# worth buying an uber-comfort eligible car?



## montecristo (Aug 15, 2020)

looking to trade in my vehicle for a better one, but not sure if it's worth it to get one that's new enough to qualify for uber comfort (which is offered in my area)

anyone do uber comfort (or know others who do) and could say how many uber comfort rides they get (what % of total rides are uber comfort) and how much more they get for each ride, and whether it's worth it to get a newer/larger vehicle for that?

here are fare rates for UberX and Uber Comfort for my area:

















thanks for any advice/input anyone can give


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## Jst1dreamr (Apr 25, 2019)

Uber will completely dump comfort in all areas since they have noted that in the areas where they did dump comfort the drivers with comfort cars have been using them for X calls and Uber can still charge the customers more and give the call to a driver who uses a better car (used to be a comfort car). This is just how uber rolls.


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## TomTheAnt (Jan 1, 2019)

Every market is different. Find somebody in your specific area and ask them.


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## TBone (Jan 19, 2015)

After 5000 miles it looks like you would only earn an additional $150 in mileage charges. The per minute rate is only 2.5 cents a minute more so in 5000 miles you may make an extra $10? Weird, they chose to increase the wait time charges the most. I have no idea how much I earn strictly from waiting.


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## RetiredArmyGuy (Dec 15, 2018)

It's totally up to you; you work for yourself. I get Comfort calls from as far as 10-12 miles away, and they're usually long-haul rides for my area. I also still get Uber X rides; sometimes when a customer uses the app they want some comfort, and my Rogue fits the bill. Sometimes it even helps in the Airport queue.


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## IthurstwhenIP (Jan 12, 2018)

Trading up is a great strategy to avoid depreciation. I always trade up so that my vehicle investment grows over time and I will eventually trade it up for my new home, a dream RV


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Honestly from what i know...

Your best bang for the buck is either the cheapest smallest X eligible car you can get,

or a cheap minivan.


paying extra for comfort doesn't seem like it's going to pay off, the upside doesn't seem like it's there.


And an additional word of warning is that uber/lyft tend to get rid of higher tiers of service with no warning leaving you stuck only being able to do X/XL. They can get rid of the service with no warning or just make your car not eligible with no warning.


So really, the only 2 cars I would ever recommend getting are a Toyota Camry or Sienna... depending on the quantity of large party fares you get. If your market has a lot of 3+ passenger fares you'll get more out of the Sienna, if all your doing is driving one person around the Camry is the way to go.

Even if you get a party of 4 (assuming after covid hysteria is over) having a minivan for a party of 4 will keep you from losing airport trips over not having luggage space.

Don't know your market to be able to recommend which way to go. But i'll tell you that in the areas where the XL fares are prevalent in my town there's lots of 3-4 passenger fares as well. So I'm going to say with no better info that if you have a lot of 3-4 passenger fares you might want to go for a minivan.

The "listed" fuel economy for the Sienna is MSRP 31,000 MPG 19 city 26 highway, The camry is MSRP 24,4235 and MPG 29 city 41 highway. So that's a pretty darned big difference right there, so you'll notice the difference in the fuel bill for sure. This isn't something that I take lightly and the sienna defintly has a higher cost associated with it. You'll get killed on the gas if your not getting a lot of XL trips.


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## montecristo (Aug 15, 2020)

Jst1dreamr said:


> Uber will completely dump comfort in all areas since they have noted that in the areas where they did dump comfort the drivers with comfort cars have been using them for X calls and Uber can still charge the customers more and give the call to a driver who uses a better car (used to be a comfort car). This is just how uber rolls.


