Is It Worth Driving For Uber - The Reality

[Varagane]

What is the reality of being an Uber driver, is it worth it? I have been considering becoming an Uber driver for some time now but I have been hearing and reading a lot of mixed opinion about the job. It is either that it is really bad and then there are others that say it is really good, that you can make really food money and so on. I suppose that the best way to find out is to join Uber and start driving but before I do that I thought I will throw it out there and see if someone can give me a real-life account what its actually like being an Uber driver. I would really appreciate if someone who has been doing the job for already could share their experience.

[danyell]

I have never driven for Uber, but I know some people who have. They have seemed to enjoy it, but I mean if you're using your everyday car, I wouldn't think that it would be good because of all the wear and tear on your car. But everyone I know who has done it, said that it's a good way to earn some extra cash.

[Abshir]

I found your post and I decided to give you my experience of being an Uber driver. I used to work in retail, as a shop detective, that was before I decided to start driving with Uber. I had been doing my job detective job for over 10 years and I really wanted a change, something more flexible and more money. I was getting paid £12 an hour at the time and Uber was advertising about £20 an hour so I thought it would be a good move. I did think that Uber may be exaggerating their hourly earnings potential a bit but I thought even if I could make 15 pounds per hour I would still be alright. I also thought that being my own boss I would not have to work long shifts anymore as I was working in the shop, 10-12 hours a day, 5 days a week.

So I got a finance and I bought a Ford Galaxy so I could not only accept uber x jobs but also XL jobs and once my PCO license came through I went to Uber induction day and joined up.

I did struggle to find an insurance for a reasonable price for my car so I finally settled with Cover My Cab that offered me an annual policy for £2885. I had to trade in my 9 years no claims bonus from my normal car policy just to get one year no claims minicab bonus, so that saved me about £400, otherwise, my insurance cost would have been well over 3k a year.

Once all that was sorted I resigned from my old job and I started driving for Uber.

My first day I did 10 hours and made £126 and that is after the Uber fee which is 20 percent. Obviously, I had to take off all my expenses from that to get the real profit, expenses like insurance and car payments, ware and tare, fuel and so on. So I was left with about 60-pound profit for that 10 hour day.

I wasn't that worry at first as I thought I was just unlucky and I was still learning the trade so I was still quite confident and my 300 pounds a day target seemed like a real achievement.

The following days were bit better as I started to learn what were the best times to work and what areas were the busiest. I did also increase my working hours, so instead of working 10 hours a day I started doing 12-14 hour shifts but I still didn't manage to reach my £300 pounds a day target. My best days were around £250 and my overall average days were about 200 pounds a day for 12-hour shift. After all the expenses, that was roughly 130 pounds a day.

After 6 months I was starting to regret my decision of leaving my old job. I was not making any more money than I was making working as shop detective, on my bad days I was actually making lot less with Uber, and there was a lot of bad days. Plus now, I didn't have a holiday or sick pay either and I didn't have my bonus that I used to get every year, which wasn't much but it was still something. Working for Uber I didn't have any of that.

Driving for Uber was also a lot more stressful compared to my previous job, not only is the traffic in London horrendous, but also the customers can be very difficult. They are never happy what route you take, they always complain and they treat you like a second-class citizen. On weekends there are a lot of drunks, they eat their kebabs in the car and make a mess, they buke in the car, they ask for an aux cord and turn the music to maximum or they are just really annoying or obnoxious. If you don't accommodate their wishes they just will give you a low rating and even if you do everything they ask, a lot of customers still give you a low rating.

So I did keep working for Uber, hoping that things will approve and I thought if I just work harder and longer I would finally start making some money, so I did increase my working hours up to 16 hours a day and I cut my break times for just one half an hour break for lunch. I was buying protein bars so I didn't have to stop to eat and I was able to eat whilst driving. All of that but I still didn't manage to reach my 300 pounds a day.

Also, because I was driving so much my car maintenance bills were getting higher and higher, it was not only regular services and tires but I had to change my turbo and fuel pump and DPF and brakes and lot more things, so my repair costs were well over 5k for this 8 months I had been working for Uber. So I started using my credit cards to cover all the costs. To stay in float I had to work even more hours and I had no days off, I also started sleeping in my car just to save time.

Then my gearbox went and I had to get a new one, Gearbox with the mechadronic unit for Ford Galaxy is about 3k for reconditioned one so that increased my repair bill to almost 8k now.

Credit card bills were piling up, I was already working at full capacity. I was tired and miserable. There was no chance to take time off even just to just to get a little bit of rest as when I was not working there was no money coming in, but insurance and car payments still had to be met. Also because I was working so much and not sleeping and eating proberly, driveing bacame very dangerous. There was so many occasion I was driving through the red lights as I just didn't notice it. Sometimes I was so tired that I had no idea what part of London I was in. Once I took somone to airoport and I was so tired that I didnt rembember most of the journey, it was like one big haze. I was actually surprised that I made it there in one piece.

And finally, to top it all off my gearbox went the second time and as my credit cards were already maxed out from previous repair costs I couldn't get the car fixed anymore so it's off the road now as we speak. Without a car, I could not drive anymore so I had to look for another job and luckily I got a job at ASDA warehouse now. Money is better, less stress, I got my lunch break, holiday pay and days off and so on. So finally I can start putting my life back together now.

So for the conclusion, just so that you can make up your own mind whether you should become an Uber driver or not:

After working for uber for just over a year. I was deep in debt, I got a bad credit record now, I lost all my 9 years of no claims bonus, I got 6 points on my licence. I got a car on finance that is not drivable and my girlfriend left me because I was never home and I turned into a nasty person from all the stess I was under.

So, that is my story. I would like to hear those positive experiences you were talking about. So if someone is doing really good working for Uber then let me know here. And don't offer me your sign up code while you're telling me how good are the Uber earnings and you can spend so much time with your family now.

[Barbarasueta]

Always do your YouTube research before you make any drastic career changes.

[Michael1]

Thank you for sharing your story. I can certainly see how you managed to get yourself into a situation like that. Uber paints you a picture of a job that entertains your whims of turning your job on and off whenever you please. I am not surprised that you thought it would be a good idea to leave your perfectly stable job in retail. With flexible hours and pay on demand, it seems like an opportunity that is hard to say no to. So it is understandable for when people leave their jobs and join uber and choose to relay on Uber as a primary source of income. It allows them to make money sitting in the comforts of an airconditioned car, as their “own boss” as you called it, moving from A to B.

However, numbers show that that may be an oversimplification of what driving an Uber is really like. In fact, it might be the nuances that you really did overlook when you took the job that became micro-pains that forced them to quit. Let us take a look at these preconceptions that are often found to be misconceptions. Anyway, you did learn a lesson here, you learned it a hard way but I was good that you posted your Uber driving experience here on this forum so you will certanley save lot of people going trhough all that trouble you had to experience.

[Mariko]

Do not beat yourself up because of the decision you have made, there are many drivers in your situation who find that the win-win situation they had visualized for their Uber driving experience has a steeper cost side than they first estimated. They may be picking up passengers and earning some money, but the wear-and-tear on their vehicles may be harder to put a number on. While fuel costs may be broken even with, but the mileage they put on and the subsequent years it takes off the life of their vehicles may not be worth the extra cash. I have seen some Uber drivers using BMW 5 series or a Mercedes to do Uber X and Uber Pool, with these milage rates I dont know how is that viable.

[zest]

It depends on your locations. Most people do this as a part time job to make ends meet or a temporary placeholder while still in school. I don't think it is worth it, not anymore but some people do enjoy the freedom.