Being an Uber driver

[rawmustard]

I'm dusting off this thread because I just became an Uber driver myself. I had six fares last night, and with the exception of one which somehow gave the wrong pickup location, they went swimmingly. I figure since I'm in Kalamazoo at least twice a week, I'll probably drive during times before and after my normal Team Trivia games (Mondays and Wednesdays), plus any weekends where I don't feel like going for drinks. Besides the supplemental income, I'm thinking that learning more about some of the people and areas of my native city will be fun.

[hbelkins]

I'm dusting off this thread because I just became an Uber driver myself. I had six fares last night, and with the exception of one which somehow gave the wrong pickup location, they went swimmingly. I figure since I'm in Kalamazoo at least twice a week, I'll probably drive during times before and after my normal Team Trivia games (Mondays and Wednesdays), plus any weekends where I don't feel like going for drinks. Besides the supplemental income, I'm thinking that learning more about some of the people and areas of my native city will be fun.

You need to talk to Seth Dunn. I don't know if you're friends with him on Facebook or not, but he expressed an interest in becoming an Uber driver. You could give him some tips or pointers.

[rawmustard]

I'm dusting off this thread because I just became an Uber driver myself. I had six fares last night, and with the exception of one which somehow gave the wrong pickup location, they went swimmingly. I figure since I'm in Kalamazoo at least twice a week, I'll probably drive during times before and after my normal Team Trivia games (Mondays and Wednesdays), plus any weekends where I don't feel like going for drinks. Besides the supplemental income, I'm thinking that learning more about some of the people and areas of my native city will be fun.

You need to talk to Seth Dunn. I don't know if you're friends with him on Facebook or not, but he expressed an interest in becoming an Uber driver. You could give him some tips or pointers.

Considering yesterday was my first day as a driver, I'm still learning some of the nuances myself. But as long as he has a car which fits the criteria (I have a 2014 Prius), the willingness to share it with total strangers, and an area where it's economically feasible for him to drive (for me, Kalamazoo is only about 20 miles from where I live), he should absolutely consider it if he has the time to spare.

[GaryV]

Is K'zoo a bit wary of Uber these days?

[MisterSG1]

I did it for the first time myself yesterday.....and I pulled in close to 300 bucks after about 9 hours.....I do admit that keeping a high rating can be tough because of passengers who can sabotage you for unrealistic expectations.....there was a Blue Jays game and a person gave me a low rating because it's near impossible to transport the person a couple of blocks quickly with the heavy amount of traffic after the game.

[jeffandnicole]

I did it for the first time myself yesterday.....and I pulled in close to 300 bucks after about 9 hours.....I do admit that keeping a high rating can be tough because of passengers who can sabotage you for unrealistic expectations.....there was a Blue Jays game and a person gave me a low rating because it's near impossible to transport the person a couple of blocks quickly with the heavy amount of traffic after the game.

Hopefully the low rating doesn't hurt too much (I don't know how much people look at the ratings).  It's a learning process both ways...maybe you'll decide it's not worth it to get caught in that traffic either!

I'm considering doing the Uber driving myself.  In NJ, the biggest issue is that insurance companies wouldn't cover you as personal car insurance doesn't cover ridesharing.  Until....last month.  Farmer's Insurance has come up with a policy specifically for ride sharing.  I've been with my current insurance company for about 15 years.  Since I haven't bothered getting another quote in that entire time, I decided to call them up.  Turns out I can save about $300 a year total for both my vehicles...and that includes the ride sharing!  Eliminate that coverage, and I'm saving another $200 or so.  So at the very least I'll probably switch insurance companies, and definitely give the ride sharing option some thought!

[golden eagle]

Is K'zoo a bit wary of Uber these days?

That was crazy.

[jeffandnicole]

So...I decided to try out the whole Uber Driving experience.

I'm only going to do it on days that I'm pretty much free, such as when my wife is at work.  There's enough work to do at the house until I'm 200 years old, so I still have to set my priorities.

I've actually logged into the Uber Drivers' App 3 days.  The first time was just to see what it was like; I was on the road from home to the gym, and stayed logged in for about 4 minutes.  No hits; no big deal.

That weekend (about a month ago), I was going to the mall and logged on.  A few minutes later, I had a request! In this case, I had to reverse course, go to pick up the person, who wanted a ride to the Walmart which I was literally a 1/2 mile away from when I got the request.  Turned out the women simply needed to pick up her car, which she had to leave at the Walmart the night before because her husband picked her up.  It was a short, minimal revenue ride, but I completed my first trip!  The 2nd request came in shortly thereafter; I had to drive several miles to pick this person up, who worked at a pizzeria. It was a bit longer of a drive, so a bit more money.  All in all, I made $29.95 that day.

This past Saturday, I did it again.  1st ride actually worked out...it was basically on my way home.  If that was my only ride, I would've been happy.  I stayed on and got another request...this one took longer to get to the person than the actual ride itself.  Then request #3 came in - they wanted to go to PA...my first out of state ride!  Nice couple, meeting up with friends at restaurants and bars.  After that, I wound up doing 6 more rides, mostly all within Philly.  One ride was to the airport.  Afterwards, I stayed at the airport's Rideshare area where you get put in a 'queue', and when it's your turn for a request you go pick the person up.  In this case, they were only going into Center City.  All in all, 9 rides, drove for about 5 hours, and earned a bit over $130.

So, over 2 days, I've done 13 rides. All of them were generally good people.

[PHLBOS]

Looked into their vehicle requirements, one car is singled out as "never to be used" the ford crown victoria.

My guess, they want to not be confused for real taxis.

I just checked the vehicle requirements both nationally and for the Philadelphia area.  Such does not mention the Ford Crown Victoria by name.  The prohibition just lists that the vehicles can't be a former-taxi, marked and/or government vehicles.  Such means that even a government-used Ford Fusion or Chevy Malibu would be prohibited as well as a taxi-packaged Crown Vic.

Agewise (at least for the Philadelphia area), the maximum age for an Uber vehicle is 15 years old.  So if someone has a well-maintained 2005 Crown Victoria LX they want to use for an Uber; such IMHO should be allowed provided the vehicle & driver meets all the other requirements.

Additionally, I have seen Mercury Grand Marquis' and even Crown Victoria LXs (non-police/taxi versions) being used as Ubers (and Lyfts) in the not-too-distant past.  Worth noting: some taxi companies have used the Grand Marquis in their vehicle fleets even though such wasn't offered with taxi cab packages (the Crown Vics were).