So you're basically saying don't bother with it... hmm, good to know that info



TBone said:


> After 5000 miles it looks like you would only earn an additional $150 in mileage charges. The per minute rate is only 2.5 cents a minute more so in 5000 miles you may make an extra $10? Weird, they chose to increase the wait time charges the most. I have no idea how much I earn strictly from waiting.


also the minimum per trip is increased by a lot, from $2.81 to $6.55 - while that seems like it would be great, considering how many short rides I get right now with UberX, I am guessing that people requesting Uber Comfort rides may tend to request longer rides so that may not come into play as much as it may appear



RetiredArmyGuy said:


> It's totally up to you; you work for yourself. I get Comfort calls from as far as 10-12 miles away, and they're usually long-haul rides for my area. I also still get Uber X rides; sometimes when a customer uses the app they want some comfort, and my Rogue fits the bill. Sometimes it even helps in the Airport queue.


I see, thanks



Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Honestly from what i know...
> 
> Your best bang for the buck is either the cheapest smallest X eligible car you can get,
> 
> ...


wow, thanks for the detailed answer - so you're also saying what the previous poster said, that they can end it at any time and thus it isn't worth it... good to know

interesting analysis and comparison on the Sienna and Camry - I was considering a Camry


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## Daisey77 (Jan 13, 2016)

And don't forget Comfort Vehicles age out before most other platforms.. so if you buy one that is even two years old you only have a year or two left to drive on it before it ages out. Yet you'll have those payments a lot longer. If it comes down to two different Vehicles you're looking at and prices are roughly the same, sure why not but don't go out of your way or take on higher payments specifically to acquire a comfort vehicle


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## amazinghl (Oct 31, 2018)

IthurstwhenIP said:


> Trading up is a great strategy to avoid depreciation. I always trade up so that my vehicle investment grows over time and I will eventually trade it up for my new home, a dream RV


Fine sarcastic example.


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## Drivingforfun (Oct 1, 2020)

Comfort in your area only pays 3¢ more per mile?!?!? Or did I misread that... Cuz if not.... F that!


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## Boca Ratman (Jun 6, 2018)

I wouldn't, its basically the same shitty rates. In my market comfort is less than 10 of my requests, maybe 5%. 

You'd probably be way better off with an xl eligible vehicle provided it gets good mpg.


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## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

I don't think it's worth it. I'd only consider a more upscale vehicle to drive Premier, at which point you also qualify for comfort. But as Tom said, you should check with drivers in your area. I'm surprised at how many Premier rides I get. Especially on Friday and Saturday nights. And it pays about 3X the normal rate. And I almost always get tips from Premier rides. 

And if you go Premier, I'd only recommend a Lexus, Audi A6 with the 3.0 engine (NOT the 2.0T), Lincoln MKS or MKZ or Tesla (although that comes with certain advantages and disadvantages). The Lexus ES hybrid or MKZ hybrid are probably the most cost efficient, going with a 2017 or newer. The Lexus is probably the best bet in terms of reliability but the resale is pretty high. My ES was $28K. 

Another big factor with a nicer vehicle that I think is very underrated is your comfort and enjoyment in driving it. I would struggle to be stuck in a Prius or Nissan Versa for any significant amount of time. The features and comfort in a nicer car makes it easy to push 8+ hours. I go nearly the full 12 hours on Friday and Saturday night with no problem.


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## 25rides7daysaweek (Nov 20, 2017)

montecristo said:


> looking to trade in my vehicle for a better one, but not sure if it's worth it to get one that's new enough to qualify for uber comfort (which is offered in my area)
> 
> anyone do uber comfort (or know others who do) and could say how many uber comfort rides they get (what % of total rides are uber comfort) and how much more they get for each ride, and whether it's worth it to get a newer/larger vehicle for that?
> 
> ...


No.


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## Daisey77 (Jan 13, 2016)

What the hell is this Premier everyone is talking about?


