Good question. Since COVID, they haven't been changing car age requirements every year, but that may be coming back. It seems to be based on the model year, not the rolling age (ie, 15 years old ages out on a specific date every year). U/L will announce that cars must be of a specific model year or newer. They just don't do it on a specific schedule any more. I know this because Lyft changed the standard early this year and it bit me. Here's what happened.

I drive a 2008. Sometime around January, Lyft decided that anything older than 2009 model year was too old to drive in most of CA. But, they forgot to notify people. They went ahead and disallowed those cars (they didn't deactivate drivers, just cars) without warning. They must have figured out their mistake because they rolled it back and reactivated 2008 cars after a week or two. (Well, at least they reactivated mine because I screamed bloody murder.) Then, around March, they sent out notices (presumably to anyone with cars in danger) that in about a month, they were changing the requirement to 2009 for all of CA, 2008 for some cities and 2007 for a couple rural areas, which they then did.

I seriously doubt that you'll be in danger of your car being deactivated around the holidays, especially on Jan 1, for a couple reasons. First, cars don't get a year older on Jan 1. They get a year older when the new models come out around now - Aug, Sept time frame. That's been the standard for a century. Second, making a change like that would adversely impact the driver pool for both U/L. They're smart enough not to do that during peak season. More likely, they'll do it in the Feb-April time frame to minimize the impact to their earnings.

Of course, there's no guarantee, they've both done stupid things before, but usually not to hurt their bottom line. Also, Lyft has already made their change this year, so you'll have them as backup in case Uber gets stupid.

Last piece of advice. If your car is getting that close to aging out, time to start looking at replacing it before you get caught by a change.

 

So my 2007 Honda Odyssey will prob get kicked off next March?
I want to wait as long as possible before buying another vehicle.

 

Lyft 's Lux black vehicle age has been 2016+ for like 3 years now, it never changed.

 

Reinforces my point that they change the requirement when they feel the need, not on a given day, and they base it on model year.

It was the lower level ride car ages that were changed.

 

IIRC, it was mid-March.

 

For a few grand I'm sure you'll be able to find something newer...

 

You’re correct they don’t, but how does Uber know what month it was made? Or registered? Jan 1st or December 31st means really nothing. It’s stil that year.

How do they know? Answer is that Uber and Lyft don't know or care about the exact date a car was made. (Tracking that would be a logistical nightmare and an unnecessary expense, and we all know how they feel about that!) They're only concerned what model year the car is. Doesn't matter if it was the first or last car made for that model year or anything in between.

And remember, the MODEL year flips over around September. It's not based on the calendar year. (It has its roots in ties to the new television season in the fall and a presidential order. You can read about it here. )

I'll put it another way with this example. Lyft decided a few months ago that a car must be MODEL year 2009 or newer to use on base across California, with a few localized exceptions. It's that simple.

 

It sounds aged regardless.

 

dont they decativate you on the first day of the new year when your car expires?

 

the age thing on cars is bit stupida for example I have a 1994 Camaro z28 with 45k miles on it in almost min condition I have a Buick 4 door Rendezvous that is a 2007 that has 25k miles on it and in mint condition I have a 2004 mercury sable with only 65k miles on it mint condition I have a 2021 Chevy Equinox that is a total crape of car... and has 150,000 miles on it year has nothing to do with safety, or condition of a vehicle

 

the age thing on cars is bit stupid...

Thanks for resurrecting this old thread as it's been something I've been thinking about!

So, sounds like my 2011 Camry will age out sometime around March 2027? That would actually be a year longer than I though I had.

I'm in Chicago but from what I can tell almost all markets in the US have the same 16 years max policy.

 

is the 2008 prius aging out in March 2025 ?

 

It will age out when they feel like pulling the trigger. More likely to age out of Lyft first. They temporarily aged it out last year. I think it'll depend more on how many people are driving 2008 year cars of any type and what impact it'll have on driver supply.