[Realityshark]

OK, I'm done with the insurance insight, for good. You guys keep being idiots and spread your misinformation. What would I know about the subject, I'm only the sole person on this site with active experience handling insurance claims of personal lines and commercial lines nature.

Anyone who takes legal advise from anyone on this site is being stupid and lazy. We are all anonymous. Half the people on this site could work for Uber, the other half could be writing their blog entries from prison. Point is, when you have found yourself in a situation which potentially could **** you up legally and financially, why would you put any credibility in anything any of us say? Contact a lawyer. It will be difficult enough for you to find a lawyer who is not a self serving snake who only sees dollar signs in his pocket. If you feel like sharing your stories about how Uber treated you through this entire process, I'd be very interested in hearing that.

 

[PartTimeUberBoston]

sean, read all the uber agreements, they specifically state the driver will shield uber and its officers from all liability. how are they going to protect you if you are their shield?

They aren't... Uber has it set up that the liability falls on the operator and limits any liability on their shoulders. You assume a great risk in operating as a driver for Uber. After much though and discussion with friends and family, I decided that the risk associated with it doesn't warrant me continuing on with them. However, my tolerance for risk is low, since I have a family, house, primary job, assets, and etc. The money on the side was nice, but not enough to stay driving even limited hours.

 

[scrurbscrud]

They aren't... Uber has it set up that the liability falls on the operator and limits any liability on their shoulders. You assume a great risk in operating as a driver for Uber. After much though and discussion with friends and family, I decided that the risk associated with it doesn't warrant me continuing on with them. However, my tolerance for risk is low, since I have a family, house, primary job, assets, and etc. The money on the side was nice, but not enough to stay driving even limited hours.

BravO for excellent advice to Uber drivers in general. TRUTHFUL information is valuable information, period.

And to Reality Shark as well. The role of the INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR is to be what? What?

Yeah.

 

[arklan]

Prepare for the lawsuit from the rider...did you tell the cop you were driving for Uber ?

i've heard nothing from the driver whatsoever. my slightly bruised ankle was fine the next day. i doubt i'll hear anything from him.

yes, i told the cops. i'm not in the habit of lying about things that aren't illegal.

just got off the phone with an insurance adjuster. said she doesn't think they have uninsured motorist coverage, so it'll probably be collision with the $1000 deductible. which sucks a wee bit, obviously...

 

[Greg]

i'm glad that i quit the uber

 

[yoo]

I don't know. But I have a friend who's insurance company knows he drives for uber and there cool with it. Just the regular insurance too not commercial

They are probably an agent. They dont care if you drive for Uber as long as they get their cut of your premium. When you get in accident its the insurance company that will deny him.

 

[arklan]

so, to keep the thread up to date - after unexplained delays, the apprasier came out and i got the estimate for repairs. 4200 bucks. yeesh. james river insurance has issued the check at this point, so i just need the deductible and then i can get it fixed.

unfortunately i've been having no luck in borrowing the deductible so far, so i'm feeling screwed. ...more screwed the usual, i mean.

 

[Piotrowski]

so, to keep the thread up to date - after unexplained delays, the apprasier came out and i got the estimate for repairs. 4200 bucks. yeesh. james river insurance has issued the check at this point, so i just need the deductible and then i can get it fixed.

unfortunately i've been having no luck in borrowing the deductible so far, so i'm feeling screwed. ...more screwed the usual, i mean.

Two points... You got the money but you feel screwed?? You don't have $1000 to cover it???

I honestly don't know which comment to think is the more stupid/sad or whatever word might apply.

 

[arklan]

Two points... You got the money but you feel screwed?? You don't have $1000 to cover it???

I honestly don't know which comment to think is the more stupid/sad or whatever word might apply.

as discussed elsewhere in this thread: no i don't have $1000. i'm nearly paycheck to paycheck. sorry i'm not rich.

obviously, i'm not screwed in that sense. i meant screwed that, since the other guy was at fault, he or his insurance should be covering all of it, but since he bolted, i'm screwed even though i did nothing wrong.

 

[grams777]

as discussed elsewhere in this thread: no i don't have $1000. i'm nearly paycheck to paycheck. sorry i'm not rich.

obviously, i'm not screwed in that sense. i meant screwed that, since the other guy was at fault, he or his insurance should be covering all of it, but since he bolted, i'm screwed even though i did nothing wrong.

That is why these fares are too low. It's bad enough trying to scratch out a few bucks if nothing goes wrong. But one event like this wipes out many weeks of any net profit there may have been. I got a windshield rock chip on a ride. The crack spread to two feet across. So there just went $350 up in smoke obliterating about 40 hours of driving profit. Also be glad you weren't driving for Lyft: their deductible is $2,500. If you gamble long enough, the house is probably going to win their money back, and then some. This is why minimum wage jobs are probably better in the long run.

 

[Piotrowski]

Hey Arklan, I don't mean to beat you up. I've been down, I mean dead broke before. Back somewhere in the early 90's I was so broke once I actually had to go to a neighbors house and ask if I could borrow ten bucks to go to a job interview. He lent it to me, I got the job and that started my climb back up after losing a business I had put about 20k into, and back then that was a whooooole lot of money. The key is it's always ok to go broke. You'd be surprised at how many "rich" people have been so broke they have better stories than my ten bucks for gas. Mark Cuban has his famous Ketchup sandwich story for example. What's not acceptable it thinking that's the way it is for you. Being broke should always be temporary, and something you can fix. Think outside the box, what can you do to raise 100 bucks, what can you sell, what can you offer in return for a no interest loan from someone. The bottom line is YOU have to want it. If you want it you will think of a way, then you will think of ways to get more. It's just the way life works.

