Uber Driver Review 2023: Scam or Legit? Read this First!
Are you looking for a legit money making opportunity from home? If so, then you are probably considering becoming an Uber driver and want to know what to expect before joining the company. If that is the case, then this Uber driver review 2023 is for you! I used to be an Uber driver, but decided to STOP driving for a better opportunity. Keep reading to discover which opportunity. If you don’t, then you will regret it later!
Table of Contents
What To Expect In This Uber Driver Review 2023?
In today’s Uber Driver review I will tell you all about how Uber works, if you can really make money from home or not! Also, I will share with you my personal experience on the road as an Uber driver. There will be no bashing in this review, just an honest perspective of what you should expect on the road. These will be things that you never here about before signing up. They can often lead to unnecessary headaches. Discover what they are in this review so that you don’t make the same mistakes!
How I Heard About Uber
Some time ago, I was looking into both the Lyft and Uber driver opportunity to make some extra money in my spare time. I heard about them initially from my sister who worked with the company for some time and told me to give it a try. She didn’t make any big promises nor hype about the money making side of things and I’m frankly glad that she didn’t. She told straight up that it was a cool side part time hustle that I could use to make some quick money if done right. That sort of peeked my interest and got me to check it out.
At the time she was sick and unemployed, so the idea of working for herself whenever she wanted to just simply worked for her situation. I too accepted a new responsibility of caregiver for my dad so making some extra money on the side just made sense.
I downloaded the Uber Driver app from the App store and did the quick sign up with Uber online. Now the truth is that the entire process took about 24 hours including doing a background check, uploading insurance documents, and registrations before I was able to get on the road. This is what every new applicant must do to become an Uber driver.
Next, let’s get to money part of this Uber Driver review that you probably are more interested in.
Can You Make Money Driving Uber or Not?
[See our disclaimer page. We make NO guarantees about income potentials. Your income will depend on your personal efforts and undetermined other factors.]
Yes you can make money, but you should know the following:
- The best way to make money as an Uber driver is to work either in the mornings from 5am – 9am or evenings from 5pm – 12am. Although you can make some decent money all in between the sack, these hours tend to be the best times to drive on the road being there is more demand for calls.
- Also Uber drivers are encouraged to drive in “hot spots” or busy locations as indicated on the Driver app. This may increase your call rate and income potential.
When I worked with the Uber opportunity, I usually did it about 4 nights a week around my previous schedule to support my dad. The cool thing was that you could turn on the Uber Driver App anytime you wanted. Also, you are not obligated to work any specific amount of hours. It’s all up to you and that was one aspect that I loved to helped me to care for dad.
How much money did I make driving for Uber? Honestly, it was hit and miss. I made an average of about $200 – $300 USD per week during the summer months driving roughly 10-15 hours per week. That was my average. Yours may differ.
It all depends on you, where you drive and also the time slots. But for me at that time when I was driving it was a great source of pocket change to keep going.
Uber will also pay you if you refer other drivers to them. This is NOT network marketing or MLM or nothing crazy. When you refer someone and they complete a specific number of trips on the road, then Uber will send a one-time bonus. So this is another way that you can get paid by Uber.
I must say that my initial goal was NEVER to recruit or nor share the driving opportunity with others. I just wanted to drive part time.
[NOTE: This Uber driver review does NOT make any income guarantees at all. This is just for informational purposes]
But as with anything you try that’s new to you, you may experience some problems. Let’s talk now about a few that I encountered in this Uber Driver review 2023..
10 Unavoidable Problems Uber Drivers Have
The following problems that I have personally experienced when driving for Uber. These may not be yours, but it is something that all drivers have experienced at some point or another. These are 10 things that I think you should know BEFORE getting started with the Uber driver opportunity.
Example:
- GPS issues/incorrect address locations for Uber riders. Sometimes the GPS takes to a location where the rider is not located. You arrive and wait and the rider calls you through the app to ask where are you and upset that they are waiting. Or sometimes it may take you a longer route to rider’s destination and they question why you are taking this route? You have no control over this as the app directs you.
- You don’t get paid to drive to a rider’s location. [You only get paid when the rider is inside your car on a trip)
- The Uber driver app freezes up sometimes and earnings don’t display temporarily.
- Uber says that drivers can cash out earnings up to 5 times daily. [Not true. Sometimes you must wait until payday to get money.
- Too many security issues with app. Frequent false unauthorized login attempts texts sent to me.
- Random photo ID checks that you must do at any given point before driving. [Maybe they forgot what I look like or something? Not sure. It has happened at least 3 times to me] Others on Uberpeople.net mentioned their experiences with this ID check. But the end result is for security reasons.
