Ubering is a Bad Idea

By
eric
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How does anyone make money using their car as a taxi?

Well, we’re not supposed to use that word, for openers. It’s ride-sharing. That’s just a dodge, of course. And there’s nothing wrong with dodging laws outlawing the free exchange of goods of services between consenting adults. If I have a car and am willing to use it to drive you where you want to go in return for a fee mutually agreeable to the both of us, where is the crime?

The taxi cartel objects to ride-sharing, of course – because they have legal monopoly on such services. They do not want you cutting in on their overpriced action. Which is why Uber and the others deny they are taxi services.

And in a way, it’s true. But this is precisely why being an Uber (or Lyft) ride-share driver is probably not good for you.

Here’s why – and it has nothing to do with the free exchange aspect. It has everything to do with the wear and tear aspect.

And the depreciation and insurance and warranty aspects.

When you drive for a taxi company, as a rule you use their car. This means that wear and tear – and depreciation – are not your problem.

The taxi company owns the car, so its reduced value over time – depreciation – isn’t money out of your pocket. If it’s you car, it is. And the bite is harder if you owe on the car because you could very easily end up owing on a car worth less than what you still owe – because depreciation is greatly affected by the miles you rack up. If you use your car as a taxi – er, ride share – you will rack up miles faster, sooner. And your car will be worth less and sooner, accordingly. To not factor this into your decision to Uber or not is like not considering the cost of interest on a loan. Money out of your pocket affects how much money you have left in your pocket.

Tires – and brakes and fluids and filters – cost money, too.

If it’s not your car, you won’t be paying for all that – the taxi company will. They usually have their own in-house maintenance facilities – in order to lower these costs. And if something big breaks – the transmission, for instance – they deal with it.

But if it’s your car, you’ll be footing the bill for all of these things – and not just in terms of the parts and labor at full mark-up but also the downtime. When the vehicle is in the garage – whether yours or someone else’s – you can’t use it to make money.

Which is costing you money.

Keep in mind as well that maintenance cost go up the more you drive. Instead of a $60 oil change once a year, you may be doing it three times a year – depending on the mileage you rack up. Same goes for brakes and tires – and belts and hoses and wiper blades all the rest of it.

And you must keep up with all this maintenance – and not just to be conscientious. Your warranty coverage depends on maintaining the car as specified. If you use it as a taxi – umm, ride share – it will almost certainly have to be maintained according to the “heavy duty” or “severe” service schedule for the coverage to remain in effect and even then, it may not. Read the terms and conditions. It may well be that warranty coverage is automatically void if the car is used for “commercial” purposes – no matter how conscientiously maintained.

This is not unreasonable.

Most cars – especially most modern cars – are not designed for taxi (whoops! ride-sharing) duty. The majority are front-wheel-drive, which is not as sturdy as rear-wheel-drive. Most don’t come with heavy-duty cooling/brake packages. Your typical Camry/Accord/Malibu are cars designed for ordinary passenger car duty, not the Clydesdale duty of being a taxi, idling for hours on end, enduring pothole strikes and curb scrubs and all the rest.

And if the car you’re using this way isn’t paid for – if it’s a loaner or a leaser – you might also be violating the terms and conditions of that contract, too.

Which brings up another contract – your insurance contract.

Most policies issued to private owners assume – specifically state – that the car must not be used for commercial purposes.

You therefore have two options. The first is to be straight with the insurance company and tell them what you’re doing with the car – and accept the rate hike that will almost certainly come next; this will eat into your profit margin – if there’s any left after you factor in depreciation, wear and tear and double/triple maintenance.

The second option is to not tell the insurance company – and “ride dirty.” This will avoid the premium hike, but if you ever have to file a claim – or have one filed against you – and the insurance company finds out you were ride-sharing, there is a good chance they won’t pay out.

Which means, you will.

Bottom line on this business: It’s not that people haven’t got every right to use their own car as a taxi – whether it’s called that or not. The question is whether it makes economic sense to do so.

For most people, the answer to that question is almost certainly . . . nope.

. . .

Got a question about cars – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!

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  5. The Good – and the Bad – About New Cars

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100 COMMENTS

  2. I guess when 2 white guys come up with an original idea, AND make money from it, there is bound to be more than one group of self-entitled, lazy-ass crybabies that will cry “racism”, if only because no one of “color” had the balls, brains, or initiative to do it themselves. This whole “diversity officer” bullshit sounds like a new version of the Soviet Commissar, but hey, that’s just my racist opinion, right?

