Ask a new Uber driver anything

Ask a new Uber driver anything.
Started driving for Uber yesterday.
I ended up making $36 dollars an hour today.

Also provide advice if you currently drive.

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pajeet

>not Boober

enjoy tax season

Does the brown help hide the poo?

Come back after a month and see if it's worth what you're spending on gas

Is it your only job? If so, ready to learn how to do a 1099 tax return?

What sort of area are you doing it in? How many customer did you see and how many hours did you work to see a return of 36 an hour?

What sort of car are you doing it in? Do you own it or is it financed?

Also, pray to god your insurance company (and if it's financed your bank) never find out your doing uber in your car

Congrats on working for minimum wage, and cashing in your car's depreciation.

Keep your receipts because taxes are gonna fuck you. Hint: uber doesn't collect sales tax, that's on you.

Also don't hit anything, don't get hit by anything, because if you priced out a commercial policy, you wouldn't be doing this.

Don't work outside of gauranteed hourly or surge periods if you actually care about being in the black.

>using regular insurance for commercial use
>get absolutely fucked if anything happens
"disruption" industry everyone

36$ an hour, for how many hours?
What's that after taxes, gas, and wear and tear on your car? Don't forget to add the cost of gas you use when not carrying a customer.

Shit sucks for you man but good luck

Not my only job. I'll figure it out when the time comes though. Doing it in a smaller city in California. Drove 6 people within a period of 3.5 hours. Two UberSelects and four regular UberX. Doing it in a 2016 Volvo S60 T5 Inscription. Getting decent gas mileage so that's a plus. Uber covers you during the time you are online. I don't see the issue with my insurance company. They didn't seem to care.

Minimum wage? I do it for fun. My normal day job is web development.

Uber doesn't collect sales tax? That's news to me. I'm not Uberblack btw.

3.5 hours. That was the after taxes. Gas is w/e. When I'm not carrying someone I sit around for the most part.

>I don't see the issue with my insurance company. They didn't seem to care.
Insurance companies don't like you running a business in a personal vehicle. Either they jack your rates through the roof, or they refuse to cover you in an accident.

Cept my insurance covers me when it's personal and when it's business Uber covers me. It's not a huge issue.

Insurance companies don't fuck around if they catch you doing Uber, I knwo from personal experience

>Guy I work with sells his cousin a 2014 Sentra because the kid needs a shitbox to get to work
>cousin gets the bright idea he will do uber to cover his car payment
>about a month in, some mom in an SUV clips him in a parking lot while he's doing uber
>minor damage, fucks up the front bumper, kid calls the cops
>admits in the police report he's doing uber when the accident happens, even though he didn't have a customer in his car at the time
>insurance company cancels policy immediately, refuses his claim, and he now gets flagged as a high risk customer when he goes to get new insurance
>Uber's insurance paid absolutely fucking nothing

Uber basically makes you an independent contractor running a business with your car. If your personal car insurance gets even the slightest wiff you are using your personal vehicle for hire service, they will yank your policy.

God forbid you have a serious accident with an actual customer in your car, the insurance Uber 'provides' is basically bare minimum, you'd be paying hospital bills the rest of your fucking life. The insurance aspect is actually a HUGE deal, and just something Uber downplays so that they can get drivers

Yeah, good luck with that. Your insurance wont cover you when you are working. Uber only covers you while you have a rider in your vehicle. If your insurance finds out you are doing uber, they might just cancel your policy instantly.

I was working for an insurance carrier a few years ago, and they dumped a lot of uber drivers that got in accidents, and dumped just as many that didn't get in accidents at all, but got found out.

They only cover you when you have a passenger. Your insurance will not cover you when you crash on your way to pick up a customer.

How much of that 36/h goes out the window for gas?

They cover you in California without a passenger.

Not to mention how badly they fuck drivers over any complaint. It's like paypal and ebay. They ALWAYS side with the customer, no matter what proof you have. Then there's the rate reductions.

Don't believe the rates? When uber first came out, look at the racial distribution of drivers. Lots of middle class white dudes. Now that they've tightened their policies, increased their cut, and reduced rates, minorities are on the upswing as all the middle class white dudes run the fuck away since they know it's no longer a good deal.

