this post was submitted on 03 Sep 2024
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That's what my brother used to do. And ever since his car passed the threshold for being "too old" by Uber's standards it's actually made things easier. He goes to bars near closing time and offers people rides so they don't have to take an Uber since he can charge less and still make more money than he ever did with Uber. It's gotten to the point that he has regular customers to keep him busy almost year round.
In NY and some parts of Philly they call this a Gypsy cab. And honestly, they've been illegal since cab companies forced the issue. This is one of the reasons I'm amazed that Uber and Lyft managed to take off at all. Cab companies literally argued that unlicensed cabs were a danger to passengers etc. And harder to tax which I believe is the main reason these types of ride share set ups were made illegal in the first place.
That's a terrible idea. His insurance won't cover him in an accident. If a passenger is injured he may be on the hook for the medical care.
Uber's insurance is pretty bad. Many get the additional coverage from their regular insurer anyway because of this. That coverage also (usually) applies to this situation as well.
Uber taking a cut of his earnings is not really going to change that
Are you sure he hasn't taken the proper precautions of just getting commercial insurance and filing taxes 4x a year (assuming US based)? Like yeah, you shouldn't just go get in your car and go to a bar and offer people rides for money but if this guy has regular customers I wouldn't be surprised if he also knows how to look into his own rights
I mean, I would assume that someone who doesn't get a new enough car doesn't have enough money to pay for commercial insurance. Also offering people rides on the street is a bad idea (because you can get robbed) and possibly illegal. This is just running an unlicensed taxi service. Gypsy cabs have been around for hundreds of years. It's not a good idea.
I wasn't saying it was a good idea. But being broke as shit your entire life kinda shifts your standards of what's a good idea or not when you're just trying to get food on the table.
Also, he still has his CDL and pays extra for the right insurance.