 

[Piotrowski]

That is why these fares are too low. It's bad enough trying to make anything if nothing goes wrong. But one event like this wipes out many weeks of any net profit there may have been. I got a windshield rock chip on a ride. The crack spread to two feet across. So there just went $350 up in smoke obliterating about 40 hours of driving profit.

That's a valid point. You have to figure the total real cost of driving. Self employment means you're going to have lousy weeks and great weeks. But... if your baseline profit is only 350 from 40 hours from this and this alone, it's not worth it by any stretch.

 

[scrurbscrud]

as discussed elsewhere in this thread: no i don't have $1000. i'm nearly paycheck to paycheck. sorry i'm not rich.

obviously, i'm not screwed in that sense. i meant screwed that, since the other guy was at fault, he or his insurance should be covering all of it, but since he bolted, i'm screwed even though i did nothing wrong.

I think your account captured a certain amount of ambiguous territory for financial responsibility that can be typical in a LOT of accidents. It's not always cut and dried about 'who' is at fault and why. However MOST insurance companies in a primary insurance position covers the driver (YOUR) deductible in such situations (a hit and run.) Even if they find the hit and run the other guy usually doesn't have the money either. That's why he ran. And the insurance company can't afford to find him or hound him for $ or chase them for a grand or the whole amount, so they just screw you out of the deductible instead. It's the cheapest alternative.

Clearly you got hung out to dry on that count. But be thankful you at least got something. The next hurdle you'll face is when that unreported accident to your personal auto policy company gets discovered. Then you might wish you never heard of Uber.

 

[grams777]

That's a valid point. You have to figure the total real cost of driving. Self employment means you're going to have lousy weeks and great weeks. But... if your baseline profit is only 350 from 40 hours from this and this alone, it's not worth it by any stretch.

I think if you subtract all your costs (depreciation, gas, fees, etc), most drivers will have difficulty truly clearing more than minimum wage. My gross averages over $20 per hour. One guy I know, really hustles hard out here. He does plenty of airport flat rates, surges, tips, cancels long distance pings, etc. The gross fares seem like a lot, but we pencil out all the costs and miles, and at best he truly nets $15 per hour. And very few can even achieve that level, at least here. Now subtract from that, the liability building up for when something goes wrong.

 

[scrurbscrud]

I think if you subtract all your costs (depreciation, gas, fees, etc), most drivers will have difficulty truly clearing more than minimum wage.

Under UberX fares in most locales I think the math is abundantly clear on that count. It may not be for part timers driving surge and busy nights only, but for full timers it's a fact. I doubt very much they will have any taxable income whatsoever.

 

[grams777]

Under UberX fares in most locales I think the math is abundantly clear on that count. It may not be for part timers driving surge and busy nights only, but for full timers it's a fact. I doubt very much they will have any taxable income whatsoever.

At the current normal fares per mile, it's almost mathematically impossible to have taxable income as an uberx driver unless your dead miles are very minimal. I run about a 30% taxable loss.

 

[scrurbscrud]

At the current normal fares per mile, it's almost mathematically impossible to have taxable income as an uberx driver unless your dead miles are very minimal.

Uh, yeah. No taxable income means it's dramatically LESS than minimum wage. It's no wage whatsoever.

 

[Sydney Uber]

That's a valid point. You have to figure the total real cost of driving. Self employment means you're going to have lousy weeks and great weeks. But... if your baseline profit is only 350 from 40 hours from this and this alone, it's not worth it by any stretch.

In my 9 years as a cabbie and 19 as a private car operator I'm always ferreting away $100 p/week when I put a car on. Once the balance gets to 5k which should be the case in the first year of operation.

With that in the bank, a blown motor, transmission or forced holiday because a car has accident damage can be immediately funded. It sits in a mortgage offset account for a rainy day.

But for this safety net to exist there needs to be a fair return and clear margin on each job - that just cant seem possible on UBERX rates

 

[Tx rides]

That is why these fares are too low. It's bad enough trying to scratch out a few bucks if nothing goes wrong. But one event like this wipes out many weeks of any net profit there may have been. I got a windshield rock chip on a ride. The crack spread to two feet across. So there just went $350 up in smoke obliterating about 40 hours of driving profit. Also be glad you weren't driving for Lyft: their deductible is $2,500. If you gamble long enough, the house is probably going to win their money back, and then some. This is why minimum wage jobs are probably better in the long run.

But you can earn $1500/week in Austin (according to some job posts ... Haha...)

 

[scrurbscrud]

In my 9 years as a cabbie and 19 as a private car operator I'm always ferreting away $100 p/week when I put a car on. Once the balance gets to 5k which should be the case in the first year of operation.

With that in the bank, a blown motor, transmission or forced holiday because a car has accident damage can be immediately funded. It sits in a mortgage offset account for a rainy day.

But for this safety net to exist there needs to be a fair return and clear margin on each job - that just cant seem possible on UBERX rates

It's not workable for the individual driver in any length of time scenario. But there are so many drivers to churn through that overall it will just take awhile.

Drivers catch on fast though. It only took me a couple of days (cumulative) to figure out that driving X without surge is just an incredible waste of time and $. Now I either get the fares that can support the gig finanically or I don't drive (surge/airport 2 ways.) A lot of drivers just don't have anything better to do. But sooner or later they figure out that doing UberX for the crap pay (yes, it's ZERO) is far too much brain damage and risk to do for nothing.

You quickly come to hate both Uber and pax. And that is being expressed here, often.