    • I think the writer of that article sums it all up pretty accurately. Racists like “Bozo” don’t want equality, they want racial dominance, and Carlin was right, business as usual. Affirmative action didn’t work, doesn’t work, will not work, how many ways does it need to be said? None of these special interest groups gives a damn about getting an “edjamacation”, just dominance. I know, let try “ebonics” again, that really worked well, didn’t it? What a bunch of self-entitled, lazy-ass neanderthals.

      • Ya gotta love it- affirmative action and all…. Instead of putting the blame where it lies: On the behavior of certain cultures….they instead shift the blame to others (“It’s all white folkses fault! They don’t hire us ’cause our skin be black!”) and expect that that will magically fix the real problem.

        “Let’s see: Here’s a bunch of people who aren’t prospering because they like to stay out all night and party and make a bunch of babies, and have a propensity for committing violent crimes- so let’s give them some jobs that they aren’t qualified for and don’t deserve….that should fix everything!”. 😀

        • I can’t tell you how many jobs I have been turned down for because I was an “overqualified white boy” and this was before I had even taken the first college course, with a high school diploma, really??? And when you are an “overeducated” white boy with a non-white supervisor, you just might as well forget trying to accomplish anything meaningful, you won’t be “allowed” to do it, because it will make your lazy-ass supervisor look like, well, a lazy-ass! Oh, and btw, these were “government” jobs. One was even as a VA State employee, where I was refused a position due to a lack of “Native Indian Ancestry”, which I did, in fact, have, but did not have documentation to show, until long after I had moved on to college. I had plenty of opportunity and means to file a discrimination suit against my former employers, but why bother? I had a better life to get on with, and not waste my time and effort wrangling with a bunch of pea-brained, PC dickheads! For anyone who thinks being a white male is some sort of “racial privilege”, your a brainwashed crybaby. The only “color” that has ever mattered is green $$$$$$$$$$$$$, of which, I have never had very much of either, save what I have earned through my own blood, sweat, and ingenuity!
          Notice, I did not say “tears”, as I’ll be damned if I shed a single one over this shit. Uncle Sam robs and ass-rapes me just as hard and fast as any other “race”, so I can only kindly ask all others to wait their turn or go harass some other “privileged white man”, cause it ain’t me!

          • Meh, why even work when we can use our “white privilege” to just get what we need? I mean, surely, you’ve shown up at that house for sale, and when you asked “How much?” the owner just laughed and said “For a fellow white brother? LOL, you kidder! (as he hands you the keys), Go on, just take it!”.

            Or that time you wanted to be a movie star, so while laying on the couch, you just called Hollywood, and said “I’m white, so just pencil me in for that leading role in the new film, and send the check to…”.

            Ya know what’s sick? All of the euphemisms, like “director of diversity and such, which is really just a way of saying the “guy who keeps white people out” or “the official racist/discriminator”. It’s somehow O-K as long as it’s not detrimental to “minorities”.

            Imagine if it were the other way around, and we had these positions which were being used to bar jigs and queers and such…..half the population would be out in the streets protesting and calling it what it is- Naziism- or cultural revolution- etc.

            It’s funny though, because in the end, all of these businesses and institutions will ebnd up paying the price, as they are crippled by a bunch of dysfunctional incompetents who have no loyalty, and who will ultimately just end up fighting with the other groups who were hired for their sexual perversion or skin color, etc. ,as any time one gets a raise or a promotion, etc. it will be perceived as a privilege for that group, and the members of the other groups will moan because they were not all treated “equally”. And the complaining parties will of course be completely blinded to the fact that it was unmerited privilege which was responsible for THEMSELVES (as well as their foes) even having that job!

            It’s already to the poinjt where in most offices, it’s more like minding a bunch of kindergardeners than supervising adults in a business enviroment…and it’s going to be getting a lot worse. Cripplingly worse.

            And then Trump thinks that by imposing tariffs on foreign goods, that that is somehow going to make American business functional again, and “make America great”- LOL.

            We have truly entered a new Dark Age.

          • Funny thing too- Injuns are the ones who have a legitimate complaint and who are really owed something…but they/you are the ones who complain the least.

            I’m with you though. Why sue? Ultimately, I support the right of people/businesses to make their own choices, be they good or bad, right or wrong (It’s just a shame that WE would be sued for doing the same thing!)….and who has time for that BS- using the system to punish other slaves for doing what the system made possible/wants them to do in the first place? Living well and staying free is ultimately the best revenge.