>if you priced out a commercial policy, you wouldn't be doing this.

i have a commercial policy for my car and it costs me 3 dollars extra a month

you're obviously talking out of your ass

i use an 07 camry shitbox and they give me 600 a month to use it plus mileage and all i do is drive back and forth to the airport in it

that just pays for my gt4 payment every month :^)

Fuck the gas. That's less than half the cost of running a car.

So many dipshits don't get this. Your car is a consumable good. By driving it you consume it. Even with perfect maintenance, things get worn down and broken over time. Cost of car/miles you can get out of it + consumables = cost per mile. Consumables include things like gas, oils, windshield fluids, tires, brakes, wipers, and maintenance costs. Cost per mile to drive even an efficient car is frequently 30-45 cents. Fair mileage deductions allow for about 60 cents.

Banks caught wind of it too.

I've had several people come in and during the course of a sale, admit to me they were going to use the car to do Uber, and I have to tell them that when they sign the loan paperwork, there is a paragraph in BOLD letters outlining that they are not to use the vehicle for commercial purposes.

Financing a commercial vehicle, or vehicle that's actually commercial use, takes an entirely different route through the banking system, and requires a completely different loan application and uses a different rates structure. Banks can and will repo financed cars if they find out you're using them for Uber

Uber is literally just a giant gamble for most people, with you the 'employee' wagering that your bank and insurance company will never find out, and you'll never end up in an accident

...

behind every fortune is a crime.

>letting disgusting strangers in your vehicle to puke and shit everywhere

>Cept my insurance covers me when it's personal and when it's business Uber covers me.

No, if I am in a road sesssion, my insurance doesn't cover me and that includes traveling to a Uber fare and from an Uber fare. To get out of a road session (period of time) I have to go back home and park the car, get out, and wait a period of time. Basically, if I do uber that day, the whole day's worth of insurance is up in the air and it is at the will of the insurance company to deny all coverage for that day's driving session to, during, and from any uber fare.

more stories pls

behind every butt is sex

Have you done the math and determined that you FACTUALLY will come out on top after considering taxes, fuel cost, and added wear and tear/depreciation on your car?

>not courier master race
>letting uber go in your 1099 dry
>not getting to drive around the country in your personal car
I don't really care if you want to make less money for shittier work, I'm just glad those taxi drivers are getting off the road.why can't somalians drive?

>I'm just glad those taxi drivers are getting off the road.why can't somalians drive?
I'm glad too, however lately my Uber drivers have only been one or two notches above a cab driver.

>1million in USA
>this won't even cover a serious injury

Yeah, also was looking at "Available" which is really not much coverage at all. Get in an accident then and the driver would have no private insurance coverage, and not much Uber coverage.

I recently saw there are programs for ridersharing that have protection during the coverage gap that occurs when the driver is signed in to the ridesharing app and waiting for a fare. Any Uber driver that doesn't have this with their insurance company is asking for a serious problem.

What's it like not having a real job?

That kinda sucks, only liability if you are on your way to a fare.

washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2015/02/20/the-hidden-costs-of-being-an-uber-driver/

Do you know if Uber charges by time or distance? I live in Canada, IDK if there's a difference.

A lot of Uber drivers ask to moonlight. At least three have offered to pick me up without the app and a lower rate for me. I always say no, but, I'm sure a lot of people say yes too. That will bring a whole new host of insurance problems.

Combination of both, like taxis

Sounds like if you do Uber at all, you probably want to make sure your insurance covers your car as a commercial vehicle anyway. Uber only gives you liability on your way to a fare, so your regular insurance won't want to cover that if you cause an accident. And then if your insurance company gets wind of you doing Uber at all, they may say your policy was void even if you weren't working at all.

But if they moonlit and got in an accident and the passenger got hurt, they would be fucked.

insurance companies offer ride sharing plans, it's like an extra 100-200 bucks a year and covers the gap/gray area between private driving and driving under uber. It's less money than commercial insurance.

I wonder how many Uber drivers actually do this.

Damn. How accurate is the approximate price on the app? Does it account for traffic?

It should be pretty close. I can't remember the exact pay scale, but the time doesn't cost as much as the mileage normally so sitting in traffic an extra 5min or 10min won't add much to the fare. And I'm sure they use something like Google Maps traffic to estimate fares.

Ok that's great. Cause I am looking to take an uber to somewhere that's 25min without traffic but 50min with...

There are hybrid plans that will let you specify what fraction of your driving is ride-sharing and they upcharge you based partially on that figure.