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Old Thread (2/2015) - OT. Question about being a driver for Uber in my retirement.

Exactly. I was making making 39 and change from Bridgewater to Newark Airport now its like 26 and change. If you don't find a fare back its not worth it.

As far as charging for 2 people, Uber allows up to 4 passengers. They do not charge extra for 2 people.
 
RocktheRac said:
Exactly. I was making making 39 and change from Bridgewater to Newark Airport now its like 26 and change. If you don't find a fare back its not worth it.

As far as charging for 2 people, Uber allows up to 4 passengers. They do not charge extra for 2 people.
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RTR- yeah- understood about up to 4. That is why it seemed it may have been this driver. I'm not sure if she ever filed a complaint.
 
RocktheRac said:
I've been a driver fro Uber since Jan waiting until I get to plow snow. When I started the mile rate has been cut from 1.25 to .85 a mile. They have cut costs like 30%. It's becoming not worth driving.
One day I was in Hillsborough. Got a ping to pick someone up in Somerville. That's a 5 mile drive I don't get paid. When I pick the passenger up he wanted to go 2 miles down the road. I got paid 3.00. Not worth it.
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Are you affected by the 15% cut in rate this Friday or does this apply to NYC only? I see th drivers are striking today.
 
NJ had a price cut already a few weeks ago. Went form 1.25/mile to .85/mile. Better than Detroit which saw price cut to .30/mile. I haven't been out in 2 weeks because I was getting ready and plowing during the last storm. I'll try this afternoon and see what's up.
 
yesrutgers01 said:
I would have thought so but I only saw it after she showed it when we arrived. I believe it had an additional fee of $30 or something like that for an additional rider. Seemed a bit strange. Also know she was in a rush to order uber and a bit of a flake...but I did see the charge of $58 for the ride.
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She probably selected Uber Black or one of the other non-UberX ride. There's simply no way it could have happened the way you described it.
 
newell138 said:
Who in gods name would drive for 30 cents a mile? Its costing you money to work for UBer at that rate.
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The IRS allows 54 cents per mile as the vehicle cost. I don't know if it is less for Uber drivers, since Uber pays the insurance costs for some of the period Uber drivers are on the road. But even if you take insurance out of the cost, at a minimum you have a vehicle cost of 30 cents per mile for gas and wear & tear on the car.

And then you have to pay the driver for his time on top of the vehicle cost. If a driver drives a constant 60 mph, with no idle time, he would need to get 33 cents per mile above the vehicle cost to earn $20 per hour.

But, I would guess that realistically, a driver can average 45 mph at best, and probably has 15 minutes out of every hour as time without a fare (including the unpaid time to pick up the next fare). That means he would need to earn 60 cents per mile above the vehicle cost to earn $20 per hour..
 
Drivers earn much more during "surge pricing" periods. This creates incentive for drivers to head out during times of the day when demand is highest. Saturday night in NYC is always surge pricing. I totally agree that it makes no sense to drive at 33 cents/mile, especially since they require that it be a relatively late model vehicle.
 
The IRS models do not apply in my opinion. UberX, as far as I can see, is not designed to be a full time driver, you are supposed to be part time or between jobs. The whole point is that you already have an asset that you are using, incurring insurance costs and it's depreciating. You already own the car and you already pay insurance. Additional depreciation is negligible and wear and tear on many of these vehicles is overblown (with variations driver to driver).

To me this is a similar model as AirBnB. You're not intending to be a hotel... you're just making a little extra when you're away or not using the house/apt.

Gas, the only real cost that cannot be debated is $1.30 a gallon in this area. Plus, you can work whenever you want, you are not an employee you call the shots and you can leave an area that has no action.

That's how I see it. And, if you don't like it... then, don't do it.

UberBLACK - Different story.

Now, I think Uber's approach is stupid... they're neglecting to factor in the human factor of people who use the service and do not appreciate constant surge... which, is what is occurring (in JC and Hoboken). Please get annoyed by that.
 
RUBlueLot said:
The IRS models do not apply in my opinion. UberX, as far as I can see, is not designed to be a full time driver, you are supposed to be part time or between jobs. The whole point is that you already have an asset that you are using, incurring insurance costs and it's depreciating. You already own the car and you already pay insurance. Additional depreciation is negligible and wear and tear on many of these vehicles is overblown (with variations driver to driver).
Click to expand...