    • Hey, this guy writes some good shit, really! I’ve been trying to remind every “global warming alarmist” about the 1970’s “ice age scare” that I remember well in the 1970’s, which culminated in the winter of 1978 with the Chesapeake Bay freezing over, remember that? Probably not, but at any rate, here is another “voice of reason” to listen to, since I’m “just a mechanic”.

      https://relampagofurioso.com/category/the-matrix/the-global-warming-religion/

      Oh, BTW, as “just a mechanic”, I can also vouch for his info concerning the freon patent, as well.

      • He really does write some good articles. I’m glad I stumbled upon it about a year or so ago. It, like here, is a daily visit for me.

    • These companies are all committing suicide. Target alienating a majority of customers because their religious-zealot (of the PC-Liberal religion) execs want to cater to perverts and weirdos with the company’s bathroom policy; J(ews) C(ollect) Penny’s using transvite models; The entertainment industry promoting thug ghetto culture…and now this, from Uber?

      Yeah…sounds great for business- I’m sure the average person wants nothing more than to get into the car of strange jigaboo at 3AM when they arrive at the airport in a strange city…..

      The world is going nuts!

      The US was directly responsible for bringing down the white government of South Africa, which allowed Nelson Mandela’s communist-terrorist regime to come to power. Now, crime has spiraled out of control in SA; whites are being killed for nothing more than being white, and white farmers are having their land stolen as official government policy now, and New Zealand is taking them in as refugees (Where’s Trump? Apparently, we only take in scum-of-the-earth refugees….if they’re functional and white, we have no use for ’em!)

      It’s bad enough now in SA…let’s see how the niggers like it when all of the whites are gone. Let’s see the paradise they create, like they’ve done in every other shit-hole in Africa- then tell us how “White people be de problim”.

          • Well, no, there were certainly other advanced civilizations, at least the Bible, as an historical text, can verify that. Of course, chattel slavery was rampant with nearly all early civilizations, and still exists in some places today. What kills me is that the only “slavery” anyone seems to make note of is what existed here in the US in the 18th & 19 centuries.
            We were, btw, the 1st Western Nation to abolish human chattel slavery,
            and yet every minority in this country still screams for “repatriation. Excuse me? Go get your money from the Portuguese, THE Global Slave Traders for 350 years! Has it never occurred to anyone just how they managed to remain a sovereign nation the size of New Jersey, to this very day, despite having seemingly no global economy or influence?
            Isn’t it a bit odd that Ferdinand Marcos never touched them? How about $$$$$$$$$$$, centuries worth, get it? Or better yet, how about taking vengeance on your African Cousins who rounded up your ancestors and sold them to the Portuguese, and other European slave traders???? I have no racial animosity, I’m just sick and tired of hearing everyone else’s, and being accused of being responsible for it, simply because of MY skin color, sound familiar? Frankly, I ain’t nearly as white as Michael Jackson, et al.

            • That’s what I mean…. What we know as Western civilization, came about as a result of the Judeo-Christian ethic/culture.

              We made great strrides against the various states/empires and various forms of slavery which were so common throughout history among virtually all people- until enough power hungry types realized what was going on, and figured out that unless they destroyed the real Biblical ethos, people might actually become free. So here we are today, where you can walk into almost any “church” and hear the Bible and it’s precepts being contradicted and spoken against and rationalized away.

              The form of slavery we now have, which overspreads most of the world now- that of tax slavery in police states- is the mosty damnable of all, because most of the slaves don’t even realize that they are slaves, since they get to make some choices… -as Goethe observed: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”.

              Yeah, reparations my ass! Their ancestors worked hard as slaves for a few years, and that probably the last time any of ’em did any work. They’ve had their “reparations” for the last 75 in the form of welfare and subsidized housing and free medical care, et al, supporting all of their bastard kids. For generations now, they’ve had the wealth of others handed to them, and have had privileged treatment….but all they remember is the slavery of 200 years ago, before half of their ancestors were even here?

  4. It’s snowing here in Christiansburg, again. More proof that DST didn’t help one damn bit. Holy cow, did I hijack this comment page or what??? Sorry Eric, lol!

    • Thangawd I live at the very eastern edge of the Central time zone…I wouldn’t be able to tolerate living in a place like FL where it doesn’t get dark till after 10:00 in the summer, thanks to Douchebag Sucker time.

