I do AVG 30 rides daily go home with $200 plus, minus gas and Uber’s cut. I do not suggest parking, i rather cruz, instead of waiting around. How much gas can u save in the winter time? Not much by waiting around. If you drive a none Hybird engine, u are in the wrong job. I suggest stick with dark area in the map, till u learn where to be at right time of day or night, however driving days is easy, all u need to do work opposite of downtown, meaning as soon as u take someone there, drive back to outside the working area, so u can get one back again to the downtown, and so on, do this for 10 to 20 times till rush hour is done.
Maintenance is included in the IRS standard mileage deduction, and you can’t deduct your own food and drink. The only thing you need to do is keep a detailed log of your mileage, the IRS could care less about receipts when using the mileage deduction. You can only deduct a portion of the amenities you provide riders I believe (but who does that at these rates?)
I would recommend against a stand alone gps, unless your paying the subscription to get updates, they become outdated very fast, and I have had customers make fun of drivers that had gps instead of using Google maps in their previous trips, it’s a waste of money since you have GPS on your phone, just learn how to use your tech, I’m not all that young and I have no problem navigating multiple apps, just learn the nuances of how the apps interact with each other, it’s not random, if you don’t like the way it’s working try another technique. I used to hit navigate ever time I switched back to the app during a trip, had to keep canceling navigation to reload the same address, instead just switch back to maps and it picks right up.
I would not use any cell service except the major companies. Verizon and ATT are the only two with reliable enough coverage in my area to not drop signal during the route and end up getting hosed with a straightline fare calculation.
Check the service map and talk to your pax about what they use before you switch to something like Republic. I also believe Republic requires you to maintain a ratio of cell network/wifi network use or you can get shut out of the cell network temporarily…bad bad news for Uber driving.
You’re correct about the Lifetime Map updates. My Garmin Nuvi 52 LM GPS has the most recent 2015 US Maps. I always turn it on so I can see the next cross streets & intersections. These street names on the 5" screen help me greatly.
Some of you come off as saying that mileage/maintenance is the ONLY tax deduction available to drivers. This is not true. You can also deduct cost of your mobile device, cell phone plan, any clothes you buy for the job, dry cleaning, water bottles (if you still supply those), and other such expenses.
You can’t deduct the entire cost of your mobile device. If you rent a device from Uber, you can deduct that full amount. If you use your personal plan for Uber/Lyft or whatever, you can deduct a % of it as business use, but not all.
I used to have a garmin and loved it. I think it’s much preferable to using the phone. Only reason I don’t use it now us I bought a car with navigation. The pax seem to love the big screen and I think it’s much safer to be able to glance at it or a stand alone gps than a phone screen.
I just tell them I’m putting the address in the car navigation because it’s safer and if they don’t like the route just let me know. I do occasionally just hit navigate on the phone when I accept a ping and I’m driving as its safer and then follow the voice commands to the pickup but pax don’t like listening to blow by blow directions on the navigation so usually I mute the car nav.
I do not believe clothes are deductible if they can be worn elsewhere. Dry cleaning said clothes therefore the same. The IRS goes into excruciating detail into this if I recall correctly.
Yeah, before switching to Republic check the Sprint coverage map and make sure it covers everywhere you expect to go. If you’re in a big city you should have no problems. I’m in Portland, ME and I’ve had issues with very low signal when ending a trip out in Scarborough or West Falmouth, but I have yet to have no signal at all. When the signal is low it will just take longer to end the trip and calculate a fare. In my 250 trips I have yet to see a straight line route calculation.
As far as maintaining a ratio of cell/wifi use that was true when Republic was in Beta mode, but no longer. You do need to be on WiFi to activate the phone (just stop at Starbucks if you don’t have it at home) but after that you’ve got 5gb of cell data, plus they will let you use up to 10gb of data twice each 6 months. If you go over you’ll get throttled, but never cut off. Just get the $25 3G plan, no need for the 4G plan.
I don’t need to hear the nav most of the time anyway. Don’t need the nav at all most of the time for central houston and the freeways. Mostly just outlying areas and subdivisions. Lived here since 86. But a lot of my pax are not from here and they can see with the nav that I’m not driving in circles.
If I do go out of the nav path it’s because of construction and such and I let them know or its because I know a better shorter way and they can see how it’s shorter. Plus I can point to the map and tell them the faster (freeway mostly) route and ask do they want the shorter route which MAY be a little cheaper but will definitely take longer. Everyone so far chooses faster.