Fair App Review – My Experience Using The Fair Car App

In our second Fair app review, senior RSG contributor Jay Cradeur shares the process of what it’s like driving with a Fair rental car for Uber. Here’s Jay’s first review of Fair. And in case you missed it, here is what it’s like to request, rent and begin driving for Fair. 

Sign up for Fair using our referral links:

UPDATE: Uber Drivers, please note that the Fair Car Rental program for Uber Drivers is shutting down.

My first week picking up and renting a car was full of trials and tribulations. But this week, things started looking up!

Fair app review
A review of the Fair App

Fair Will Provide a Full Refund

Since I was not able to drive my Fair vehicle for 6 days, I requested a full refund for the week. And while Fair does not offer refunds, they do offer Visa gift cards:

We reached out to Fair about this issue and they told us that they’re now “working with Uber to fix the issue of cars not being ready to drive in the Uber app. Drivers are now reporting much better experiences with having their cars listed in their Uber driver app.”

Uber Did Pay Me $305 Per Their Fair Car Rental Bonus Offer

I contacted Uber and told them I was now driving a Fair vehicle and they did, eventually, offer the bonus. And as you see in the screenshot below, I was also offered a Quest bonus and Consecutive Trip bonuses as well. You’re not supposed to get those on a Fair rental but I did, maybe because I wasn’t using the Fair rental yet.

This was obviously great but probably not something I would count on. After the first week, I figured they would work out the bonuses but you never know…let’s find out!

Week #2 – Review of driving with Fair

Once I got everything straightened out, I could simply do what I do best: drive.  The first thing I noticed was that Uber was offering me 3 bonuses this week:

  1. Fair Car Rental Bonus
  2. Quest Bonus
  3. Consecutive Trip Bonuses

I thought this was a mistake on Uber’s part but Uber confirmed that this was not a mistake, Fair drivers do receive multiple bonuses. Once you begin driving a Fair vehicle, the only bonus you should get is the Fair Car Rental Bonus which pays $214 at 90 rides and a total of $305 at 120 rides.  But since Uber did offer me all these bonuses, I decided to drive a full 50 hours, focus on rush hours to achieve the consecutive trip bonuses and knock out as many trips as I could.  The results were worth the extra effort.

***Keep in mind that trip thresholds to cover the cost of your Fair car payment is different for every city so this number will vary. 

As you can see, I crushed the consecutive trip bonus.  The key was to start the hour inside the zone required to achieve the bonus.

For example, one time period during the weekdays was 4 p.m.  I would turn off my app and drive to the edge of the zone, which in my case was inside of San Francisco proper.  Once in the zone, my app would confirm I was entitled to the bonus and I would go online.

Now all I needed to do was knock out three rides without logging off.  In most cases, I was able to do this twice per time zone, and once I was able to get three (at $21 each cycle!).

Driving For Uber Instead Of Lyft

I began driving for Uber in order to write this review of the Fair app car rental program. I definitely have had a pro-Lyft bias. However, I have noticed that the passengers are all the same.  Uber passengers can be just as friendly and engaging as Lyft passengers.  Still, in San Francisco, the demand for Uber is noticeably less than for Lyft.  I don’t know if that is because Uber has more drivers thereby diluting the field.  Or it could that be due to Uber’s many corporate missteps, Lyft’s popularity in a liberal city such as San Francisco has surpassed Uber.  I don’t know.

I do know I don’t like driving around and waiting for long periods of time for a ping.  I do more of that driving for Uber in San Francisco than for Lyft.  Lyft passengers also tip much better.  By my numbers, I can get twice the tips each week driving for Lyft.  This costs me approximately $50 – $75 each week.

Uber compensates for this by offering more bonuses, which are easier to achieve.

Driving a Hyundai Elantra vs. a Toyota Prius

As much as I loved my Prius, I love the Hyundai Elantra more. Why?  The ride is so much quieter and smoother.  The Elantra feels luxurious in comparison to the Prius.

I can see it in my customers’ reactions.  The Elantra give them more space and room to relax and sink into the experience. The Coltrane sounds cooler. The Zeppelin sounds harder.  Since the car is quieter with less road noise, the music is easier to hear at a lower volume.  The seats are more comfortable.  It’s easier for me to have a conversation.

What About The Cost of Gas?

I do pay approximately $50 more per week in gas.  For me, this is totally worth it.  I have more peace of mind.  The car is newer and I worry less about upcoming repairs.

Best of all, for just 70 rides a week, Uber pays me $214 toward the $202 weekly rental for the car.  That is a good bonus with no restrictions. Four days at 20 per day and I have got it.  For 50 more rides, I can earn another $120.

When I review Fair app’s financial ramifications, the Fair Car Rental program gives me more of what I need to do my job in the way I want to do my job.

Week #3 of Driving with Fair

The gravy train came to an end.  This week, Uber has removed the Quest bonuses and the consecutive trip bonuses as well.  This was to be expected since I received the Fair Car Rental bonuses.

However, I think Uber is shooting themselves in the foot by eliminating the consecutive trip bonuses. I noticed this week that I did not drive during all the rush hour time periods.  The consecutive trip bonus definitely changed my behavior and would continue to do so if the bonus were still in place.

Hopefully, someone from Uber reads this and realizes the value of the bonus for all drivers to change driving behavior.  While I am at it, I would also suggest adding one more layer of bonus at 140 trips.  I am sure there are many hard-core drivers who would push it each week if there were an additional bonus at 140 trips.

Instead, as I realized in Week #3, once I hit 120, I lost my incentive and found other things to do besides drive.

Should You Sign Up With Fair’s Rental Car Program?

I hope you enjoyed my Fair app review and as you might be able to tell, I recommend the Fair Car Rental program and I’m going to keep this car for at least a couple of months and then review my numbers again in a different post.

I love the car.  I am remarkably content driving for Uber, although I do feel like a man who is cheating on his wife.  I miss my Lyft passengers.  It was always so much fun criticizing Uber together.

But situations change and we drivers must adapt.  If you are looking to be a full-time driver, check out the Fair Car Rental program. I also like that they are already improving the product by adding the waitlist feature, so you shouldn’t experience the issues I did when I first got my car.

Now, you will be on the road with a great car in no time.  Be safe out there.

If you’d like to sign up for Fair, please consider using our affiliate links below:

Readers, what questions do you have about the Fair rental car program? Let us know in the comments below!

-Jay @ RSG