  6. THE BEST marriage of music and the “Dream” of a Free Market World. I say this not only because I have been riding the same Honda Dream since I was 4 years old, but the FACT that Siochira Honda is the epitome of the “American” Dream of success with his groundbreaking concept of bringing the joy of motorsports to anyone and EVERYONE! There will never be another man who even comes close! Godspeed, Old Man Honda, the inspiration, and aspiration, of my fondest “Dreams”!

      • Western educated, but that doesn’t always stop that sort of ideology, either; I mean, look at Kalifornia, for example, our own commie-pinko-welfare-state. Fantastic pianos, and other musical instruments, and damn great motorcycles! Had a 1985 RZ350 that would scorch any Ninja that was in production at the same time. He may have been like Henry Ford, a great “Americanized” entrepreneur, and just a real bastard of a guy.
        I haven’t found any interviews of him, but there are several with Soichiro Honda, and I could sit and talk with him for hours!

        • Aww, I was just joshin’ ya, GTC….I have no idea about Yamaha or any of them other Japs…..all I know is they sure made some good stuff, and I doubt that they were as commie as any bidnessman the US produced in the last 100 years.

          • Ya know what’s funny, all the Japanese ever wanted was try to be like people in the U.S., and they did it a damn sight better as far as manufacturing went. It goes to show what a nation in the grips of religious fanaticism will do to even its most talented citizens. I, for one, am glad that the Japanese made the kind of economic and social recovery that they did after WW2.

            • True, GTC, but ya know, embracing that industrialism ruined the Jap culture (just as it did to ours)- Now what do they do? Work in factories and cubicles 16 hours a day, and then get blotto, while their kids try and act American, while they all live in a sardine can city. Damn shame really.

              I’ll never get over how Uncle stuck the ones here in internment camps. That, and what Uncle did to the Injuns, pretty much defines Uncle’s character (Oh, and what we do in Guantanomo..)- Damn…how can these patriotic types hold their heads high?

              • Ever seen the movie Wag the Dog? That’s how. Funny how that “fictional” movie took place in Bosnia, and was released a rear before the US sent troops to Bosnia, and declared “ourselves” heros, eh?

                • Nay, GTC. I only watch really old movies on the rare occasions I can sit & stare for that long. But it doesn’t surprise me a bit. Hollywood is just mind-control, in one way or another- and pretty much anything that is pre-planned- from “terrorist attacks” to armed troops in our own cities; to sentiments for wars or for benevolence towards people who don’t deserve it (**cough** communist-terrorist Nelson Mandela in South Africa) is first the subject of movies, to make sure that people “have the right attitude”, or know the routine and are not shocked by it, etc.

                  Ditto music. How’d we, as a society, go from poking fun [pun intended!] at sodomites and condemning their filthy behavior, to now accepting that perversion as legit and bestowing upon those who practice it special rights and privileges, in just one generation? By parading a bunch of queers in front of them constantly as their entertainers and idols to emulate- so now, instead of one kid saying to another “You’re a faggot!” we’re more likely to hear “You’re a homophobe!”.

                  It’s amazing how easily they can control people’s minds and actions now, through mass media. Get people into a theater or in front of a TV, and use emotionalism (As opposed to logic and facts- because those things would defeat the very purposes which our overlords are working toward- plus it would make the mind control more obvious; plus it would make the mind control easier to resist if you were operating in logic mode- but use emotionalism, and people’s guard is down…the gates are wide open, and there’s no pesky resistance from things like logic and fact…)…use emotionalism to make them believe in a certain idea- be it gun control or socialism, etc. and they will then go out and demand those things, and vote for them, and work to achieve them….like automatons. Once the ideas are propagated, the controllers can just sit back and watch, as their prey automatically does the rest in establishing the controllers wishes.

                  • …and even in those real old movies from the 30’s-50’s that I watch….they were even made by Zionist globalists and liberals, with the express intent of changing people’s views.

                    They seem mild and inoffensive by comparison to today’s stuff- as this stuff had to be implemented gradually, on a then conservative and traditional public, lest they realize what was going on- but you can see it, even in those old movies…just much more subtle, and taking much smaller steps, as they were starting from the beginning back then, on an unspoiled canvas.

                    Back then, you changed your name to an all-American sounding non-Jew name, without question. Today they’re still doing it to a large degree…but not entirely.

