If you’re a rider, what’s not to like about Uber? The disruptive car service company is cheaper than regular taxis and offers a more “personal” experience given that it’s (most of the time) the driver’s own vehicle. Now you can actually afford to go out and party and drink to your little hearts content and not get done for drunk driving or worry about a huge taxi bill at the end of the night!
Some people have even gotten rid of their cars altogether because financially it makes no sense to keep one. Oh, and Uber Pool? If you tend to be the chatty type, it can be like a party in a car. You never know who you will meet and what relationships are started simply from ordering an Uber!
As a driver, it’s time to tell you all about life behind the wheel of an Uber.
I’ve managed to forge some fortuitous business connections, just by being “open” about who I am (actor, writer, singer). Being proud and trying to be anonymous doesn’t do you any favors if you are in my business. So any chance I get, I ask my riders questions and talk about what I do.
Uber itself is the first to extol its own virtues when pitching for new drivers or “Uber Partners” as they put it. (Smart marketing move: appeal to potential drivers’ egos by saying you are a “Partner” rather than just another minion to keep the huge cog turning). You can choose your own hours, drive a little or a lot — it’s entirely up to you. For those of us self-employed, it’s a great way to make extra cash.
I usually work for Uber three nights a week driving my Lexus between 7 PM and 12 PM. When you take out gas and other services, I make around $1,000 a month from Uber.
It’s the 4-cylinder engine cars, such as Prius Hybrids, which make the best money since they benefit from better gas mileage, certainly better than the 6-cylinder Lexus that I drive.
I’m an artist type and was initially on the fence about driving for Uber, especially as a female. But after hearing other artists, actors, musicians, writers, directors, and producers also doing it from time to time, I figured, “What the hell. It beats being a waitress and I can drive only if and when I want to. It’s a win-win.”
But is it such a win-win? Here are the downsides of driving for Uber:
Insurance Policies:
Many drivers I know merely have regular insurance. Of course they don’t tell their insurance company they drive for Uber because they know they will be promptly cancelled. In Los Angeles there are only a few insurance companies that will insure an Uber driver. Those premiums are a fair bit higher than the normal insurance.
Uber workers have to drive even more hours in order to make that extra amount they pay for full coverage insurance worth it. Uber has their own insurance, but they cover a driver ONLY when a rider is actually IN the car. They won’t cover when the driver has the app on or even when the driver has taken a request and is on their way to pick up the rider. That’s a lot of in between time.
If I’m diligent working three nights a week 7-12 ish… I can make $1100-1200 a month. But you have to take out gas and wear and tear, and services…
Mobile Menace:
Drivers are often looking at their phones — albeit safely mounted on the dash which is acceptable with the authorities — to answer requests or for navigating. It’s a recipe for accidents but as they HAVE to look at their phones, there is no way around this risk. But tragically there have been fatalities where Uber drivers have plowed into pedestrians and other cars seriously injuring people and even killing them.
Car Corrosion:
I have one friend that leases a Prius and of course the dealership (and his insurance company) doesn’t know he drives for Uber. He’s gone so far over his yearly quota now that there is no way he’ll be able to return the car after the three-year stint is up. Many drivers do this. It’s the “I’m gonna drive and make the money now, pay the piper later” kind of attitude.
Then there are those like me who own their cars. The standard 10,000 miles a year driving my Lexus turned into 20,000 miles a year and I only drive for Uber a few days a week. If I chose to be a full-time Uber driver doing 40 hour weeks, that amounts to a lot of wear and tear. All car owners know that if you don’t regularly service your car, you are asking for trouble when you rack up that many miles.
Sure there are Uber discounts: 15% off gas (only if you drive a lot), and similar discounts for oil changes and tires with various vendors. But 15% isn’t much at all. When those services are coming at a faster rate, you wind up with a situation where you spend $600 bucks servicing your car and getting new breaks and tires but only make $300 a week. That’s half your earnings for that month down the drain!
But we Uber drivers get so excited when that direct debit comes into our bank accounts we just think about the immediate cash! “Yay… $322.36!! I can pay my phone bill and my car insurance and have some extra to go out to dinner!”
Uber Karma:
But then I’m just what I call the “Now-and-Then Uberer.” There are various categories of Uber drivers: “Career Uberers” — the people who drive 8-10 hours a day, use their own cars, and clear $800-1000 a week (give or take.) Good money, but as explained it won’t take long for their cars to be trashed.
Then there are the “Referral Uberers.” They started driving at the beginning, but now, they just make money referring. Nice for some…but it’s basically a sales job.
Then, there are the “Pro Uberers”. They feel they have the system sussed. They never use their own car, instead using a commercial rental. That means driving even more to cover that rental cost before they make a penny. But they have a system: they drive a ton of hours so they get the best Uber incentives. They do the airport runs, the concert pickups, and always manage to be at the right place, right time to benefit from optimum surge prices.
They have incredible “Uber Karma.” They’re often to be found driving the higher end cars or luxury cars. They’ve also learned how to navigate (cheat) the system. If the surge price isn’t high enough, it doesn’t show up on the app and negatively affect their “accept rate.” But they also pay those commercial rental prices.
That means a lot of hours with your butt in the driver’s seat. I don’t want to drive that much. The more you drive, the higher risk of that accident happening. For people like me it’s, “Oh crap, my insurance is not gonna pay out and they will drop me because I didn’t tell them I drove for Uber and even worse, Uber won’t cover it either because I didn’t have a rider in the car when it happened.”
In other words we take a risk every time we turn on that app.
The Future:
Uber is genius, a modern day phenomenon and gives a lot of us a way to earn money that is very freeing, albeit at the cost of us trashing our cars and spending a lot of hours in the driver’s seat to make serious cash.
But this business will be morphing soon. Once the self-driving car irons out all those little quirks, we will be looking at a future in which no one owns cars at all. We won’t have need for parking lots or garages or even street parking, because these (probably electric) cars will just be driving 24/7.
The future in that respect looks pretty dang bright. Meantime I’ll still do my few days a week, get excited about my little bit of cash coming to me and continue hoping someone will get in the car that could be that all important fortuitous connection I need so as to never have to drive again…
