life almost overnight.<\/p>\n<p>I can&#8217;t speak to what was happening in Japan at the time, but here, delivery was booming.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">When conditions change fast, demand that was sitting still can take off<\/h4>\n<p>When the economy or the way people live shifts sharply, demand for services that nobody paid much attention to can spike.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s especially true when daily routines change suddenly: demand can climb fast in some corners of the economy while it falls off in others. In our case, the one that took off was food delivery.<\/p>\n<p>A shift like that looks like an opening. It also means the usual assumptions don&#8217;t necessarily apply to it.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, this was the stretch when lockdowns had dining rooms largely shut down.<\/p>\n<p>So a lot more people were ordering takeout and delivery instead.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">The Idea: Rent Out Our Cars to Delivery Drivers<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image_1788962120_eae1bf64.jpg\" alt=\"Handing over car keys at a used car lot\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 700px; display: block; margin: 20px auto; border-radius: 8px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back then there were a lot of people driving for Uber Eats, DoorDash, and the rest.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, we were still sitting on all that inventory.<\/p>\n<p>As we talked it over, we landed on this: <span class=\"q_underline1\">what if we rented cars out to food-delivery drivers?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Most people delivering by car are using their own vehicle to do it.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">When you rely on your car for work, the costs go beyond gas<\/h4>\n<p>For anyone who drives for work \u2014 delivery, sales \u2014 the cost isn&#8217;t just gas.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s the wear from all those extra miles, the maintenance, the risk of a breakdown, and the resale value draining away.<\/p>\n<p>So under the right conditions, <span class=\"q_underline1\">using a car only for as long as you need it<\/span> starts to look better than owning one.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, from the driver&#8217;s side of the table, renting can genuinely pencil out.<\/p>\n<p>Which led us to this: what if we rented cars out with everything bundled in?<\/p>\n<p>Gas would be on the driver, but insurance and maintenance would be baked into the price.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">Idle inventory plus unmet demand looks a lot like an opportunity<\/h4>\n<p>When market conditions shift sharply, inventory and equipment that had stopped moving can suddenly be worth something in a different role.<\/p>\n<p>And when a business sitting on idle cars lines up with drivers who need a vehicle for work, it&#8217;s easy to see a new play built on assets you already own.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">We Built an All-Inclusive Package<\/h3>\n<p>We got everyone in a room right away.<\/p>\n<p>There was no way to know without trying it.<\/p>\n<p>So we built an all-inclusive rental package aimed at Uber Eats drivers.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">All-inclusive is simple for the customer and complicated for you<\/h4>\n<p>Bundling insurance, servicing, and maintenance into one price makes the offer easy to understand and easy to compare.<\/p>\n<p>From the provider&#8217;s side, though, every item you fold into that price makes <span class=\"q_underline2\">operations, collections, and maintenance harder to manage<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>So a package can be attractive on paper and still create a different kind of difficulty once it&#8217;s running.<\/p>\n<p>We threw a website together at top speed and started advertising immediately.<\/p>\n<p>The phone did not stop ringing. We were slammed.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Thirty Cars Went Out, and We Could Breathe Again<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/image_1788962243_c2aebef3.jpg\" alt=\"Cars parked in a lot at sunrise\" class=\"alignnone\" style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 700px; display: block; margin: 20px auto; border-radius: 8px;\" \/><\/p>\n<p>All told, we rented out about 30 cars in that first rush.<\/p>\n<p>At that point I thought, <span class=\"q_underline1\">this is going to get us through<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;d hung on by the skin of our teeth, and the whole team was celebrating.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"styled_h4\">Side note: the better the first response, the harder you should look at what happens next<\/h4>\n<p>When something new takes off immediately, that alone can make it look like a win.<\/p>\n<p>But a pile of inquiries and signed contracts in week one isn&#8217;t the same thing as <span class=\"q_underline1\">a business that keeps bringing payments in<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Judge it on the early response alone, and <strong><span class=\"q_underline2\">the collections, the management, and the day-to-day operating risk<\/span><\/strong> tend to surface later.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">And This Is Where It Started to Go Wrong<\/h3>\n<p>Up to this point, it sounds like a sharp move made under pressure.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, we believed that too. It felt like the rational call.<\/p>\n<p>But <span class=\"q_underline3\">this is where the trouble actually started<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>How a plan that was supposed to make money turned into <span class=\"q_underline2\">the worst miscalculation we&#8217;ve made<\/span> is the harder half of this story.<\/p>\n<div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #0066cc; background: #f5f9ff; padding: 16px; margin: 1.5em 0;\">\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\"><strong>We made it through, and the lot is still here.<\/strong> Eco Drive came out the other side of that stretch and still sells used cars in Southern California. If you&#8217;re shopping, you can <a href=\"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/car\/\">browse our current inventory here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"styled_h3\">Wrapping Up<\/h3>\n<p>Today I walked through how Eco Drive went from being stuck with 70 cars during the pandemic to renting those cars out to delivery drivers.<\/p>\n<p>We had to put cash ahead of profit just as delivery demand went vertical, and for a moment our inventory and that demand looked like a perfect fit.<\/p>\n<p>Taken one at a time, I don&#8217;t think any of those calls were off base.<\/p>\n<p>If anything, it was a constructive move: we were cornered, and we were trying to put the assets we already had to work.<\/p>\n<p>Even so, things took a turn we didn&#8217;t see coming.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"q_underline3\">Failure is evidence that you acted, and there&#8217;s always something to take from it<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stuck With 70 Cars in the Pandemic: The Survival Plan That Turned Into Our Worst Miscalculation Introduction Hi everyone \u2014 I&#8217;m Suzuki from Eco Drive. What comes to mind when you hear the word &#8220;failure&#8221;? For most of us it&#8217;s something to avoid, something we&#8217;d rather not revisit. This article is about a stretch when [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-entrepreneurship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11062"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12100,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062\/revisions\/12100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ecodriveautosales.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}