Business of Rideshare

by Melissa Berry on January 19, 2018 12 Comments

How I Saved Money by Switching to Rideshare Insurance

On RSG, we are big proponents of making sure you’re covered with specific rideshare endorsements on top of your auto insurance. There are plenty of reasons to get additional rideshare coverage, but one question I get a lot is: how much will rideshare insurance cost? Today, RSG contributor Melissa Berry outlines how she actually ended up saving money by adding rideshare insurance to her policy.

For rideshare drivers, our car is our greatest asset. Without it, we’re not a rideshare driver, we’re just wannabe rideshare drivers. However, even if you have a car, you can’t drive with Uber or Lyft without car insurance.

If you haven’t looked into your current auto insurance policy, or if you’re shopping around right now, you may be able to save money by switching to a policy with a rideshare endorsement. Yes, by adding coverage, you could lower your car insurance bill.

My auto insurance bill previously was around $115 a month. By following the tips outlined below, I shopped around, found an excellent auto insurance company, and reduced my auto insurance bill to $67 a month. Today, I’ll guide you through the steps I took along with some recommendations on how you can lower your auto insurance costs while adding a rideshare endorsement.

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by Christian Perea on January 4, 2018 9 Comments

Wrapify Wants To Pay Rideshare Drivers To Advertise On Their Car

This is a sponsored post from Wrapify. As always though, all opinions are our own. I kinda like Wrapify because it’s a way to earn extra money while irritating Uber and Lyft 😉

A few months ago I heard about a company called Wrapify that was paying drivers a monthly fee to wrap their car in an ad. It sounded too good to be true, so I decided to try it out. The company is now looking for more drivers in San Francisco and New York, and they’re willing to pay some pretty good money too.

Drivers who run ads on their cars can earn an extra $200 on average a month, and the best part is that they prefer people who do a lot of driving in busy areas. That way their advertisements will make as many impressions as possible.

Who do I know that meets these criteria??? Rideshare drivers!

Pay varies depending on the campaign, location, and how much you’re driving, but it seems like a natural fit for rideshare drivers since you’re already out on the road a ton.

Passive Income Is Nice

Even an extra $60+ a week can make a big difference, and the nice part about this revenue stream is that you don’t have to do anything extra (except log miles on the Wrapify app).

I signed up and, after a week, I got an offer in the San Francisco peninsula. Assuming I drove 5 days a week, that adds up to an extra $60+/week or $240 a month that I otherwise would not have made.

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by Jay Cradeur on January 3, 2018 41 Comments

Thinking Beyond Rideshare Driving

I always encourage drivers to think beyond rideshare driving: whether it’s driving strategies to help you drive smarter, not harder, introducing you to rideshare drivers who now run their own successful YouTube channels, and more, I believe it’s important for drivers to consider “what happens?” after they’re done rideshare driving. Today, RSG contributor Jay Cradeur shares his strategies for thinking beyond rideshare driving.

In case you have not heard, after two years of superlative driving for Uber, I was deactivated on December 6, 2017. As of this post, now three weeks later, Uber can not tell me why I was deactivated. They have told me it has something to do with the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Uber tells me their “hands are tied” until they get a response from the DMV.

The bottom line is this: no matter how well you drive, no matter how long you have been driving, no matter how high your rating, Uber and Lyft and any rideshare partner can deactivate you at any time.

Given that this is the harsh reality of our gig economy, it is imperative you have a back up plan, a Plan B, so that these unexpected events will not cause you a severe loss of revenue. This post will delve into some back up plans that you can incorporate now so that you will not get stuck in the future.

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by Christian Perea on December 27, 2017 30 Comments

How the New GOP Tax Bill Affects Uber and Lyft Drivers

We’ve been getting a lot of questions on our Facebook page and via email about the latest tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and how it will affect rideshare drivers. As rideshare drivers are independent contractors, taxes can be slightly more complicated than an average salary worker (you can learn more about taxes for rideshare drivers here!) Today, senior RSG contributor Christian Perea breaks down how the new tax plan could impact drivers and what you need to know about it.

The ink is still drying on the final Republican tax bill known as the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act and we’ve been getting ALL KINDS of questions on how the new tax bill will affect us as Uber and Lyft drivers.

Disclaimer: I’m not a tax professional and you shouldn’t take this article as tax advice.

Broadly, the bill should benefit rideshare drivers, since it strongly favors small businesses and as you already know, we are all small businesses. That being said, this bill is still brand new and very complex. It’s likely to take several months before the experts hash out the best tax strategies.

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by Melissa Berry on November 3, 2017 7 Comments

How Many Uber Drivers Are There?

Have you ever wondered how many Uber and Lyft drivers are out there? Since both companies are privately held, they don’t have to release any figures about their independent contractors, but we decided to do some research ourselves. Today, RSG contributor Melissa Berry answers the question of “how many Uber and Lyft drivers are there in the United States?”

Also, if we’re off – let us know (and your source) in the comments! Can’t share your source? Click here to contact us.

It seems like there are more rideshare drivers than ever on the roads these days, so it’s a question many of us wonder – how many Uber and Lyft drivers are out there? Whether you want to avoid the competition or use this info to hustle harder and beat that competition, today I’ll take the news that is out there about drivers and attempt to answer that question.

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