Comment by djsumdog | Hacker News Reader

Comment by djsumdog | Hacker News Reader

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I was not aware drivers could lease vehicles from Uber. I assumed they couldn't because I once reserved a ReachNow car, only to find an Uber driver setting up in it. He had ended his ride by accident, and was on the phone with their customer service. He was talking about needing to start work. The customer service rep said there was another car nearby (it was 2 blocks away when I looked at the app).

The guy then says on the phone, "I'll get this guy to drive me too it." He takes forever to get all his crap out of the car and says "We can drive-"

"Dude, it's two blocks that way. I'm paying by the minute. I'm not driving you.."

..and I thought to myself, there is no way this guy is really a Lyft/Uber driver and is using ReachNow or Zipcars? Even if that wasn't against policy (which I have a feeling it is), that also has to be incredibly expensive. How does he turn a profit?

I don't know what reach now is but ubers leasing program is called exchange lease. Its scummy as hell. Anyone can get approved if they agree to drive for uber. A Toyota corolla is 150 a week and your fairs pay the lease. If they cur rates or itw a slow week you're underwater. Lots of people got screwed when the cut rates and had to drive for uber just to break even

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/arti...

That seems unlikely. You need to register each car you intend to drive with Uber and each one requires them to perform an inspection. So the chances of just grabbing a ZipCar and using it for Uber for the day being allowed are pretty much zero.

Ehh, except I have seen people use different cars. I imagine you could just have a random zipcar inspected, and grab a similar looking one each time. People who drive for uber already have a terrible idea of finances, so not suprising.

As a rider I would report that. If the license plate doesn't match what I see in the app I also wouldn't get in the car. Maybe not enough riders care enough and some drivers can get away with it.

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