Most rideshare and delivery drivers have at least 2-3 car problems at any given time. A check engine light here. A weird noise there. Maybe a slow leak that means topping off coolant every week.

The default move is to ignore the cheap-sounding ones and panic about the expensive sounding ones. Or worse — take it to a shop, get a £2,000 estimate, and decide to just "deal with it" because you can't afford to be off the road.

Here's the problem: you're making repair decisions based on fear, not data.

What actually matters is hours lost.

A £200 fix that prevents a breakdown mid-shift — costing you 2 days of income while you wait for parts — is a better investment than a £1,500 repair for something that won't affect your ability to drive for another 6 months.

But most drivers never think about it this way because nobody teaches you how to triage car problems like a business decision. You're running a business with your car. Every hour it's off the road is money you don't make.

The framework is simple:

1. Write down every symptom your car has right now

2. For each one, estimate how many hours of driving you'd lose if it got worse

3. Rank them — biggest income threat to smallest

4. Fix from the top down, not based on what sounds scariest

That's it. No automotive knowledge required. You're not diagnosing the problem — you're prioritizing by impact on your paycheck.

I built a worksheet that walks you through this exact process. One page. Fill it out, take it to your mechanic, and tell them: "Fix these in this order." You control the conversation instead of the shop controlling it for you.