If you use Hertz and the Uber Rideshare Program, you may have received a surprising email or communication from them recently. In short, it said that rental rates are increasing.
New Hertz Rates
The new rates for the western region will be $274 per week for a base vehicle and $309 per week for comfort class. Overall, this increase is about $60 more per week than it had been.
An extra $60 a week can mean not breaking even for some drivers depending on the market and how many hours they are able to work.
Let’s say a driver earns around $16 an hour on average. Having to earn an extra $60 would mean working an extra 3.75 hours.
For the full $274 payment, that would mean working a grand total of 17.125 hours a week…just to break even. That’s almost half of your earnings if you work a “full-time” 40 hours a week. And, if you’re renting a comfort class vehicle, that equates to 19.3 hours assuming the same $16/hour average.
That’s not even taking gas prices into consideration. Or your own personal insurance, which you still need to rent these vehicles despite the insurance provided through the plan.
It would be easy to get behind in your car payments and not break even for the week. What if you get sick and can’t work for a couple of days? What if you simply need a break? You shouldn’t have to work around the clock just to pay off your car rental.
Alternative Rental Options
There are alternative rental options available, but with any rental option, you’ll want to do your due diligence to make sure you understand any added fees to go along with it. Take a look at our Uber car rental marketplace here for all of your options.
HyreCar
One option available in several markets across the U.S. is HyreCar. For HyreCar, there is a deposit for using a credit card, but you will not be charged for it. It’ll simply be kept on file in case of any issues.
In a quick search of the general Los Angeles area, I found a 2016 Fiat advertised for $23 a day. But, don’t assume that’s all you’re going to pay. For one week of renting this particular vehicle, it would come to a total of $280.63.
You can filter your search so you can find vehicles in a certain price range as well as by year. This particular vehicle did not offer any discounts for long-term rentals. Several postings will offer a discount for booking a week at a time or even more of a discount for booking a full month in advance.
Rideshare Rental
In a similar concept to HyreCar, Rideshare Rental allows you to find cars in your area to rent that are qualified for Uber and Lyft. They boast that all rentals on their platform allow for unlimited miles—a huge perk for rideshare drivers!
You can rent for a day, week or month at a time.
This 2019 Hyundai Elantra has a daily rate of $39 or a weekly price of $199, which comes to about $28 a day.
However, once you sign in and look to book your car, you see fees added on such as insurance for $119. Among those and a $100 deposit, you’re looking at a total of $437.90 for that week.
If you want to rent for longer, though, your costs will go down, as they offer a discount for longer rentals.
Just like with HyreCar, you can shop around for cheaper options on their site, depending on your actual location.
Avoid Car Rentals and Buy Instead
Overall, renting a car for use on a platform like Uber and Lyft seems like a great short-term solution. There’s typically no obligation to keep the car longer than a set number of days and no hassle returns are the norm.
If you’re able to, we highly recommend working as much as you can to save up for buying a vehicle. It’ll likely be cheaper in the long run than renting at the current prices. It’s possible to find adequate used vehicles at a decent price.
Struggling to earn extra money? Check out our top ways to make $1000 fast!
Simply doing a Google search for “cheap cars near me” came up with some options I’d be happy with.
Let’s say I don’t want to spend more than $15,000 on a vehicle. On Cars.com, I narrowed down my search to vehicles that are between 2010-2022 for the years, have a “great deal” rating and are between the prices of $2,000 and $15,000.
The first vehicle that popped up was a used 2017 Kia Forte for $14,256 with a little over 15,000 miles on it.
Just be sure that you check on Uber and Lyft websites what vehicles are allowed on their platform before you purchase. The last thing you want is to buy a car and then realize you can’t actually work for rideshare.
We also highly recommend that you get a rideshare endorsement added to your insurance so you’re covered at all times.
Want a cheap electric vehicle? Take a look at our list of the cheapest electric cars for rideshare drivers.
Try Out Delivery
If you can’t afford any of these options above—for starters, don’t worry…you’re not alone! Even Uber’s CEO decided to deliver with an ebike!
Consider switching gears and doing delivery instead. Most delivery platforms allow you to ride a bike or use any kind of vehicle as long as it’s reliable.
Not sure which delivery company to sign up for? Take a look at our recommended food delivery services to work for!
With virtually no vehicle restrictions, you might be able to find rental or lease options for much cheaper. Or, consider investing in an ebike. Harry is planning on testing out a new ebike by Zoomo soon.
In the current market, we’re hearing from a lot of delivery drivers that they are earning great money just by doing deliveries. They tend to keep you closer to home, so even if you have a vehicle, you’ll likely be putting fewer miles on it than doing rideshare with passengers.
In the end, there are ways to avoid this huge price jump by Hertz, including looking for alternative rental companies, saving up to buy your own cheap car, or doing something entirely different instead.
If Hertz or other rental car companies have increased your rates, let us know!
-Paula @ RSG