How can you discount wear & tear on a car. If you keep your car in the garage, it can last decades. But if you drive the car, realistically, you get about 100,000 miles out of it, after which it is essentially a clunker. If you have a moderately priced car suitable for Uber, it is costing about $25,000. That is 25 cents per mile at 100,000 miles. But as an Uber driver, you aren't driving a car that is pushing 100K miles. More likely, you sell the car at 40,000 miles for $10,000. So that car cost you 37.5 cents per mile. And that doesn't include any maintenance.


Then you add gas. According to Gas Buddy, the cheapest gas in the New Brunswick area is $1.50 per gallon. So assuming you are getting 25 mpg (pretty decent for stop and go driving), that's another 6 cents per gallon.

So even with the Uber model that you have the asset, and aren't paying depreciation or insurance, you still have a cost of about 44 cents per mile just for wear & tear and gas.
 
Upstream said:
How can you discount wear & tear on a car. If you keep your car in the garage, it can last decades. But if you drive the car, realistically, you get about 100,000 miles out of it, after which it is essentially a clunker. If you have a moderately priced car suitable for Uber, it is costing about $25,000. That is 25 cents per mile at 100,000 miles. But as an Uber driver, you aren't driving a car that is pushing 100K miles. More likely, you sell the car at 40,000 miles for $10,000. So that car cost you 37.5 cents per mile. And that doesn't include any maintenance.


Then you add gas. According to Gas Buddy, the cheapest gas in the New Brunswick area is $1.50 per gallon. So assuming you are getting 25 mpg (pretty decent for stop and go driving), that's another 6 cents per gallon.

So even with the Uber model that you have the asset, and aren't paying depreciation or insurance, you still have a cost of about 44 cents per mile just for wear & tear and gas.
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On the TV news, they mention that Uber wants car less than 5 years and some drivers purchased new vehicles assuming the old ratesof compensation so they are screwed.
 
Upstream said:
How can you discount wear & tear on a car. If you keep your car in the garage, it can last decades. But if you drive the car, realistically, you get about 100,000 miles out of it, after which it is essentially a clunker. If you have a moderately priced car suitable for Uber, it is costing about $25,000. That is 25 cents per mile at 100,000 miles. But as an Uber driver, you aren't driving a car that is pushing 100K miles. More likely, you sell the car at 40,000 miles for $10,000. So that car cost you 37.5 cents per mile. And that doesn't include any maintenance.


Then you add gas. According to Gas Buddy, the cheapest gas in the New Brunswick area is $1.50 per gallon. So assuming you are getting 25 mpg (pretty decent for stop and go driving), that's another 6 cents per gallon.

So even with the Uber model that you have the asset, and aren't paying depreciation or insurance, you still have a cost of about 44 cents per mile just for wear & tear and gas.
Click to expand...


You haven't heard of the Honda Civic on this board?? LOL
 
Upstream said:
How can you discount wear & tear on a car. If you keep your car in the garage, it can last decades. But if you drive the car, realistically, you get about 100,000 miles out of it, after which it is essentially a clunker. If you have a moderately priced car suitable for Uber, it is costing about $25,000. That is 25 cents per mile at 100,000 miles. But as an Uber driver, you aren't driving a car that is pushing 100K miles. More likely, you sell the car at 40,000 miles for $10,000. So that car cost you 37.5 cents per mile. And that doesn't include any maintenance.


Then you add gas. According to Gas Buddy, the cheapest gas in the New Brunswick area is $1.50 per gallon. So assuming you are getting 25 mpg (pretty decent for stop and go driving), that's another 6 cents per gallon.

So even with the Uber model that you have the asset, and aren't paying depreciation or insurance, you still have a cost of about 44 cents per mile just for wear & tear and gas.
Click to expand...

I was with you up until 100K miles. What kind of sh#tty cars are you buying that they're clunkers after 100K? These days a car should give you double that.

The comparison with Air BNB is way off, though. Unless you're hosting your Air BNB guests and playing concierge, it's equivalent to renting your car out in a car-sharing program, not driving it for Uber.
 
Well - you may not agree but I don't think 100k or Airbnb are way off. People think uber is a career, it's not. At best is somewhat supplemental income.
 