          • This is the kind of “screamer” Siochiro was known for, and he put his engineers to the test! Aside from bikes, if I had a choice of any performance car of my choice, it would be the NSX, and I would take it on faith alone!

  7. OK. Perfect example of why DST doesn’t do a damn bit of good during work hours…..Guy just came in here at 5:00 and expected me to perform a VA State Inspection. Well, My Business hours are 8 AM to 6 PM, and I work on cars in the shop from roughly 9 AM to 5 PM, leaving an hour at each end for waking up, and “end of the day” paperwork. I invited him to leave it, and his would be first in line tomorrow morning, but he wanted it done “now”. Well, last Tuesday, “now” was 4 PM, and, had all other work been wrapped, I would have been
    happy to oblige. Of course, last Tuesday, this guy was likely having a party on “Spring Break”, and his car inspection wasn’t on his priority list. Just because there is more daylight “after 5 PM”, am I supposed to work overtime to suite those who can’t make an effort to prioritize their car service? This is typically an indication of a “me 1st” consumer attitude, and I don’t have enough energy to please everyone, let alone while I’m still under the effects of DST “jet lag”.

    So, has anyone else here suddenly “profited” from “King George” time? Please feel free to share! (your comments, any spare cash, I’ll pass on the leftover GF)

  11. I had to write this down whilst it’s still fresh in my head. Remember Mary Poppins and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? I’m hearing the same tune in my head, but with the words
    Super-Selfish-Opportunistic-Welfare-State-Psychosis. I guess that just about sums it up, eh what?

    • Oh Hell, there’s more….sing with me will you? “Even though the sound of it is something like hypnosis, If you say it loud enough You’ll always get the Most-est, SuperSelfishOpportunisticWelfareStatePsychosis! Thank you, thank you, no applause, just throw money.

      • “You know, you CAN say it backwards, which is, FreeMarketEconomyandTheRightTo SelfMadeProsperity, but that’s just going a bit too far, wouldn’t you agree?” “Indubitably!”

        • My original version (yes there are several that rattle around in my fevered brain)
          was “SuperCaliForniaIsticPinkoStatePyschosis”, but I was concerned that Eric might have “west coast” monetary contributors that might be offended. But, come to think of it, if they already haven’t been offended by what gets said here on a daily basis, this can’t be any worse, lol!
          Believe it or not, I even made up several verses, and a different chorus while wrenching on cars today, but I think I just need to compile and release it all as an homage to Steve Allen, or maybe Andy Rooney, he might appreciate the sarcastic wit, as well!

          • You’re killing me. I thought I was the only person who had songs, often written by me, rolling in their head all day. I hope to hell that one doesn’t stick but it beats hell out of one I heard yesterday in a movie I had to expunge from my memory, Tie a Yellow Ribbon(Round the Old Oak Tree). I sincerely hope putting into type doesn’t stick it in my brain.

            • Yeah,
              Kinda have to do something to let the madness out,lol. The only one here at my shop to talk to is my 10 1/2 year old min-pin, and he just looks at me like I’m nuts! I don’t play the radio in the shop, cause I need to listen to what I’m doing when I’m working, I like to “hear” the bolt threads mesh, if ya get what I’m sayin’. If you were a fly on the wall, you’d get to hear all kinds of funny songs and conversations we (me, myself, and I) have all day, lol!

              • I don’t need no stinkin’ raddio[sic], even when I ain’t doing nothing mekken-nickel. The stuff in my head is much more entertaining….and far fewer commercials.

                Plus, if I were to listen, I’d get so wrapped-up in making parodies, I’d never get ANYTHING done…

                Like if they played Robert Palmer, forget it…I’d be writing lyrics for “Bad Case Of Loving Jews”
                Or if they played the Angels….”My Boyfriend’s Black” (Hey-na, hey-na, my boyfriend’s black…)- It’d be a smash hit today…surprised no one’s done it yet.

                Elton John & Kiki Dee- “Don’t Go Waving My Farts”….

              • Hehe! Work on cars all day and you’ll be finding all kinds of new “phrases” to put to music, lol! Mind you, some of it might be PG and R rated, but as a former musician, I’ve always felt that it’s the passion you invest that counts, right?

              • I’m not kidding when I say I have a Volvo Song, or a Mazda Song, etc, but Fords, man, they are good for chants, rants, and downright blaspheming, lol!

              • “I’m wrenching away, beats diggin a ditch, on this GDMFSOB(itch), they sold it to you and you brought it to me, this GDMFSOB!” See, it’s easy…I do it all the time, lol!

