Uber and commercial vehicles

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1987

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
3,183
6,887
Someone with legal experience, or better google kung-fu plz help!

I manage a restaurant in my home town, and the owner of the restaurant bought a vehicle for deliveries (since some of the other franchises of this restaurant dont deliver we have a delivery car with ads on it to let people know that our branch delivers).

The town is Portland, Maine, and there are a fuckload of restaurants in this city (more than the demand for them). So we have occasional nights without much business and with few deliveries.

After much research I have only been able to come across the requirements for qualifying as an individual Uber driver, but nothing for the legality of using a commercial vehicle for Uber among multiple employees. Can anyone tell me if its possible to use a commercial vehicle for uber, and if so, what the legal requirements would be to use our car as an Uber on slow nights? Is this even possible/legal?

Thx for any help
 

Eidal

Molten Core Raider
2,001
213
My instinct on this is that you're unlikely to make a profit via Uber during the nights where you aren't getting much business. You'll make a decent profit via Uber on Friday/Sat night; either bringing the drunk crew out to party or back to home... but that's probably when you're getting more deliveries.

Full-time Uber driving is a myth perpetuated by people who don't understand vehicle depreciation. During slow Uber periods, drivers aren't even making min/wage.
 

Cad

<Bronze Donator>
24,487
45,377
Someone with legal experience, or better google kung-fu plz help!

I manage a restaurant in my home town, and the owner of the restaurant bought a vehicle for deliveries (since some of the other franchises of this restaurant dont deliver we have a delivery car with ads on it to let people know that our branch delivers).

The town is Portland, Maine, and there are a fuckload of restaurants in this city (more than the demand for them). So we have occasional nights without much business and with few deliveries.

After much research I have only been able to come across the requirements for qualifying as an individual Uber driver, but nothing for the legality of using a commercial vehicle for Uber among multiple employees. Can anyone tell me if its possible to use a commercial vehicle for uber, and if so, what the legal requirements would be to use our car as an Uber on slow nights? Is this even possible/legal?

Thx for any help

Unless it's against Uber's terms of service/use I don't see how it could be "illegal". You might be inviting liability to the restaurant if there were an accident and the restaurants vehicles were in use. In that sense, it might not be smart legally, but I don't know that it could be "illegal." The owner of the vehicles would need to approve I'd say.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
37,961
14,508
From my googlefu it looks like it depends what kind of vehicle it is and depends on your state
 

Qhue

Trump's Staff
7,465
4,413
It has often been said that the Uber of today is just a stopgap measure until the technology matures to offer completely autonomous vehicles owned and operated by Uber as a complete end-run around Taxi laws. Based on the NYTimes article, however, I don't think that is the case. Right now Uber is raking in cash without having to worry about any sunk cost of vehicles, maintenance, fuel, etc. and that kind of business model is hard to beat.

What I COULD see, however, are people who license their self-driving automobiles to Uber as a way to make an extra buck / justify the cost of their car. That might even be viable if the depreciation of the vehicle itself is not completely tied to mileage. Imagine someone in Boston, NYC, San Fran etc. who wants the convenience of their own vehicle, but doesn't need it very often. They are already paying for time-based depreciation and insurance, so as long as the earnings the car makes is greater than the distance-based depreciation and fuel costs then they could come out on top.
 

Dandain

Trakanon Raider
2,092
917
What's the insurance on someone trashing your car with no human it in when it just shows up to drive? I could have a 5 year old hurl a coke at the console. Unless the person is like locked in the back there is a huge problem here. My self driving car earning me bank, followed by the first person who gets in it drive for a joy ride? The fleet of unmanned cars will have to be such that random passengers don't have access to the controls among other aspects.
 
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jayrebb

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
13,858
13,726
What's the insurance on someone trashing your car with no human it in when it just shows up to drive? I could have a 5 year old hurl a coke at the console. Unless the person is like locked in the back there is a huge problem here. My self driving car earning me bank, followed by the first person who gets in it drive for a joy ride? The fleet of unmanned cars will have to be such that random passengers don't have access to the controls among other aspects.

It does seem to be about two decades away. I don't know about the current timeline that is advertised, especially with what Qhue Qhue pointed out. Uber is fucking their drivers and its working so far.