RUBlueLot said:
Well - you may not agree but I don't think 100k or Airbnb are way off. People think uber is a career, it's not. At best is somewhat supplemental income.
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100,000 miles is absolutely off. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/a...100000.html?_r=3&ref=business&pagewanted=all&

The Air BNB analogy is off because Air BNB is simple renting of property, while Uber driving involves your time. Air BNB is analogous with offering your car for car sharing.

I have no opinion on whether Uber is a career or not.
 
I read an article where a journalist drove for Uber for three months and meticulously tracked income and costs, including depreciation. If I recall correctly she estimated $9.34 an hour before taxes, which seems lousy. I think the best thing about being an Uber driver is you can work whenever you want for as long or short as you want. It seems to me it would only be worth doing it during high demand fare periods.
 
Uber has an incentive that I have used. Guaranteed $20/hr during the 6am to 8 am and 4pm to 8pm time frame on Mon thru Fri. and 9pm to 4am Fri and Sat. You have to be on at all times, which prevents the Ubers who switch to Lift during slow periods. Have to accept 90% of calls and 1.5 trips per hr.

So I have had 2 fares for $6 in 30 min and made $14.00 extra on top of that even though I had no additional rides that hour.
 
FanuSanu52 said:
I was with you up until 100K miles. What kind of sh#tty cars are you buying that they're clunkers after 100K? These days a car should give you double that.
Click to expand...

I guess "clunker" wasn't the right description But once a car hits 100K miles, you need to add maintenance costs into the cost of ownership.

And certainly Uber's standards require drivers to have cars newer than 100K miles. An Uber driver can't ignore vehicle cost as negligible.
 
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uber doesn't know how many miles your car has... only what year.

As it relates to Uber vs. AirBnb I still think it is valid. We did it over new years and it was a lot of time prepping the place and communicating with the people staying over and then cleaning afterwards. As far as I know there are no real active car-sharing programs that people are using (if there are please post).

As it relates to maintenance, my point is I think some of you are looking at it to parochially. Yes, maintenance is real, but with UberX you cannot allocate all those costs to while your working. The idea is that the vehicle is mostly used for personal use. Therefore, the idea that the maintenance is all from driving from Uber is not realistic (except for the tax return)

IF you take for example a Honda accord Sedan EX L-V6. Four tires installed will cost around $550 with a range of 60,000 miles. That's $0.01 per mile. A newer car can probably get an oil change every 8-10 miles with a $50 fee... that's $0.006 per mile. The depreciation is happening whether you drive it or not. The insurance costs are incurred whether you drive it or not. Now, to me the real maintenance costs (drive train/engine/transmission)... those things hopefully are covered under warranty...but, how often in newer vehicles do they really go.

To me, the only real question is what is your time worth. If your extra time is worth $10 an hour, and you kind of enjoy it then go for it. If you'd rather do something else, then don't.

Like the example of the gentlemen who drives to Atlantic City... to me, he is really only questioning what his time is worth... not, being able to recoup maintenance costs.

UBERBLACK - different story
 
I work in insurance in NJ and this is becoming a big target for for us.

If you have a personal policy in NJ it's not going to cover a loss if you're driving for uber. Uber has been telling / coaching their drivers to just report it to their own insurance if there is an accident because as they are learning now, claims are costly. They now have a claims office but its fledgling and difficult to reach. You are covered under them but I cant speak to their actual coverage since I don't ride for them.

Your carrier may drop you if they find you are driving for uber, depends on the carrier.
 
scarleteagle said:
I work in insurance in NJ and this is becoming a big target for for us.

If you have a personal policy in NJ it's not going to cover a loss if you're driving for uber. Uber has been telling / coaching their drivers to just report it to their own insurance if there is an accident because as they are learning now, claims are costly. They now have a claims office but its fledgling and difficult to reach. You are covered under them but I cant speak to their actual coverage since I don't ride for them.

Your carrier may drop you if they find you are driving for uber, depends on the carrier.
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I would think the drivers wouldn't want to claim the accidents on their personal insurance due to the deductible on their auto and the increase in insurance rates. Passengers and other drivers involved in the accident would sue Uber due to their assets. Tracy Morgan probably got a few millions from WalMart.
 
scarleteagle said:
I work in insurance in NJ and this is becoming a big target for for us.