- Rude riders want things you can’t do. If you don’t do what they want, they give you low rating. One driver wanted me speed, I said no and they blamed me for being late. NOTE: Uber drivers shouldn’t break the law for riders. They should call for a ride early and allow for traffic and other unforeseen circumstances that drivers can’t control.
- Too much wear and tear on your vehicle. Some riders slam your doors and think they own you and your vehicle.
- Drivers can’t really control money making potentials. [All depends on # of hours driving, hours of the day & locations, surge times]
- Destination mode works sometimes. You can set route towards a specific destination, but sometimes Uber will send you calls that may take you in the opposite direction. But also sometimes you may not get any calls at all with this restricted.
Now these are just some of the negative points that I wanted to mention that you should expect as a new Uber driver should you decide to start. This comes with the job. However, the truth is that EVERY JOB or HOME BUSINESS will come with something that you don’t like or is not so hot. Driving for Uber is not the exception. You could and may experience the same if you become a Lyft driver.
All in all, Uber IS a nice side hustle to make some extra cash that really serves its purpose.
However, if you would rather learn more about how you can turn $49.95 into a potential 5 figure monthly income, then I highly recommend you take a look at the best home business for beginners. I stopped driving Uber and Lyft and highly recommend it. It’s a simple business that you can do from ANYWHERE in the world and it does NOT require any experience at all. You will even receive FREE training and automated systems that work for you. To learn more, you can get started by watching a quick video if you click below right now!
Using The Uber Driver App
I want to state upfront that Uber is a great company and has worked really hard to improve and perfect the driver app. It has had its bugs and quirks like any other app that you download from the store. But it gets the job done.
Navigation: You have the option of using your preferred navigational app for work. In the past, I have used Google Maps and even Waze sometimes. But now they have a GPS already integrated in the app for use by drivers.
Surge Times:
You may see this term on our app. During super busy times of the day, Uber pays out more during what they call “surge times”. The driver app will indicate specific areas where you can earn more money.
How To Get Paid By Uber?
There are several things to must know before becoming an Uber driver. Uber pays its drivers a base fee depending on the type of car you have and also a rate per mile. Drivers have the potential a few extra hundred dollar or more a week or month depending on how much you drive. I have heard that if a driver does about 60 riders per week, he could potentially make about $50,000/year.
NOTE: These results are NOT guaranteed, nor typical and will depend on several factors.
You should know that Uber charges a service/booking fee for each trip that you do. This is deducted when trip is finished and displays under your earnings tab.
Also, something else that I wanted to discuss briefly are canceled trips by riders. This is something that drivers can not prevent nor control.
If you arrive to the rider’s location or within close range, Uber pays out $5 USD. However, as mentioned before this is still considered a “booked trip” so a service fee is deducted. The payout is $3.75 USD. However, if you just start the trip and the rider cancels, you get nothing, zilch, rien, nada:( You get the picture.
If you decide to get started, you can get paid by weekly direct deposits or by uploading your debit card for quick daily cash outs.
NOTE: [Weekly direct deposits are hit Wednesdays and they are always on time every time. However, you should know that you will be charged 50 cents each time you use the cashout instant pay feature for earnings to your debit card. But is free to transfer funds if you have their GoBank card. If you work the day and want to paid instantly, then by using this feature it will arrive to your account within minutes depending on your bank.]
The helpful video shows how instant pay works:
Should You Drive With Uber Or Not?
The purpose of this Uber Driver review 2023 is not to tell you what to do. I will state that Uber is 100% legit and a good source of extra money to make ends meet. If you are looking simply for something extra to do after work or on the weekends, then it’s great. Some do it part time, while others full. It’s really up to you. I just wanted to give you my personal experience as an Uber driver and some things to keep in mind BEFORE joining.
It’s important to remember to put money aside for taxes as you will be an independent contractor. Check with your CPA about ways to save money and things you can and should write off. [NOTE: I’m not giving any legal advise]
If you decide to start driving with Uber or even become a Lyft driver, it’s important to know about some common mistakes that drivers make. This might help to ease some of the unexpected frustrations that ridesharing drivers experience.
According to some analysts, Uber rides are about 10% cheaper than Lyft. This means that it’s possible that more people may ride Uber versus Lyft due to popularity. However, some reports that I have read feel that Uber is more expensive than Lyft.
You could also become a Lyft driver. Although Uber is more popular with ridesharing, I think that Lyft has better customer support and cares more about drivers in my opinion.
