# From Low Paid Cab Driver To $10,000 A Month Uber Driver



## chi1cabby (May 28, 2014)

*From Low Paid Cab Driver To $10,000 A Month Uber Driver*

http://therideshareguy.com/from-low...th-uber-driver/#sthash.bM43umLE.R7pqGU6e.dpuf


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

If true, and if one is in it for the long term, it sounds good.

I only see this gig as short term and wouldn't want to be in it more than a year. Depreciation on a new Expedition after one year and 50k miles would be around $15,000, which the article didn't take into account. Still better than UberX + Lyft though, if true.


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## The Rideshare Guy (Jun 3, 2014)

I verified as much as I could. The real reason why I posted it though was not to encourage people to buy a car and sign up for black/SUV. But instead to realize that there is still a lot of opportunity out there and when the opportunity arises, you have to be willing to jump on it and take advantage of it.

Obviously it was a huge risk to buy a brand new SUV but in this case, the reward was worth the risk. That's not always the case, right now I would not recommend buying a new car for UberX or Lyft because the reward is not worth the risk. 1 year ago it probably would have been.

Thanks for posting.


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## LAuberX (Jun 3, 2014)

great story with lots of good tips for driving success. He may regret sharing too much!

Long term nobody knows, If he was able to onboard with a new SUV Uber is still adding drivers.... that always drives down pay.

He KNOWS more rides don't equal more money. Uber b.s. and we all know it.


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## haji (Jul 17, 2014)

you make money because the number of SUVs are limited in your market. If they saturate market with SUVs like uberx , you make much less.


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

The Rideshare Guy said:


> I verified as much as I could. The real reason why I posted it though was not to encourage people to buy a car and sign up for black/SUV. But instead to realize that there is still a lot of opportunity out there and when the opportunity arises, you have to be willing to jump on it and take advantage of it.
> 
> Obviously it was a huge risk to buy a brand new SUV but in this case, the reward was worth the risk. That's not always the case, right now I would not recommend buying a new car for UberX or Lyft because the reward is not worth the risk. 1 year ago it probably would have been.
> 
> Thanks for posting.


Do I think that this guy making the 10K in a month was legit. Most likely. Still an extreme and there will always be those that can flip a house, buy foreclosures, get government grants, or whatever and be the 1%. But it is not the norm.

I also would not put it past an Uber City GM to actually fake a driver Invoice or Bank Deposit and use this as an example. Would you knowing the Uber Corporate track record. I'd also like to see an update in a few months.

I still love the Uber Concept, think the Uber App is brilliant, but don't have a problem being oh so skeptical.


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## The Rideshare Guy (Jun 3, 2014)

SCdave said:


> Do I think that this guy making the 10K in a month was legit. Most likely. Still an extreme and there will always be those that can flip a house, buy foreclosures, get government grants, or whatever and be the 1%. But it is not the norm.
> 
> I also would not put it past an Uber City GM to actually fake a driver Invoice or Bank Deposit and use this as an example. Would you knowing the Uber Corporate track record. I'd also like to see an update in a few months.
> 
> I still love the Uber Concept, think the Uber App is brilliant, but don't have a problem being oh so skeptical.


I understand the skepticism but at the same time, this guy went above and beyond and was rewarded accordingly. You can tell he knows his shit and he din't make the 10k because he switched to black/suv. He made it bc he switched and became one of the top drivers on the platform.

The point of the article is that if you work your ass off and drive smarter, not harder and think about all of those things that so many drivers don't do you can make more. I think way too many drivers just expect to flip on the app and make a ton of money, that is never going to happen...


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

Yes, there are ways to maximize earnings. This is a good article to bring this point across. I would challenge you to consider taking the "$10,000 per month" out of the article. It really skews what the average and realistic earnings are on the platform. If your point is to demonstrate how to work smarter, then really the "$10,000 per month" is irrelevant to the article.

