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Rakuten Review – Is Rakuten a Scam? Honest Review of Rakuten

As rideshare drivers, we all have expenses – and they can add up! What if you could get cash back (legitimately!) from purchases you already were going to make? We had RSG contributor Paula Gibbins try out and write up a Rakuten review to show you how you can save (and make) money this holiday season.

We all have to shop for the necessities but also non-necessities. Why not save or earn cash back on things that we already need or want to buy anyway? Today I’m going to outline my experience using Rakuten (formerly known as Ebates), an online shopping hub where you earn cash back and discounts at stores you probably shop at anyway.

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Summary: Rakuten is a free reward program that gives customers cash back, coupons and other deals on online and in-store purchases.

Try Rakuten for free today!

Burnt Out Talking To Passengers? Deliver Food With Caviar!

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Make up to $25/hour. No minimum hours required, work outside, and get paid weekly. Click to Sign-up!

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HYRECAR vs. TURO vs. FAIR vs. LYFT EXPRESS (Comparison)

HyreCar Alternatives & Competitors

There are a lot of services out there that pair with or complement the rideshare services jobs out there. Four of them are HyreCar, Turo, Fair and Lyft Express. I’m going to break them all down, describe their services and then do a compare and contrast of the four services.

One of our top recommendations for alternatives to HyreCar is Fair:

Quick links:

HyreCar

HyreCar is a website that allows people who have cars to make them available to rent by rideshare drivers. It’s available in most large cities across the U.S. It’s free to sign up on both ends of the spectrum (as car owners and as drivers) but as a driver you do need to take a background check before you’re able to rent a car, and you pay for that background check.

The car owners decide how much they want people to pay to rent their car out per week. There’s also a transaction fee and an insurance fee, so that you are covered by HyreCar’s insurance while driving the rented vehicle. The prices in Minneapolis/St. Paul where I drive, varies from about $30 to $50 per day. HyreCar specifically boasts the cars are all approved and ready to drive for Uber and/or Lyft.

Click here to sign up for Hyrecar

Hyrecar vs Turo

On Turo’s website, the first thing you see is the message “Way better than a rental car. Book unforgettable cars from local hosts around the world.” This brings to mind that Turo is a worldwide company, allowing you to rent cars abroad as well. Turo seems to have a wide array of cars available as well. They range from the Volkswagen Jetta to a Porsche or Tesla and the price per day costs for those vehicles range from $30 to $128 per day accordingly.

Turo’s website doesn’t seem to push the idea that these are for rental for the purposes of rideshare driving. On their timeline showing how the operation works, they state “Go explore! In the city or the woods, for a few days or a few weeks, rain or shine, grab your shades and go create something to write home about,” which makes it sound like they are using their service as a way to replace the average, everyday car rental business and putting a twist on it.

Click here to sign up for Turo

Hyrecar vs Fair

Fair is available for U.S. drivers only to lease cars. It developed to take place of the Xchange Leasing program that Uber used to offer to drivers, and Fair is an official partner of Uber. However, they do have an option to rent cars in general, and not just for the purposes of rideshare driving.

They are available in many large cities across the United States, just not yet in my location (Minneapolis/St. Paul). It appears to be for more long-term use without a long-term contract if using for the purposes of driving for Uber. Fair cars are available through car dealerships near you and it is organized to have the car dropped off to you or you can pick it up at the location indicated.

Each car has an upfront fee to help keep monthly payments lower. It is based on the value of the vehicle you’re interested in leasing. On their app, you see estimated monthly payments for each available vehicle so you can compare and see which one will work best for your situation. The monthly payments also include basic maintenance and you can add insurance for an extra fee.

Click here to sign up for Fair

Hyrecar vs Lyft Express Drive

Renting through Lyft Express Drive is obviously linked directly with Lyft. You are required to give a minimum of 20 rides every seven days. With that though, you are given unlimited miles and they specify you’re allowed to use this vehicle for personal use as well. Instead of being charged separately, Lyft takes the cost of the car out of your earnings.