            • THANKS A LOT, 8!

              Everyone knows, once you hear the phrase Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree, it takes a good two weeks to get the song out of your head; and images of Tony Orlando prancing around could linger even longer!!!!!

              Wait, wait…I have the antidote:
              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coukydeaa_U
              (Although it might be worse than the disease)

              Or were we supposed to use the Three Dog Night version?

                    • Alright, GTC, now you’ve done it! I’ve been going around all morning singing the Diff’rent Strokes theme in a Bob Dylan voice (out-loud, no less)….

                      Oh, wait, I had posted that one…

                      Tut, tut! You’re feeble attempts to try and make-up now are useless!

                  • This string is running off the RH margin, lol! Many of my favorite film have political and religious overtones, some obvious, and some not so obvious. Ben Hur, Ten Commandments, obvious. Lawrence of Arabia, El Cid, not so obvious. The list could go on, but you are quite correct. Using the emotions of society to engender political change, rather than intellect, is subversive, but also quite effective.

                    • I love old movies that give a glimpse of what life was like in this country, before it all went to Hell.

                      Towns with Main St.s full of small businesses; white people living in nice houses in the downtown areas of great cities (and just one family to a house!); suburbs where ya had a nice rural-style life doing whatever ya wanted, without local Uncle regulating everything. People living in the country, being bothered by no one. Cops who were just regular, sensible people, who felt an obligation to the community, as opposed to some Nazi. Strangers bumming cigarettes from each other….

                      A world that still somewhat existed in my lifetime, but which has since vanished.

                      My mother loves those movies you mentioned. I can’t handle ’em though- there are always so many historical inaccuracies…and mixing fiction with reality is a precarious thing….even if you know better, the fictions and errors tend to win out over time.

                      My mother will sometimes ask me something after watching the 10 Commandments- knowing that I am an eggspurt on the Bible- She’ll say something like “When Moses was with Pharoah’s wife…” and I’ll have to remind her that 97% of the stuff in that movie is pure fiction…..LOL.

                      Ironically, I’ve come to appreciate Gilligan’s Island. Not just for the time period it represents (The last days of the good old America) but ever since I was a kid, the idea of them being totally free of the system and able to live unmolested, was always my ideal. Of course, the Castaways, being typical people, had to maintain their authoritarian collectivist ideas…so they blew any real potential- which bugged me, even as a child….but that show always, and even to this day, gets the Libertarianism in me flowing! (Except for the frequent episodes where they’re putting on shows and beauty pageants and such….).

                      Thurston Howell III’s “Manual labor; how dreadful!” has served me well since i was about 9 years old!

  13. Hi Eric, another brilliant article.

    My take – have ranted here before, but ride sharing as it stands is a complete con, particularly on dumb millennial hipster types who dont understand the heads of tails of how cars or finance work. It gives them this feeling of “freedom and flexibility” to do what they want while at the same time running them more and more into debt which will prevent them from ever being free. Most dont ever realise this (or have not yet realised it), and those who do have drank the cool aid and believe that they are “special” and one day they will have their big break and one of their brilliant ideas works or they will make it as an artist or actor or writer, at which point they will be out of this mess. It also allows these people with a boosted ego and heightened sense of self worth to “drive a taxi” without realising they are driving a taxi (as that would mean that all that education they have received and all those certificates and other platitudes they received are basically worthless).

    The problem is compounded by the current debt fuelled drive to sell cars. Have a run down 3 year old car thats not been maintained – no problem, will take it as a trade in, give you a couple quid, and all that negative equity on the loan, dont worry just add it into the next loan which over 7 years will mean your monthly payment will only go up by 40 dollars a month, and we wont ask too many questions about how the car got this way or what will happen to the next car (my brother had this issue as ive said before, thankfully hes gotten it and out of this now, though still has the debt). This problem is compounded by the fact that the companies expect you to have a new (or nearly new) car, and now a “hybrid” which will involve even more debt.

    Essentially, knowing a thing or two about finance, I think this (and much the modern tech sector) hasnt really created much gains as say other developments in the past have. It has just used tech to get around regulation (which is good) and to hide debt. Imagine a company like uber, with millions of cars around the world – how much debt is that. Will any company be able to get away with it? And will investors buy it ? Using normal financial models, will it be worth “billions”? The solution – pass the debt on to mugs who just wont get it…..

