Driving for Lyft-Uber

There are so many pros and cons to driving Lyft and Uber. Here is the stuff people don't tell you, and possibly the stuff you don't even realize you're doing.

First of all, LYFT and always use for Lyft. Uber is a Trump company and they price gouge with all of their surges. Even if you price compare (which you always should) you'll see that most of the time Lyft will be the better deal.

Call it a community business model, on-demand business model, or smart phone app platform, these models are absolutely brilliant! A concept like Lyft and Uber could've easily saved so many lives had they been discovered sooner. When I think about the people who have been injured and even died from drunk driving or for falling asleep behind the wheel, I think about how useful Lyft could've been earlier. In this day and age we just lucked out because we have apps like these to work in our favor. There's literally an app for everything!

Even if you work as an independent contractor driving for Lyft or Uber, it has certain perks. There is flexibility, you don't have a to report to a boss, and you can make extra money. Don't be fooled by their ads for $35/hr or even $17/hr. There’s job security but you won’t make a whole lot doing it. You will have good days and bad days, depending on the ride demands for that day. Driving for a rideshare company would only be beneficial as a part-time job for extra income. It should be something you should be able to do with your spare time. For this reason many of the rideshare companies are dealing with lawsuits for underpaying their drivers.

There are plenty more drawbacks in my opinion to driving rideshare. I used to put about 100 miles a day on my car driving a consistent four to five hours. It is so much wear and tear on your vehicle! You have to stay on top of servicing your car with air tire pressure, oil changes, new tires, a weekly car wash and vacuum to keep it clean for your passengers. You're also more likely to hit a pothole, a speed bump, run over a curb, be involved in a bumper to bumper or accident and so on and so forth because you are driving more. It can all get really expensive! But you have to stay on top of your maintenance! Driving more often really requires you to be alert at all times. Also, insurance companies do not want to cover rideshare drivers. Your premium will be so much higher! Most drivers don't even mention they pick-up passengers. They may just say they "use their car for work."

The worst and best part is your passengers. You can meet the coolest people and the rudest people. I always try to be as polite as possible extending good and friendly customer service. But some people are just flat out ugly! They will get in the car and they won't even say hello. They won't speak the entire ride! They'll be condescending to you and worse... they’ll be back seat navigators when you have a map right in front of you while you’re driving. MOST of them won't even tip! If most people realized this is a service job and that’s how drivers make most of their income, maybe they would consider leaving a tip like every other service job. If every passenger left even a dollar as a tip this could really help cover the high car maintenance costs!

I was always kind and hospitable, but I could feel the job wearing on me. I had water bottles, cranked up the AC, offered charge cords for their phones, and even tried to strike up friendly conversation, but then I started to pick up on people's negative energies. I would notice how some people were disrespectful, they were and it became draining. It made me want to quit driving but I couldn’t. It felt like a vicious cycle!

My experience with the rude passengers is that they feel like they practically own you for the duration of the ride. They feel they can talk to you and treat you so poorly when you're doing them a favor! They may have some assumption that you are uneducated and have no other work opportunities, but maybe someone is just down on their luck. Maybe this is just a job they're having to do this in the meantime. It can hardly tie you over or pay all the bills. Still there are people that will treat you as if you are beneath them. It can be very discouraging.

Not everyone is this way but there were some people who would really wear on you even if you tend to mostly be an optimist. It’s a very humbling job. I had to convince myself that this was temporary and I would eventually stop working it. Here’s a tip for drivers: as long as you review a passenger three stars and under you will never be matched with that same person again.

It became quite difficult to deal with these few offensive personalities. I used the rideshare platform often before driving and I would never think to treat someone horribly. I would always try to be pleasant and because the rides would cost me so little I would always tip!

On the other side of the spectrum there were plenty of great rides. There were plenty of great passengers that asked me how my day was and we carried a conversation. There were plenty of passengers who were interested in asking me what else I do for work and wanted to hear my story. They would say, “Thanks so much for picking me up!” or “This conversation really made my day.”

There were even times I would exchange links with them to keep in touch. Those are the people who made it worthwhile and helped keep me going, but ultimately I had to phase it out.

It wasn't always easy and while I tried to focus on the perks of being a driver by just doing my best, it was a chapter I was happy to be able to close when I did. I don't want to discourage anyone who is interested in driving, but I thought I'd give a realistic perspective on how it really is to be in that driver's seat. You may have your own experience. I know people that have been driving for years and somehow manage to really enjoy it. I personally used the platform to benefit me as long as I could and now I prefer to be a passenger!