Is Anyone an Uber Driver

My son talked to both Uber and Lyft, and chose Lyft. He felt the driver compensation was better and the insurance was well handled (it kicks in when you have someone in the car, and not when you don't). At the time, Uber was undergoing some problems with top management as well. Do talk to several services. The schedule is flexible but obviously you have to plan to have one of you on the road at prime times. That means giving up your Saturday night date night and making your dinner hour later during the week so you can drive at rush hour/commuting hours. You definitely have down time while you're out there so plan accordingly. Absolutely have a terrific GPS system in place. If you're using your phone and it's racking up the data charges, factor that into your costs.

Before you sign up you need to call your insurance company and find out how much extra rideshare coverage will cost you, or if it's even available in your state. If not available you'll have to purchase commercial auto coverage which is pretty pricey.
The companies (Uber, Lyft, etc.) will tell you "you're covered" under their insurance but it's very, very limited and you are exposing yourself to lots of liability without it.
When I worked for Farmer's we had several people calling in looking for this coverage and they were shocked at the price.
Of course I know people personally who do Uber and Lyft without paying for the appropriate coverage but that's not a risk I'd be willing to take to earn a few extra dollars. I personally have too much to lose.

I have no personal experience as a driver but as a passenger I have heard drivers discuss the fact that there are differences between the various services - Uber, Juno, Lyft, etc - and one difference is the system of fees charged to drivers. So my advice would just be to look into any service that operates in your area before you commit to one. (As an aside, I often hear from drivers in NYC that they drive for more than one service...I'm not sure how that works, to register with multiple services, but you might want to look into that too. Although obviously in NYC there is a high demand for those services.)

Adding to Diane's post - sometimes cell phone GPS's are lost when cell phone coverage goes dead if you find yourself in a dead zone. That has happened to me when driving in through states in the boonies... I use a GPS on the dash of the car that never goes down so that I don't miss important turns or exits. It is kind of funny to have both GPS systems going at the same time, but it gives me the best flexibility.

Make sure you find out what you are supposed to do if you have problem passengers. You also want to make sure that you can film what happens in the car in case of altercations...

I looked into it for a moment and actually have a friend who does it. In NYC you can't use your personal vehicle only a TLC one because they want to ensure that the car is up to snuff.

F. B.