    • I think the idea is genius. Take a cut of everything, externalize all costs, socialize all losses, flout local regulation and go up against an entrenched government granted monopoly that restricts availability to bid up municipal revenue on permits (medallions) so much that you have to auction them off. Then bring in Uber to undercut them and end by raising the price or fee for some new service that provides…saaaaafety.

      I drove for Uber for a while and enjoyed the task and meeting people. But it is a miserable living if you have to depend on it for anything. Especially in any market that is not restricted by geography and has a low population density.

  14. Ride sharing could work better, if you didn’t need specific cars (generally a 4 door) and didn’t need a ten year or under vehicle. And if you could set your own rates as well since the general uber rate isn’t that high (or uber cut is cut). It’s not like it couldn’t be done so your upfront on your rate.

    I think the only requirement would be a clean interior, and basic safety. Maybe plenty of pics of the vehicle so people know what they are getting.

    But yeah, between the current rates and your expenses and time, you aren’t making any money. Basically if you wanted to make a living at it, you need to be able to buy a fixed up 15 year old crown vic, like a taxi company does it.

    • But people don’t want to share, they all want their own. Ask any senior citizen facing the loss of their driving license, or car, or eyesight, or any combination. The IC automobile is still, far and away, THE instrument of personal independence for 95% of our society. EVs, Auto-Drive, Johnny Cab, Text-a-Car, or whatever the crap people “envision” is not going to replace the individually owned automobile until all the independently minded “citizens” are dead. Then this will be a nation of “subjects”, the likes of whom I would just as soon euthanize as look at. Fortunately, I will be dead before that, and they can figure it out for themselves.

    • I had a four-door in good mechanical shape, but the state said it wasn’t acceptable because it was five years too old. It was paid for in cash and I owned it free and clear, and I had a second car, so I couldn’t leave myself stranded. Might as well have had to shell out $20K for a medallion.

    • There’s no way that actually paying for the cost of one’s trip can work in any place where there is mass transit, since mass transit is an Uncle-subsidized ride. One can’t successfully compete against something that is subsidized- so they end up working for free and personally subsidizing that service, as well as paying to subsidize Uncle’s buses and trains….

      The centralize fascist economy is SO screwed up…..

      If Uncle didn’t exist, stuff like this would be viable, and providers could make a profit, and customers could enjoy good service.

  16. Exactly! (Really? – I tried to leave a one-word comment and was cock-blocked by the system! It’s not like I don’t spill my ‘effing guts every time I type something…..goodness knows it isn’t that….goodness knows.)

  17. I’m waiting for this hammer to drop. So far I doubt that the overall percentage of ride sharers is enough to impact insurance rates, but it is only a matter of time. I’ll bet we all fudge the numbers when it comes to how many miles we drive/year to our insurance company, or if we use the vehicles for business (I’m not admitting anything here). It is easy enough for someone to data mine information especially in places with inspections and other state databases that may include capturing mileage, it is more due to motivation than anything else.

    https://www.vehiclehistory.gov/nmvtis_vehiclehistory.html lookee here, a national vehicle title registry. I wonder how long it will be until some insurance company comes up with a way to back charge someone for understating the miles driven by checking the odometer reading when they sell or trade in the vehicle? I’m sure there’s a clause in the fine print that says if you lie to them it will void the policy.

    It will be easy enough to run some statical models on the idiots using the OBD-2 dongles and comparing them to similar people without. So they can just assume you’re doing the same thing as everyone else and charge accordingly. I wonder how long it will be before an idiot driving for Uber or Lyft installs one of these loggers and gets caught?

    • Oh, you know they will do it. Most of these Uber-tards an Lyft-tards are millennials trying to earn some pizza money. Trouble is, they are already brainwashed to be law-abiding-consumerists and will cut their own Achilles tendon whenever their “told” to do so, especially when their insurance co. waves a dollar bill under their powder-puffed nose!

  18. In addition, my 2018 calendar still has certain days marked as Passover, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas!
    It Does Not Have March 8th, AKA FemiNazi Day noted as anything other than a plain Thursday!
    Oh…I just realized this is not my personal rant page, lol! Ummm….so what’s going on here today??

      • I wanted my On-Word Comment to go HERE. Not UP THERE, where it makes no sense!
        But One-word comments aren’t allowed…..oooooooooo! I think I’ll go out and drive on the wrong side of I-81 now.

