Lucky for me my car is two weeks old.
The maximum age of the car appears to vary according to local regulations.
I’ve submitted all the necessary forms to be an Uber driver, and I’m waiting on a couple things. First, they have to run a background and driving history check, which they say may take up to 2 weeks.
2nd, I’m waiting for a response from my insurance company (State Farm) about whether being an Uber driver will affect my normal car insurance. I’ve seen anecdotal stories on line that some insurers will cancel you coverage and tell you to get commercial vehicle insurance. I’m also looking at companies that offer insurance for rideshare drivers.
Some more on insurance. Here is what Uber insurance covers, except in California, where there apprears to be some regulation requiring more.
Also, Uber is promoting a supplemental rideshare policy offered by Farmer’s Insurance. You can’t get a quote online, but I called and got a quote from the number they list – about $2200 per year, more or less $185 per month. There is no correlation between that cost and how many hours per month you put in as an Uber driver. It’s still fuzzy to me whether or not I would need it, but if I do it will be a deal breaker. Since I have a full time job I’ll only be driving weekends and some weeknights, and that’s too much money out of what I would expect to earn.
Uber also promotes a policy offered by Metromile. Since those policies aren’t offered in WI, I haven’t got a quote from them.
Another interesting news story about Uber:
UberTaxi gets a brokerage licence despite ride-sharing controversy
“Members of the taxi industry criticized that move, saying little has changed and Uber still isn’t following the rules.”
I’ll be interested to hear how it all turns out, I’m considering applying to Uber and Lyft and have State Farm as well.
On a related note regarding cabs v Uber; I can’t speak for other parts of the country but in Chicago many of the cabs are disgusting (smelly, dirty, busted up), the drivers constantly lie and tell you the credit card machine isn’t working, and it can be really hard to hail one at certain times of the day. Uber cars have always been clean, the drivers polite, and they have always been available when I needed one.
I’ve signed up for Lyft as well. I’m concerned after using the app that there are so few Lyft drivers in town, and they’re so rarely signed in, that once I’m ready to pick people up the odds are every single person who calls for a ride will be waiting on ME. Friday night, 10 pm, there were only 2 Lyft cars in operation. OTOH, so few people in town even know Lyft exists that there probably won’t be that many calls anyway.
One thing that is seemingly better about Lyft is a degree of personal contact. Uber seems to operate exclusively through email and web apps, but Lyft asked me to make an appointment so a “mentor” driver can come by, talk to me and look over my vehicle to make sure it’s what I’ve said it is. I was also promised a response to either confirm the appointment or to reschedule at another time. The appointment is at noon today, and far I haven’t heard anything.
The other better thing about Lyft is that they let you keep slightly more of your fares, according to several YouTube videos by drivers that work for both. They both take 20%, but Uber takes an additional dollar right off the top of any fare for some kind of “passenger safety” fee, which sounds to me like they’re making the drivers pay part of the cost of the insurance they provide. On a low fare like 5 or 6 dollars, that dollar is nearly 20% on its own. I’m some concerned that in a medium sized college town like Madison, a whole lot of the rides will be fairly short distances around campus and I’ll be paying Uber 40%.
Yeah, it seems most every cab I’ve ever taken in whatever city is dirty, or has sprung seats, or rattles to the point I worry about it getting to my destination.
In Chicago Uber (or Lyft, can’t remember which website I was on) cars can be as old as a 2001, we ordered a black car for an dressy evening out and the one that arrived was (I believe) an '04. It was still immaculately clean and the driver was wonderful. I would never have considered a cab in that same outfit, it would have been trashed.
I think the age rules are a different for the black cars.
My Lyft “mentor” didn’t show up for the scheduled appointment. No message either.
Maybe he couldn’t get a ride over.
If he called I would’ve picked him up.
Turns out I wasn’t stiffed by a Lyft mentor. but by Lyft, er, Central Command. They failed to assign a mentor to me, so of course no one showed up.
I had to fill out an online form and include my "online signature " for Uber, which meant typing my name and checking a box labeled “I am not a robot.”
Hmmm. You sure fooled us all these years. I was positive you were a bot. Oh well, live and learn. 
OMG! Did you see this story?
“Uber Driver Pulled Gun On Passenger Who Warned That He Might Vomit In Car”
“When questioned by cops, McDonald admitted “grabbing the gun out of the car,” but denied pointing it at Fabry.”
Oh sure. Like that will make all the difference! Amazing!
I’ve known about surge pricing before the first time I ever even used Uber. Regarding the quality of the driving… have you ridden in cab? :eek: Those guys are driving someone else’s car and don’t seem to care a bit about how it’s treated. At least with Uber, there’s an incentive for the driver to be more careful with his driving.
I find no big diff between Uber and Taxi WRT driving. Plenty of good drivers with both and plenty of bad drivers too.
Many people don’t much care if they drive their own cars badly. I’m not sure why.
I had one Uber driver who was so bad that I haven’t taken an Uber car since. It’s been like 3 months now. I’m planning on buying my own car now and I won’t be driving it for Uber. Too many possible problems. I don’t need any problems - even if the odds are extremely low. I think that’s because I am now retired. Don’t want to take hardly any chances on having some problems because I don’t need to do that.
Uber has sent me two notices saying my background check is “in progress.” Well, duh.