It appears that these are open contracts where you can return the vehicle anytime you want after seven days. It is currently available in several large cities across the United States. The vehicles available to choose from are with Avis Budget Group, Flexdrive and Hertz. They too require a starter fee which is non-refundable as well as a refundable security deposit. The payments include maintenance and insurance.

Click here to sign up to drive for Lyft and then get a car using Lyft Express Drive

How Do They Compare?

Clearly some of these companies are geared more toward long-term leasing versus a rental option for when your car is in the shop and you need something in the meantime. If you want the car to be “yours” where you take car of the vehicle’s maintenance and care, then you’ll want to lean more toward Fair or Lyft Express.

If you want to just test the waters of Uber and/or Lyft, a short-term option like HyreCar or Turo might be beneficial to you. Just keep in mind, you would be renting someone else’s vehicle if you’re doing HyreCar, so in away that’s added pressure to take care of the vehicle and there might be more chance of the owner claiming you damaged their vehicle in some way even if you didn’t.

HyreCar and Turo allow you to choose more easily the price range you want to stick to on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. As Jay Cradeur points out in his RSG article about Fair, Uber lets you work off your payments on a weekly basis, so you might not owe anything on weeks that you drive 70 trips or more, saving you more money in the long run. In some service areas, this may be a lofty goal, but in others, that number is easily reached, making it a great option.

The best thing to do, in my opinion is compare your options available in your area. I am limited to only a few options here in Minneapolis/St. Paul and already own my vehicle. So, if I have to put my car in the shop for a week, it is easy for me to rent a car with HyreCar or Turo to make sure I still earn money during that time period. If Fair and Lyft Express where available in my area, I would greatly consider them when I get to the point of getting rid of my current vehicle.

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OnMyWay App Review: Get Paid to Drive Safe

OnMyWay is a new app designed to pay you for driving safely. Sound too good to be true? Senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins reviews the OnMyWay app and shows you how to use it to earn more while doing what you’re already doing: driving!

We all love a chance to make more money, and it’s even better when we don’t have to do anything differently to earn it. For about 2 weeks, I tried out an app called OnMyWay, which pays you to drive safely. Now, with driving for Uber and Lyft, it’s harder to follow the guidelines set forth for following this app’s rules, but I found a few ways to continue earning.

One caveat about OnMyWay is that you don’t necessarily earn money to cash out immediately. I’m going to go over their marathon deals and the tips and tricks I have for continuing to earn or to earn more with the app.

Get started with OnMyWay and earn $10 just for signing up here.

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The #1 Common Driver Scam – Don’t Fall for This!

If you’ve driven for any length of time, chances are you’ve had someone try to scam you at least once. Whether it’s trying to get you to drive a passenger off app (don’t do this!), make additional, out of the way stops (thereby losing you money) or something else, almost every driver has a story. Below, senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins shares one of the most common driver scams out there and how you can protect yourself against it.

On Thursday, October 3, a Lyft driver in Minneapolis/St. Paul received a phone call. It was a California number — specifically a San Francisco, California number — so he naturally assumed it was the Lyft passenger he was on his way to pick up.

Instead the person on the other end of the call introduced themselves as a Lyft Customer Support Representative. The purpose of the phone call was that Lyft decided to give a bonus $100 to drivers with a 4.85-star rating or better.

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Drivers Are Getting Big Checks from the Hood vs. Uber Settlement

There are a variety of Uber lawsuits out there, but one that has wrapped up relatively recently is Hood vs. Uber. Below, senior RSG contributor Paula Gibbins outlines the Hood vs. Uber settlement, its terms, and the types of payouts drivers can expect to see.

It’s not all that uncommon to try to sue Uber, but there’s one settlement in particular that has a lot of attention, because the drivers won. It’s Hood vs Uber, and today we’re going to break down what the settlement entailed, what drivers are getting and we’ll answer some frequently asked questions about it.

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