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## montecristo (Aug 15, 2020)

Daisey77 said:


> And don't forget Comfort Vehicles age out before most other platforms.. so if you buy one that is even two years old you only have a year or two left to drive on it before it ages out. Yet you'll have those payments a lot longer. If it comes down to two different Vehicles you're looking at and prices are roughly the same, sure why not but don't go out of your way or take on higher payments specifically to acquire a comfort vehicle


makes sense... good suggestion, thanks


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## Daisey77 (Jan 13, 2016)

Drivingforfun said:


> Comfort in your area only pays 3¢ more per mile?!?!? Or did I misread that... Cuz if not.... F that!


Exactly! Here because I'm an 80%er, I would only be getting paid $0.02 more mile. Yet have to wait 10 minutes for them to no show! No thank you. When it first came out all the newbies were throwing a fit if they weren't added to the Comfort list. For them it's $0.06 more a mile but still not enough to be throwing a fit the way they did!


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

montecristo said:


> So you're basically saying don't bother with it... hmm, good to know that info
> 
> 
> also the minimum per trip is increased by a lot, from $2.81 to $6.55 - while that seems like it would be great, considering how many short rides I get right now with UberX, I am guessing that people requesting Uber Comfort rides may tend to request longer rides so that may not come into play as much as it may appear
> ...


Take a Camry beat the heck out of it as a taxi, run it 200,000 miles and keep the maintenance up and she'll still run well. I've been in MANY (I want to say 24+) of these that are pushing 250-300,000 miles.

They are steady workhorses and deadly reliable. I've never had one break down and go undriveable. The worst I've ever had (that wasn't related to an accident) was ONCE I had "check hybrid systems" kick on but I didn't need towed I was able to limp back to the shop.

I haven't spent nearly as much time in the Siennas but I hear they never break down. The purchase price is higher, the maintenance is about the same but the real kicker is the much higher gas burn.

I don't know YOUR market well enough to be able to guess which is a better option for YOU. It _all_ comes down to the demographics of who you drive.

Push comes to shove, me personally? If uber ever became worth it for me to do I'd buy the Sienna in a heartbeat, but that's Orlando not your town.

My advice is to look into the used Camry market. There's usually a good many and if you can get one that's barely under waranty you'll be in good shape.

A quick search shows a lot of pre-owned Camrys in the ideal price range of under 15,000 in my area that are barely or just past the factory warranty. This is the route i would go.

95% of the time I choose a Camry Taxi over the Siennas but there's a couple reasons for that. First and foremost the Sienna taxis in the fleet are modified for Wheelchair accessible vehicles. Secondly and most importantly the modifications cap the vehicles at 4 passengers.

SO i opt over the Camry versus a Sienna with extra tedious and physical labor with no passenger count upside. The other vehicle in the fleet is the for Transit van, which during tourist season is a good choice but... not now..


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## montecristo (Aug 15, 2020)

IthurstwhenIP said:


> Trading up is a great strategy to avoid depreciation. I always trade up so that my vehicle investment grows over time and I will eventually trade it up for my new home, a dream RV


in case you weren't aware, and you apparently aren't, i'm "trading up" because the one I have now has a lot of problems, and i'm sure at least a few of them are noticeable to riders, which doesn't really make for good business

good luck with that RV



amazinghl said:


> Fine sarcastic example.


fine example of someone not answering the question asked or contributing anything but who thinks he's smart and/or funny



Boca Ratman said:


> I wouldn't, its basically the same shitty rates. In my market comfort is less than 10 of my requests, maybe 5%.
> 
> You'd probably be way better off with an xl eligible vehicle provided it gets good mpg.


that's what I was looking for here, some numbers on how frequent these rides are - as I just joined here not long ago and really don't know much about other drivers' experiences, anywhere - thanks for that info, that helps a lot



losiglow said:


