In today’s gig economy, there’s quite the allure of working for a ride sharing service, like Uber or Lyft. The idea of being your own boss is very appealing, and working when/where you want, for as long as you want is pretty amazing. If you talk to your Uber/Lyft driver, they often make it sound like the money is pretty good, and many I’ve talked to switched from driving part-time to full-time. One of my most popular articles on the site is “Hidden Pros/Cons of Driving for Uber/Lyft”, and in it I explore some of the hidden costs and benefits of being a driver. There’s much more to driving than earning those fares, and there a number of costs that you may be overlooking. I was curious as I’ve not driven myself, and asked a few friends of the blog that do drive/have driven to share some of their stories. Let’s dive in and hear from real life drivers what it’s like!

For this story, I interviewed Kristina from North Carolina, and Phil from Pennsylvania.  

Why they do it

Both drivers I talked to started driving as a means to an end. I suppose that’s how it starts; you take a few rides yourself and wonder how you could use the extra money if you were driving. Kristina was the more tenured driver, having driven for almost 3 years, and given over 7,000 rides. I really like how she described the job as being full-time in the sense it’s where most of her money comes from, part-time in the sense she works when she wants and as a side-hustle in the sense that it allows her to focus time and energy on her real passion, art! Phil was a little different and pursued it purely as a side-hustle. He had a full-time job at the time and was looking to supplement his income to help pay off some big bills. He had time on his hands and thought he’d use his time wisely and earn some extra cash! He ended up driving for about 8 months in 2018. Both reported making good money, Kristina enough to support herself and Phil enough to pay off his bills. In this regard, being a driver seems really great! 

Why they love it, why they don’t 

Both reported really loving the flexibility, and a little bit of the unknown, never really knowing where the road will take you. Kristina mentioned loving being able to pick her hours and being able to choose for how long to work. Some days it’s a full 8 hours for her, other days less. After a few late nights driving college students around and having 4 puking incidents, she decided no more late nights! Phil worked exclusively in the evenings, after his day job, but was able to work for as long as he wanted. 

On the whole both drivers reported positive experiences with most riders, aside from one or two bad apples. There’s certainly something to be said to driving around mostly cool people, setting your own hours, and earning decent money! 

Hidden benefits

For Phil, he really loved the ability to work his own schedule, and he would set a dollar goal in earnings and work each week until he made that amount. At the time, Phil was working remotely, from home, and loved the ability to be around people while driving and getting some social interaction that he didn’t get working from home. While driving Kristina loves the flexibility of being able to also focus on her art, and then fill in the gaps with driving, earning enough to pay the bills! 

Hidden costs 

Kristina said that driving a full day (8 hours) puts about 200 miles on her car, and that can really add up. She bought a new car shortly before starting this gig 3 years ago, and now has 130,000 miles on it! It’s crazy to think that she needs an oil change about every 6 weeks, and plenty of gas and other maintenance on the car, and maintenance is never cheap! One hidden perk for Kristina is that she’s in a relationship with someone who knows how to do most of the maintenance, which really helps saving on expenses. Phil discussed how he didn’t really factor in maintenance or wear & tear, and instead just made sure to put aside enough for a tank of gas each week (as that’s about what he spent). A lot of people also don’t realize (although Phil and Kristina did!), but as a driver you’re an independent contractor, so you have to file your own taxes, and since your employer isn’t taking money for taxes out, make sure you set enough aside to settle up (15-30% of earnings)! 

A cost in addition to your car maintenance is benefits; like health insurance. As this was just a side-hustle for Phil, he had insurance through his day job, but as Kristina does this full time, she doesn’t have benefits from Uber/Lyft and that’s definitely something to worry about and consider. 

Phil stopped driving after reaching his financial goal, and Kristina mentioned that she is thinking about getting out of the full-time driving game after 3 years, and a lack of benefits has a lot to do with that. 

Funny stories 

Nothing too crazy from these drivers, just funny stories around conversations that got awkward or were way too TMI (too much information). Phil didn’t mention any puking incidents although Kristina mentioned 4 in her first 2 years of driving. Some folks like to talk and others don’t as riders, and as a driver you may find yourself also playing the role of therapist! 

All in all, my interviews made driving for Uber/Lyft sound like a pretty sweet gig. It sounds like doing it as a side-hustle is a pretty sweet spot, and that driving full-time can really add up in terms of costs – not having benefits and the car maintenance. Hope that helps dismay some of the unknowns about actually driving! 

What about you? Have you driven for Uber/Lyft/Others before? How has your experience been? 

PS – if you are interested in becoming a driver – follow through this YMF link to take a look! (Yes this is a referral code for which I’ll earn a commission but I appreciate your consideration!)