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Reviews From Uber Drivers
Next in this Uber driver review 2023, I wanted to share some reviews from Uber driver. When you look at Consumer Affairs you will notice that based on 702 Uber reviews by users they have a 3.3 out of 5 rating.
Based 16,914 Uber reviews on Trustpilot, they have a 3.4 rating out of 5. And also when you think about UberEats, another poll revealed a 2.9 star rating out of 5 based on 57,700 UberEat users.
Why do I share these Uber reviews with you? Because these come from respected outlets where users post their honest opinions. By considering these it may help you to have more of a bigger picture of being an Uber driver.
These reviews on Consumer Affairs and Trustpilot express that actual problems that people have experienced with their customer support, billing issues, drivers and more. These are the type of complaints that you might experience on the road as Uber driver dealing with riders should you decide to join. I know personally that when I drove with Uber, riders for some reason always thought that I could resolve their billing issues. Apparently they had issues and wanted me to help.
The reality is that there is absolutely NOTHING that you can do as a driver to help them with their previous problems. All you can do is be nice, listen and then redirect them to contact customer support.
I also found that many riders were really nice, while others were outright rood and didn’t care at all about you as a driver. Even if you do everything to put a smile on their face and go the extra mile, there will be some riders who will give you a bad rating which isn’t fair.
I remember that sometimes people would ask politically geared questions or just out right inappropriate questions. This is against Uber rules and also just not a good idea. I would just remain quiet and politely state that I have no opinion to avoid the obvious. If you didn’t engage, then people might give you a bad rating.
Why do I mention these experiences? Because they are things that come with the territory and something you will have to deal with if you decide to become an Uber driver.
Update:
I no longer drive nor use Uber at all. I started as an Uber driver initially to help support my dad and family, however I stopped driving. Why? I realized that Uber WAS a good side hustle, but it wasn’t something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
Also, frankly it does a lot a wear and tear on your vehicle. I have a VW Jetta and I was putting a lot of miles on it. It’s true that I always kept up the maintenance, but still it was killing my car.
Something that I realized is that I wanted to start working from home making money online. This would allow me to spend more time with my family. Is this what you would like also? Would you like to have more time freedom to travel? Now I make money 24/7 creating simple websites online just like this simple one. It doesn’t require that you tear up your car nor deal with riders who slam your doors and don’t even tip.
Now as a blogger and entrepreneur, I teach people online how to start a blog on WordPress so that they too can make money from home. I also show people how to drive THOUSANDS of page views to their website to sell their products and services online. These techniques work for ANY business opportunity including my #1 recommended opportunity Livegood.
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How To Be A Good Uber Driver?
I think that during my time driving for Uber I must say that you can not prevent every mishap that occurs. Traffic, weather and other unforeseen events can always affect your arrival times to the rider or drop off destination. You can’t control any of these and should never forget this or let it ruin your day.
With this in mind, I always greet the rider with a smile and ask them how is their day going? Always make sure that your car is clean inside and out. This is important because riders will rate you on the app and this can affect your overall driver rating. Depending on how busy you are during the day with rides, perhaps you can stop to vacuum your car.
Also something that I do is stop to sanitize areas where riders typically touch. This is something that will keep it clean. Although mask wearing is not required in many states, I recommend ALWAYS wearing a masks to protect yourself. You can keep some on hand in the event your rider ASK for you.
Just because the authorities says it’s not required to wear a mask doesn’t mean that you as a driver shouldn’t wear it. The fact is that the pandemic is still here and people are still getting infected with COVID-19. With ridesharing, you really don’t know who is carrying it or in most cases MOST riders don’t know either being they may not have any initial symptoms.
Something else that helps you to be a good Uber driver is to open the doors especially for elderly riders. This is something that they will always appreciate and thank you for.
How Long Do Uber Drivers Work?
When it comes to ridesharing, it completely depends on you. When I decided to become an Uber driver, my idea was to make some extra cash. I worked it on a part time basis and most drivers do today. According some market share stats, Uber drivers work an average of 3 months.
How many hours do Uber drivers work a day? Most work about 17 hours per week. However, there are many drivers who actually work it on a full time basis up to 12 hours per day. The Uber app will ask drivers to log off for 6 hours if they hit 12 hours online.
But again, whether you get started with Uber driver or become a Lyft driver, the amount of hours you work daily will depend on you. It’s one of the best side gigs that you can work to make some extra money.
Wrapping Up This Uber Driver Review 2023..
So, what’s the final verdict on Uber? The truth is that Uber is still a 100% legit money making opportunity and great side gig for anybody wanting to make some extra money.