> I don't think it's worth it. I'd only consider a more upscale vehicle to drive Premier, at which point you also qualify for comfort. But as Tom said, you should check with drivers in your area. I'm surprised at how many Premier rides I get. Especially on Friday and Saturday nights. And it pays about 3X the normal rate. And I almost always get tips from Premier rides.
> 
> And if you go Premier, I'd only recommend a Lexus, Audi A6 with the 3.0 engine (NOT the 2.0T), Lincoln MKS or MKZ or Tesla (although that comes with certain advantages and disadvantages). The Lexus ES hybrid or MKZ hybrid are probably the most cost efficient, going with a 2017 or newer. The Lexus is probably the best bet in terms of reliability but the resale is pretty high. My ES was $28K.
> 
> Another big factor with a nicer vehicle that I think is very underrated is your comfort and enjoyment in driving it. I would struggle to be stuck in a Prius or Nissan Versa for any significant amount of time. The features and comfort in a nicer car makes it easy to push 8+ hours. I go nearly the full 12 hours on Friday and Saturday night with no problem.


thanks, that's good to know, the info about Premier... although those vehicles will be out of my price range

you are definitely right about the driver's comfort level - that is hugely important - as I have been feeling it in my back after periods of driving (which is one reason I have been doing more deliveries, as you can get out of the car as part of the job, and walk around every 20 minutes or so, and it isn't so bad on the back)



Stevie The magic Unicorn said:


> Take a Camry beat the heck out of it as a taxi, run it 200,000 miles and keep the maintenance up and she'll still run well. I've been in MANY (I want to say 24+) of these that are pushing 250-300,000 miles.
> 
> They are steady workhorses and deadly reliable. I've never had one break down and go undriveable. The worst I've ever had (that wasn't related to an accident) was ONCE I had "check hybrid systems" kick on but I didn't need towed I was able to limp back to the shop.
> 
> ...


24+ Camry's pushing 250,000-300,000 miles? wow, that's impressive. I knew they were reliable and good used cars to buy, but I didn't know they were that long-lasting and durable.. I will definitely look into those, thanks again for the detailed answer


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## Drivingforfun (Oct 1, 2020)

It's 3¢ more a mile, why are we still talking about this?


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

Drivingforfun said:


> It's 3¢ more a mile, why are we still talking about this?


The conversation switched to what vehicle he SHOULD get, i'm pushing for him to look for a used Camry.


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## RideShare_Hustler (Jun 18, 2020)

montecristo said:


> looking to trade in my vehicle for a better one, but not sure if it's worth it to get one that's new enough to qualify for uber comfort (which is offered in my area)
> 
> anyone do uber comfort (or know others who do) and could say how many uber comfort rides they get (what % of total rides are uber comfort) and how much more they get for each ride, and whether it's worth it to get a newer/larger vehicle for that?
> 
> ...


No one can really answer this question unless they work in your area. I rarely get comfort rides in nyc. I had to experiment on my own with different rides. I tried all the platforms available in my city, only after about 2-3 months of testing things out I made my final decision on the vehicle I wanted.


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## ANT 7 (Oct 14, 2018)

To answer the OP's question I am going to say HELL NO.

But that's based on my market, where Select/Black died an ugly death, and I expect Comfort will too. Paxholes are cheap.


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## Nats121 (Jul 19, 2017)

montecristo said:


> looking to trade in my vehicle for a better one, but not sure if it's worth it to get one that's new enough to qualify for uber comfort (which is offered in my area)
> 
> anyone do uber comfort (or know others who do) and could say how many uber comfort rides they get (what % of total rides are uber comfort) and how much more they get for each ride, and whether it's worth it to get a newer/larger vehicle for that?
> 
> ...


How can anyone do Uber X in Oklahoma for a hideously low 8.25 cents per minute?

Every time a driver gets stuck in a work zone delay, a red light, or even a stop sign, he can feel his wallet shrinking.


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## montecristo (Aug 15, 2020)

Nats121 said:


> How can anyone do Uber X in Oklahoma for a hideously low 8.25 cents per minute?
> 
> Every time a driver gets stuck in a work zone delay, a red light, or even a stop sign, he can feel his wallet shrinking.


lol good question


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