I quit my job in February 2016 and started to do my business. But my business was slow so in May 2016, i decided to do full time Uber, because I need some cash to survive too. And i thought I can also network with many people who might become my business partners.
I had lots of good and also not good experiences driving full time Uber. The income is just like a normal job. In a month, I can get like 3-4k. And I slowly know how to maximize the profit and increase income. However, as there is no boss around, I do get lazy sometimes, took a day off sometimes.
Uber Earning History (including toll & petrol):
First Week : MYR 920.37
Second Week : MYR 109.18 (this week i tried Uber and Grab at the same time)
Third Week : MYR 631.99 (this week i tried Uber and Grab at the same time)
Fourth Week : MYR 1078.34
Fifth Week : MYR 1143.62
Sixth Week : MYR 1143.60
Seventh Week: MYR 1022.40
Toll is less than RM100 per week, and I drive Myvi which use petrol about RM250 or less a week. After reduce all these and the car service fee, monthly profit is slightly above RM2500. To be honest, I havent really drive as consistent as I should be. If i tried to follow all the incentives provided, I guess I can have profit more than RM3000 a month, driving 8 to 10 hours a day, 6 days a week. If we can share our experiences and tips here, maybe we can help each other to maximize our earnings together
The reason why I chose to focus on driving as Uber driver:
1) Initially it is ONLY Uber which provide Weekly Income statement. And this income statement is definitely useful, for example, buy another new car and apply loans (Beware Bank treat Uber as Self-employed, which require us to provide 6 month income statement to apply loans)
2) It is really fast to get ride request in KL or hot areas like Mont Kiara, Sunway, Kota Damansara, Shopping mall like Midvalley, etc
However, now Grab also catching up really fast to Uber. Together with their huge promotions and Hari Raya, and also implementation of Weekly Income Statement too!! More and more people start to use Grab. Some riders actually tell me, they prefer using Grab!! (I am thinking to drive Grab full time for a week to test it out again!! i will share my results here a week or two later )
Good Experiences and Benefits:
– Meet many fun people from all over the world. Lots of foreigners are really fun to hangout with
– Learn many new things. Widen my general knowledges
– Learn a bit about various new language, like Korean, Japanese, French, Philipino, etc
– Meet potential business partners or investors
– Wise sharing from experienced people
– Learn about KL roads and Explore places in KL or Selangor
– Sometimes u get tips from riders. From coins to Rm5.
Bad Experiences and Drawbacks:
– Get scold by taxi driver and one of them throw stone to my car (few taxi drivers are scary, so beware and be positive, dont fight with others with negativity, shine them with positivity)
– Get scold by riders because late arrive (customer is always right)
– Missed out some turns on highway
– Get exhausted sometimes and you must take a break, dont risk yourself driving when you are sleepy!!!
– Can get boring sometimes. Bring a book to read. Just dont PokemonGo and Drive!
Tips:
– Drive 6 am to 10 am. Guarantee RM30 an hour. i know this is early but it is good and easy money.
– Take a nap in the afternoon at home. The customers is less after lunch hour. might as well go home and rest
– Drive 4 pm to 8 pm. sometimes non-stop rider request till midnight in KL.
– Be familiar with KL highways
– Buy and Drink enough water, for example, 24 bottle of 500 ml mineral water from Checkers supermarket is only Rm6.90.
– Lunch time and Dinner time, just search on Waze “food court”
– To go toilet, search on Waze “Petrol station”
– To take a break, search places like petrol station, supermarket like Giant, housing areas under the tree, for free parking.
– Bring a book, or magazine or newspaper to read when u are taking a break or waiting for next rider.
– Make sure the car is clean, always send for car wash, put some perfume
– Airport ride is Good! If you send customer to airport, u have a chance to get another rider to go back KL. Which is easier and less tiring earning! But beware that sometimes it might take long time in the airport to wait for new rider. Sometimes it took me 5 minutes, sometimes 3 hours to get another rider to go back to KL. KLIA2 is better than KLIA, in term of getting customer to go back KL. One tips here, install Uber user app, switch it on and see how many other drivers are around. if many uber drivers around, u might as well dont wait in airport, dont waste time. Faster go back to KL which u can earn more.
– Drive hardworking on Friday!!! It is the day which u can earn about RM300 a day! then take a day off Saturday and rest at home.
– If the rider is too far from you, for example 20 minutes away, apologize to rider nicely. Let them cancel the request. Dont simply cancel the request yourself, you might get warning from Uber. I have a friend which got deactivated account due to cancelling too many request himself. he later went to office to unlock it.
– Focus on Core service areas according to Uber, during the incentive hours.
– Dont do Uber and Grab at the same time. U will lose out on the incentives. Please focus on either one. For example, during 6 am to 10 am and 4pm to 8pm, you can drive Uber, then outside of this hour, u can also do Grab at the same time. Why? because during peak hour, two Apps might receive rider request at the same time! Pening kepala nanti kau!!!
– Please be generous with your smile. Dont ask personal questions to the rider! Leave them some privacy especially Foreigners. Ask How are you? How is the weather? What line are you in? sometimes ask something like football or their interests, dont go too far. some people dont like to talk. Most importantly, drive safely. my job is to send them to destination. hihi
– Be helpful. for example, help ladies to get their luggages or groceries.
– Dress and groom yourself nicely! you are carrying an International Brand Uber! hihi. Put some perfume guys. You can get some hot chicks sometimes!
– Avoid active taxi areas such as KL sentral and KLCC. If you happen to get request in these areas, kindly call the riders and politely request them to sit in front besides the driver, so it will looks like you are fetching friends and family. Also, if you are using holder for phone navigation, take down the phone from the holder before approaching taxi drivers areas.
Here is sample picture when the price surge happen during peak hour. Or when the drivers are not enough in certain area:
