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I have a relatively new and clean car, a clean license, and am not a psychopath, so I've considered joining up with Uber or the like to make a few extra bucks. On the other hand, I hear horror stories about passengers, drivers, and the company itself pretty regularly to the point where its hard to distinguish reality from sensational clickbaiting. So goons, please tell me what it's like to be an Uberer. Or if you have any insights or good stories, that's the stuff good threads are made of. Thanks! To preempt a few questions: I live in the San Francisco Bay Area but in a town that's far enough outside of the City's radius that there are relatively few other drivers around. Plenty of tourists though. Also not far from the airport. I work part time and am interested in doing this as a part-time thing (probably a lot of drivers' stories, but there you go) My car is a 2005 Ford CVPI and not a piece of poo poo or anything.
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# ? Feb 29, 2016 01:31 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2024 23:16 |
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Here's a previous ask/tell about this, which does not paint a good picture, and includes a link to the subreddit for Uber drivers, which might help you decide. http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3718047&pagenumber=1 edit: Link to the BFC thread where they really get into the expenses: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3653178 Scudworth fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Feb 29, 2016 |
# ? Feb 29, 2016 01:46 |
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Scudworth posted:Here's a previous ask/tell about this, which does not paint a good picture, and includes a link to the subreddit for Uber drivers, which might help you decide. I must have missed it while perusing the pages. Thanks! If a mod wants to close this one for redundancy, no big deal.
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# ? Feb 29, 2016 02:04 |
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A relatively new car, a 2005.
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# ? Feb 29, 2016 06:05 |
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Doesn't Uber say your car can't be more than ten years old?
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# ? Feb 29, 2016 07:59 |
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MassaShowtime posted:A relatively new car, a 2005. Relatively new to me. My last car was a '91 Cherokee.
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# ? Feb 29, 2016 10:52 |
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Your car can only be something silly like 3 years old so you're SOL. e: oops, no, the really new requirement is for their upper tiers. e2: but it looks like they may not let you use crown vics IRQ fucked around with this message at 17:25 on Feb 29, 2016 |
# ? Feb 29, 2016 17:18 |
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6EQUJ5 6 7 posted:Doesn't Uber say your car can't be more than ten years old? It did as of September 2015, because I had to help my best friend find an Uber-eligible car that was under 3000$ in the SF Bay Area. You also have to take it to an approved inspection station to make sure it's reasonably safe and not falling apart. We ended up finding a 2005 Impala that was clean inside and out but needed a bunch of mechanical work, then I drat near rebuilt the whole undercarriage.(I'm a journeyman auto mechanic) He has no life and owes a bunch of money; working 9-5 at his regular job and then about 5-6 more hours at Uber makes him some extra cash, but Uber keeps taking more of the fee, plus a ton of people use Uber for really short trips where you don't make any money. By the time you add in repair costs it's a really lovely wage, but I think everybody knows that by now.
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# ? Mar 2, 2016 04:38 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2024 23:16 |
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Speaking as a tax preparer who's had to explain to several people now the sudden tax-related perils of contractor income, which Uber applies to, be sure to keep records of any expenses and millage you wrack up because they subtract from the income you make from Uber for tax purposes. I understand the Uber app is supposed to keep track of millage at least, but I'm reluctant to recommend it be the sole thing you rely on for the info, keep a notebook or something (and also keep track of the millage you spend on non-Uber driving). If Uber driving becomes a significant portion of your income, you also need to make sure you're making estimated tax payments to cover the tax bill, not just for the regular income tax (including state depending on where you live) but the SE tax which is added to cover social security/medicare tax you may owe on the money. Also, because contractor income is effectively treated as personal business income, which basically moves to what are usually the most complicated tax forms out there, and a lot of the tax prep agencies charge based on number/complexity of forms, if you go to a preparer don't be shocked if your tax prep fees shoot up suddenly to handle the additional forms. Anyway, don't want to bore everybody with tax nerd details here, I chime in primarily because I've seen enough horrified sticker shock about taxes and tax prep fees from this sort of thing that I'd rather nobody hop into it blind to the potential issue.
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# ? Mar 2, 2016 06:46 |