There it is in a nut shell - it's cheap and convenient with direct pmt - I choose not to tell the poor silly driver he would be way better off stacking supermarket shelves rather than driving his car into the ground.
Describe "driving it into the ground". I only ask because it occurs to me that mileage on a car isn't quite as important any more.
An uber driver needs a car to be a certain age or lower in order to be able to drive, the car needs to pass roadworthy checks, and spot checks by Qld transport inspectors, they are also encouraged through a combination of pax rating and uber recommendations to keep their cars clean both inside and out.
In my experience, many private drivers (no, not all) don't keep their cars as clean as they might otherwise could, and as we all know, a neglected vehicle ages and deteriorates more quickly than a well maintained vehicle. Uber drivers are well aware of all these issues , well in my experience the ones I have met are , and as such keep their vehicles in good working order.
The other thing many people forget is that they are driving a car they already need, the difference is now a range of tax (and income) benefits they didn't have before.
I haven't done any in depth analysis on this , but I would argue that ride sharing would ultimately put the driver in a better position, rather than a worse position than someone who doesn't enjoy the tax advantages and may not be as attentive to maintenance and cleanliness as the Uber driver would potentially be. I suppose only time will tell.
I have always maintained that I was better off as a self employed individual, because my car costs were much lower than someone who didn't have my tax advantages.
I have always kept my cars (if purchased new) from 5-7 years, sometimes longer.
My current batch of cars are approaching 5 years use from new, and I can't see us replacing them anytime soon. And they get a reasonable amount of use in the business.
So I guess in comparison to a suburban car owner who may even commute by public transport to work, driving uber would be the equivalent of driving their car into the ground.
I leave you with this story about an uber driver with a VERY long commute to work and back.
He made a decision to live further out of the city, for life style reasons, and this meant a commute of longer than 90 minutes each way. So he drives uber , he sets his destination filter on to drive to and from work, and in the morning leaves a little earlier, he doesn't always get a fare but he receives enough to subsidise his commuting costs, and has someone different to talk to on the way to work, the afternoon run is more productive as there are a greater number leaving the city from his location than he gets in the morning run.
This is for my money the real advantage of ride sharing, and probably closer to its purest form.