    • Isn’t that the day women are supposed to show how vital they are to the economy by not going to work or buying crap they don’t need? Men not buying such stuff? That would be like any other day. Men not going to work world wide, universally? That would be civilization collapse inside of a few hours.

      • No shit Brent. If women don’t go to work in my industry it’s because they don’t work there anyway…..and to be honest, the only time anyone would miss them would be when coffee wasn’t made…..not to say they don’t draw wages for something far above what I make, just saying they don’t do shit. I know this from observation and speaking with their co-workers.

        • That’s why they make perfect DMV employees, they can sit on their ass and give you stupid looks all day and still take home a paycheck! You’d like to bitch-slap half of them, but you know that if you so much as raise your voice, it’s over, and you might as well go home, provided they don’t call the cops before you leave.

  20. Good Morning Fellow Sheeple! Happy Fucking Daylight-SLAVING Time! Thanks to King George the 8th, All Hail The CHIMP! Now we get to run “our” business expenses up an extra hour, lights, heat, etc.a whole fucking month earlier! I Love Getting Up in the Fucking Dark! THANK YOU ASSHOLE BUREAUCRATS :
    bu·reau·crat
    ˈbyo͝orəˌkrat/Submit
    noun
    an official in a government department, in particular one perceived as being concerned with procedural correctness at the expense of people’s needs.

    IT’S STILL FUCKING WINTER!!!!!!!!

    My shop will operate on DAYLIGHT STANDARD TIME until EASTER WEEKEND! TO HELL WITH G.W.BUSH TIME!

    • Well, I guess if you’re going to take a stand Daylight Savings Time is good start. You do have a choice. You can move to Arizona or Indiana. You don’t have to live in bureaucratic tyranny. At least when it comes to setting your clock.

      Sorry couldn’t resist.

      One thing I’m noticing more and more is outside of work I really don’t know nor care about what time it is. Except what time my girlfriend gets off work. Much of that is due to cord cutting and time shifting. Of course I don’t have kids who have to be at their designated activity at the designated time either. It’s really quite refreshing to get there when you get there.

      • But we DO live under bureaucratic tyranny, and I’ll be damned if I am abandoning my property to find greener pastures. What I will do is what I see fit to do, and not participate in the behavior of the rest of the sheeple. I did set my clocks ahead, but only so I know what the rest of them are doing. I work the hours I choose, regardless.
        Like today, for example, with 10 tons of snow on the lot, my lights are off, but my door is unlocked. Already had 1 sheeple leave his wife’s RWD Infiniti in my lot because she tried to drive to work this morning at 7:00 AM, and couldn’t make it. Nor could she get back to their house. So I offered to babysit the car providing he left the keys, which he did. I hate having to cut an attitude with people, because I really am here to help, but I just don’t care to be “volunteered” for the sake of someone else’s poor judgement.

        I guess that’s how most of us visiting Eric’s Pub here, feel as well. Most of us have the education and the means to work six-figure office jobs with little or no responsibility, but we choose to do meaningful work at a fraction of that, primarily to be of benefit to others. But none of us here like being used as a floor-mat and aren’t going to be up for any “martyrdom” nominations any time soon, either.

        • gtc, damned if I don’t know how you feel. Everybody’s a goddamn expert and even my doc corrects me when I’m wrong….even though I’m not wrong and he’s totally missing the point. Re: I bitched about my usual sinus headache(just used my neti pot)on my right side. He asked which side I slept on and I said “My left side” to which he replied “Wong side” and smiled real big catching the little boy in a lie. I just stared at him since I was biting my tongue because I wanted to say “You fucking idiot, I sleep on my goddamn left side and the right nostril is the one exchanging all that cold air, hence the fricking headache”….not to mention the right side of my face and head being exposed to that same air But I stayed mum and was glad he had no more real power over my life and now he doesn’t since he shagged ass for parts unknown owing some medical assc money. Well, I dare say he didn’t have to join and if he did, that’s what he gets for being a govt. servant….instead of a human being.

          I quite agree about martyrhood and don’t worry about having that moniker bestowed on me but wear my “over 40 years old white man equals domestic terrorist” label BO just laid on everyone who fit that description. And you never heard 40 year old white democrats say a word….and that’s probably because, the only ones who fit that description are the very politicians who licked his ass.

          I can see the headlines now, Domestic Terrorist squad goes the oil field looking for democrats and only came back with a single suspect, Juan Valdez, who keeps saying “Si. Si. Coffee?…No habla Englis”.

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