You will NOT get rich or nothing crazy like that, but it’s a good hustle. If you signup, make sure you a specific goal in mind of how much or how long you do it. Use as a stepping to get where you really want to be. That is exactly what I did and now I have achieved my goals.
Ridesharing is a good opportunity that of course replaces the conventional taxi.
Although everyone starts on the same playing field, there are NO raises NOR any room for advancement as a driver. It is what it is. You are kinda stuck. You don’t get any residual income for being nice to people. It’s simply a good side hustle. That’s it. I just want you know so that you don’t get too excited and then feel let down if it’s not what you expected.
Now it is possible that you may still have questions that have not been answered in this Uber driver review 2023. If so, then drop them below in the comments area.
Today, I just wanted to share with you my personal experience as a past driver and some basic things to expect before getting started with Uber. I wanted to be honest and transparent as possible with sharing my experience in this Uber driver review. Hopefully you have enough information to make a decision on driving or to try another money making opportunity.
You may do Uber for a little bit and then decide to open your very own home business like I did. Now I make money from home doing what I really love doing and that is helping others online. If you currently work a 9-5 day job right now and don’t like it, then you need to make a change now. Now is a great time to start your very own website online. The economy is ever changing and so are jobs if you have one. A great way to supplement or replace your current income is to start working from home right now.
What do you think of this Uber driver review 2023 today? Did you get all of your basic questions answered and doubts cleared up? Will you start driving with Uber or not? Let me below what you think. If you want to like to make up to $2,200 as a Lyft driver, then you can get started right now by clicking this special link!
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Frequently Asked Questions About Uber Drivers
Does Uber pay for gas or deduct taxes?
If you decided to get started with Uber driver or Lyft driver, you should know that you will be considered an independent contractor. This basically means that you will be responsible for all of your expenses related to your vehicle. If your car breaks down, then you will have to repair it. This include flat tires, wear and tear.
Uber does NOT pay for your gas. You are responsible for keeping gas in your tank before and after rides. This are costs that essentially are deducted from your overall earnings. To save on gas, perhaps you can a gas card or avoid simply driving around town UNLESS you actually have a trip with a passenger. Otherwise you are just wasting your money and resources.
You will have to remember that Uber does not deduct taxes from your earnings. This means that you will be responsible for paying your taxes at the end of the year. For the best recommendations for taxes deductions, it’s best to talk with an accountant or tax representative. Your earnings are dependent on the number of rides you accept and the time of day you drive.
Why are Uber prices so high 2023?
One of the main reasons why people have looked to Uber competitors like Lyft is because Uber’s pricing has increased significantly. When compared with Lyft, I have seen an average costs of about 25 – 30% more than Lyft rides. It is true that Uber has been around much longer & more popular than Lyft, most passengers may not realize that costs are significantly cheaper with Lyft. Also, the most of time drivers work for both platforms which means you are just more money if you use Uber.
The main huge advantage that Uber has over Lyft and other competitors is that it’s available globally with higher demand. They offer other services such as helicopters, package delivery and food services. However, people prefer to ride and drive Lyft.
Which is better for seniors Uber or Lyft?
I think when it comes to seniors, obviously they will need a comfortable that is also cheaper on their pockets. This is because seniors will live on a budget and will not want to waste money on expensive rides to destinations. Although Uber is more popular, I highly recommend that seniors signup for Lyft because it will save them up to 30% more money. You can visit here to signup right now: www.lyft.com
Which is safer Uber or Lyft?
Both platforms are really to use being that they both employ some of the same security measures. With this in mind, I feel that Uber and Lyft are equally safe. The measures that they have in place serve as a protection for both the drivers and customers. Both the drivers and customers have a rating system that is used to rate the experience on trips. This helps to also remove bad drivers or bad passengers who do things that make drivers uncomfortable.
Also, both platforms have a buttons on their apps that you allow to call local authorities no matter you are located. They will automatically have your location in the event there is an emergency. Let’s say that the driver is deviating from the route and taking you somewhere that is not correct. You can call local police to get help.
When it comes safety, both Uber and Lyft apps will allow you to share your location with loved ones. Your loved one will receive an instant text when the trip starts and another when it ends. It will also allow you to follow the driver’s route and contact the passenger or police via the app. These are great security features that both Uber and Lyft have in place that keep both passengers and drivers safe.
What other questions for you about Uber or Lyft? You can drop them below please. Be sure to link to this post and also share it online with others. Thank you so much reading this Uber Driver Review 2023! I hope you enjoyed it!