Driving for Uber/Lyft

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Hello,
Looking to see if anyone has any experience with driving for one of these companies Uber or Lyft ? My brother in law is looking for work and thinking about letting him use a spare vehicle that we have. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Thx
B
 
This sounds like an insurance/ liability nightmare that will come back to you.
 
Any advice? Giving a vehicle to an brother-in-law without a job???

Your insurance would be a concern, as this vehicle isn't driven to/from work but is actually work. They will want to inspect the vehicle to see it fits certain standards. Year/Condition and such. But I've been told it a rather cursory inspection. There is no way they could inspect all items in the time frame they do. This is my only first hand knowledge.
 
At least you won't be drug tests or have your background checked like a real taxi driver or have to get a business license or local permits, again like a real taxi driver. You won't be required to have flares, a fire extinguisher or a first aid kit and you won't have to get a taxi driver's license, either. You can just go to work and see if Uber gets sued for all these violations in your area.

And as mentioned above you might get a chance to test how your auto insurance works.

You can then have the chance to join in on the class action suit against Uber for being promised a level of income you'll never reach.

Isn't technology and smart phones a lot of fun and excitement.
 
It's good if you have no occupation (not necessarily no money) and want to at least break even for your hobby of driving around and meeting people.

I have been following uberdrivers on reddit and it seems like a losing proposition nomatter how you spin it.

And it's an insurance disaster waiting to happen. They will cover your driver under their own policy for liability, but that's only when you have passengers in the vehicle.

I wouldn't want to do it.
 
I agree on insurance. If anything, Id say you would need to start by gifting the car to the BIL, and letting him take out the appropriate policy(ies).

From there, Id suspect that the payment rates and terms are established in a reasonably clear and discussed manner online. Id look for those to see if its worth it to even start.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
I saw something like this in my Geico policy "vehicle used for livery may not be covered by this policy".

Look at your policy.



Every regular automobile insurance policy for a consumer (read non-commercial) driver will have language to this effect.

If there were big bucks to be made-one could possibly justify the risks, but but all accounts the money just isn't there. The CEO for Lyft (the Uber competition) has said they will be using driverless cars in five years-there is no incentive for these companies to pay or treat their drivers any better. They are temporary employees. However, by all accounts the full-time drivers make about $35,000/yr. There are many jobs one can get for that where maintaining a car will not be such a MAJOR expense.
 
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Originally Posted By: eljefino
This sounds like an insurance/ liability nightmare that will come back to you.


That's the conclusion I reached when I considered it in retirement.
 
I think it depends on the hours and the location where he works, I think they can make 40-50k, but that involves doing the late night shifts when all the bars get out and everyone is looking for an Uber. Also he should look into leasing. There are companies that will lease a car out to Uber drivers and even do it by the week. No excuse not to drive for uber and no reason to lend him a car.

https://www.uber.com/a/signup/drive?use_psh=true&exp=evg-t
 
I considered driving for Uber earlier this year. Decided not to, my research found that the market is too flooded with Uber drivers. Too much competition. Uber I guess pays less or something too.
 
So, you end up with potentially lethal liability concerns and BIL also can't make any money after accounting for all expenses.
Sounds like a great opportunity!
On a side note, a guy I work with made a little coin renting his late model old-school conversion van to co-workers for trips. He has since stopped doing this after having the talk with his insurer that I advised him to have.
Few of us carry insurance that will cover either commercial use or rental service.
 
Originally Posted By: Wolf359
I think it depends on the hours and the location where he works, I think they can make 40-50k, but that involves doing the late night shifts when all the bars get out and everyone is looking for an Uber. Also he should look into leasing. There are companies that will lease a car out to Uber drivers and even do it by the week. No excuse not to drive for uber and no reason to lend him a car.

https://www.uber.com/a/signup/drive?use_psh=true&exp=evg-t



Then you have to worry about causing damage to somebody elses car. Using a car rental on vaction is bad enough. Would hate to do it for 40 plus hours a week-every week.
 
Form an LLC and register and insure the vehicle under the LLC and make sure you have a lein holder you can trust on the vehicle also have a good liability policy if your brother owns anything.
This makes you judgement proof to some degree.
 
Yeah. Have car in his name and under his sole insurance policy.

I still think its silly to drive for peanuts when you can find a job for $15-20 an hour.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Yeah. Have car in his name and under his sole insurance policy.

I still think its silly to drive for peanuts when you can find a job for $15-20 an hour.




^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^EXACTLY!!!!!
 
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Most people drive for both. Some have said that regular Uber isn't bad, but they don't make any money on the car-pool pickups. I'm not into it because you're basically picking up drunk millennials who may leave other bodily fluids in your car like vomit and #1/#2... Even though uber can charge them for a cleaning it doesn't make up for the fact that the car will be out of service during the cleaning so if it happens early in the night, it wipes out the rest of the nights earnings. It's not automatic anyway, I think Uber cans drivers that don't have a 4.6 rating after 50 rides, but that's only 2-3%.
 
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