Now if he is doing this 12 months down the line. Or if he can really translate and scale this to a greater population of drivers, then it is relevant as a dollar amount. If not, then it sensationalizes the article and lessens the message in my book.


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## uberdc/Virginia (Sep 14, 2014)

Some of the fares seem high.


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## Bully (Jul 10, 2014)

What city is he at? Becaus in SoCal you can't add Black/SUVs anymore... so I wonder how he managed to add a car with them if he lives in LA... I know bcuz I tried


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

SCdave said:


> I would challenge you to consider taking the "$10,000 per month" out of the article. It really skews what the average and realistic earnings are on the platform.


But we don't know what average earnings are on the SUV platforms across any of the rideshare companies he uses. Maybe his earnings don't skew the average, either because he is close to average, or because of the number of SUV drivers. Maybe they do. Who knows.

Median earnings would be more useful to know than average earnings, for SUV, Black and UberX. This would allow drivers to choose between the services. All we have is Uber's claimed $90,000 per year median in NYC and $70,000 in San Francisco for UberX.

Note that this guy claims income to be $10k - expenses - depreciation, so about $7k overall.


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## The Rideshare Guy (Jun 3, 2014)

Well we know those earnings are incorrect, Uber NYC admitted to $25.17/hr average the past few months on UberX and that obviously doesn't add up to 90k/year. I honestly haven't seen many SUV drivers talking about how much they make but I doubt it is close to this figure otherwise someone would have spilled the beans 

https://blog.uber.com/nyc-three-septembers-uberX


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## chi1cabby (May 28, 2014)

The Rideshare Guy said:


> https://blog.uber.com/nyc-three-septembers-uberX


NY Post's Kaja Whitehorse and BuzzFeed's Johana Bhuiyan are on the hunt for that 90K/Yr Uber_NYC UberX #UberUnicorn!

https://uberpeople.net/threads/three-septembers-of-uberx-in-new-york-city.5824/


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

The Rideshare Guy said:


> Well we know those earnings are incorrect, Uber NYC admitted to $25.17/hr average the past few months on UberX and that obviously doesn't add up to 90k/year. I honestly haven't seen many SUV drivers talking about how much they make but I doubt it is close to this figure otherwise someone would have spilled the beans
> 
> https://blog.uber.com/nyc-three-septembers-uberX


Of course the median figures of $90k and $70k were nonsense. Remember they said median, not average, which would mean that fully half of all full time drivers earn _more_ than these figures.

Uber now claims $25/hr for NYC. The problem is that once one has been caught out spreading ludicrous disinformation as per the above, one's credibility goes right out the window. Maybe $25/hr is accurate. Maybe not. Who knows? I have no reason to believe it's true.

The level of naivety within Uber's press department is astounding. Had the come up with more believable figures they may have got away with it. As in, median gross earnings of, for example, $63,765 per year. But hyper-inflated, round figures of 90k and 70k even? Simply, no.

The damage to credibility has already been done. In the less-visible area of not paying driver guarantees and/or making drivers jump through hoops to get paid, they are doing exactly the same thing. Word gets around among drivers. Word _is_ getting around. And, just like Uber throwing away its credibility with the false earnings claims, once the damage is done, it's done.


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## SCdave (Jun 27, 2014)

elelegido said:


> Of course the median figures of $90k and $70k were nonsense. Remember they said median, not average, which would mean that fully half of all full time drivers earn _more_ than these figures.
> 
> Uber now claims $25/hr for NYC. The problem is that once one has been caught out spreading ludicrous disinformation as per the above, one's credibility goes right out the window. Maybe $25/hr is accurate. Maybe not. Who knows? I have no reason to believe it's true.
> 
> ...


Yup.

Uber's view of Drivers re Riders - Do more than you are compensated for since customers are King.
Uber's view of Drivers re Drivers - Promise more deliver less since partners are pawns.