If you have a personal policy in NJ it's not going to cover a loss if you're driving for uber. Uber has been telling / coaching their drivers to just report it to their own insurance if there is an accident because as they are learning now, claims are costly. They now have a claims office but its fledgling and difficult to reach. You are covered under them but I cant speak to their actual coverage since I don't ride for them.

Your carrier may drop you if they find you are driving for uber, depends on the carrier.
Click to expand...

It's why we stopped, after about a week. We could use the income (we REALLY could use the income) but the liability was too great a risk for us to bear. Even if you're covered when you have a ride, you wouldn't be covered if you are between rides when an accident happens -- and it would be very easy to show that the car was used for work. I would suspect that an Uber driver should actually have some sort of commercial policy (at least in NJ), if something like this is even available.

It wasn't worth potentially losing our house over.
 
megadrone said:
It's why we stopped, after about a week. We could use the income (we REALLY could use the income) but the liability was too great a risk for us to bear. Even if you're covered when you have a ride, you wouldn't be covered if you are between rides when an accident happens -- and it would be very easy to show that the car was used for work. I would suspect that an Uber driver should actually have some sort of commercial policy (at least in NJ), if something like this is even available.

It wasn't worth potentially losing our house over.
Click to expand...
I don't think many Uber drivers think about it. Most Uber drivers don't have assets to worry about.
 
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RocktheRac said:
Uber has an incentive that I have used. Guaranteed $20/hr during the 6am to 8 am and 4pm to 8pm time frame on Mon thru Fri. and 9pm to 4am Fri and Sat. You have to be on at all times, which prevents the Ubers who switch to Lift during slow periods. Have to accept 90% of calls and 1.5 trips per hr.

So I have had 2 fares for $6 in 30 min and made $14.00 extra on top of that even though I had no additional rides that hour.
Click to expand...

Do riders tend to tip?
 
I have 63 rides. My first passenger gave me a $5 tip on a 3 mile ride because I told her that she was my first ride. I had a second tip when I drove a couple from Somerville to New Brunswick Catherine Lombardi's. That was $4. Last night I was surprised and got a $6 tip Raritan to Basking Ridge. It was a 8.00 fare for me and I believe it cost him 12 and change . Also someone wanted to get cash from inside when I dropped her off. I said no need. Riders are discouraged from tipping. It's all based on no money transactions.
 
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Scarleteagle is correct. I too am in insurance. Uber covers you while you have a passenger, but not while the app is turned on or you are on your way to pick someone up. Insurance companies see it that once you turn your app on, you are now a livery cab, and they don't cover you either.

They are trying to sort through this to get Uber to cover the driver from the moment the app is turned on.

Bad case in San Francisco (Uber capital), where a driver killed two pedestrians.
 
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yesrutgers01 said:
I would have thought so but I only saw it after she showed it when we arrived. I believe it had an additional fee of $30 or something like that for an additional rider. Seemed a bit strange. Also know she was in a rush to order uber and a bit of a flake...but I did see the charge of $58 for the ride.
Click to expand...
Been driving 2 weeks and taking people on my way to and from work ... Each Uber level is different ... drivers get paid per mile, and per minute ... UberPool and UberX NJ rate is about .70 mile, and .11 minute ... not sure about NY, but in Jersey I have seen Uber sometimes get over 50% of the tab. Recently drove someone from Whippany to Newark Airport ... Uber charged $44 and paid out $21 ... on average I say Uber takes 30% ... if any questions let me know.
 
megadrone said:
It's why we stopped, after about a week. We could use the income (we REALLY could use the income) but the liability was too great a risk for us to bear. Even if you're covered when you have a ride, you wouldn't be covered if you are between rides when an accident happens -- and it would be very easy to show that the car was used for work. I would suspect that an Uber driver should actually have some sort of commercial policy (at least in NJ), if something like this is even available.

It wasn't worth potentially losing our house over.
Click to expand...
I know someone that owes a NYC taxi license and they have a broker that leases the license. The broker hires a driver and supplies the taxi cab. They have insurance but when the taxi cab driver got in a serious accident, the injured went after the owner of the license over and above the insurance. They settled and had to pay more than their insurance.

This definitely apply to Uber drivers but most don't have much assets or why would they drive for Uber.
 
Last edited:
I thought Uber was lowering rates in NJ?

From my place in Franklin Park to EWR = $49 on Uber

Same trip on Lyft = $37
 
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