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## elelegido (Sep 24, 2014)

SCdave said:


> Yup.
> 
> Uber's view of Drivers re Riders - Do more than you are compensated for since customers are King.
> Uber's view of Drivers re Drivers - Promise more deliver less since partners are pawns.


I was thinking of it more from the point of view of business sense. It makes no business sense to nickel and dime drivers. Uber may save some money in the short term. But how much money is saved really when a probably sizeable proportion of CSR's time, and therefore wage expense, is spent on payment refusal resolution? And, how much will it affect revenue if the driver base comes to collectively dismiss guarantee offers as nonsense and therefore decrease driver coverage during demand peaks?

Uber, don't look at the honesty issues of false earnings claims and unpaid drivers as moral issues if that doesn't float your boat; think of them as issues which are likely to damage your bottom line.


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## scrurbscrud (Sep 11, 2014)

It has also occurred to me that Uber's system may flip their SUV fleet black/plus and XL fares if they want them providing a secure earnings basis and captured client preference over us run o the mill guys.


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## Orlando_Driver (Jul 14, 2014)

Smells like bullshit to me...


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## The Rideshare Guy (Jun 3, 2014)

scrurbscrud said:


> It has also occurred to me that Uber's system may flip their SUV fleet black/plus and XL fares if they want them providing a secure earnings basis and captured client preference over us run o the mill guys.


We'll address this in the next article, I'm just editing right now, you guys will like it. Well some of you will at least


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## Chris Dee (Nov 19, 2014)

It is totally possible, working 7 days a week or even just 6 days is roughly $550 a day, its a stretch but possible. I only work three days and 6 hours each day, I bring it $500 to $600 in that period of time.


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## The Rideshare Guy (Jun 3, 2014)

FYI, here's the article i was talking about: http://therideshareguy.com/so-you-want-to-drive-a-black-car/


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## timmyolo (Sep 5, 2014)

something to remember about uber and their people, when nyc suv drivers were forced to take uberx calls, i sent an email explaining that 3 weeks earlier i made a $78k investment in a 2015 Yukonxl, they responded with "nobody told you to spend $78 on a vehicle". when i mentioned this to the head guys at ubernyc, they just said it was rude, but offered no apologies or anything. when you make a move in business based on risk vs reward, and it looks good at one point, then those in charge of reward lower that reward without notice, you could end up shafted. most people know now, beware of uber


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## DriversOfTheWorldUnite (Nov 11, 2014)

He made $10,000 in a month. Good for him. Only a fool would generalize that to mean this guy is making $120,000 a year though.


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## JaxBeachDriver (Nov 27, 2014)

The Rideshare Guy said:


> I verified as much as I could. The real reason why I posted it though was not to encourage people to buy a car and sign up for black/SUV. But instead to realize that there is still a lot of opportunity out there and when the opportunity arises, you have to be willing to jump on it and take advantage of it.
> 
> Obviously it was a huge risk to buy a brand new SUV but in this case, the reward was worth the risk. That's not always the case, right now I would not recommend buying a new car for UberX or Lyft because the reward is not worth the risk. 1 year ago it probably would have been.
> 
> Thanks for posting.


Where is he?


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## Lidman (Nov 13, 2014)

10K in one month. WOW!!!! The tips must have been out of this world!!!


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## uberdc/Virginia (Sep 14, 2014)

I met a black limo uber and she claimed she made 100k last spring. But I am sure she gets nailed on gas prices and expensive car payments. I have been to some top properties in Virginia, so even the wealthiest want to save money with Uberx.


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## the sandman (Dec 3, 2014)

uberdc/Virginia said:


> I met a black limo uber and she claimed she made 100k last spring. But I am sure she gets nailed on gas prices and expensive car payments. I have been to some top properties in Virginia, so even the wealthiest want to save money with Uberx.


One of the richest zip codes in America, highland park in Dallas, tx..... I get half my fares from or to there. I drive uberx and lyft.

So I can confirm your point. The rich like rideshare services


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