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atomck

atomck

Member
Hey One Star
You have got the poaching thing wrong. I will never solicit an UBER rider to go with my private transpo company. That is turning my cars into Speedy cabs. Never going to happen. I don't need to. Most of the clients I get from advertising material we have left in hotels and motels. Yell-Niagara does not provide any ride that costs less than $50. That is law with a Specialty Transportation License, a minimum of $50 fare and at least one hours notice. And as to dividing my business up and giving it to my buddies. You have got that wrong. People driving for Yell-Niagara are my employees, and they are driving my cars. Likely soon to change because we are close to having more business than we can process, and I am likely going to look for drivers with cars to take up the excess. They just have to be prepared to show real insurance, not just a pink slip but the actual policy. At the moment there is not a wheel turn in any vehicles but mine. I stated before I do UBER to fill my days. I do not have anything to do with the operation of Yell-Niagara, I just own it. I set policy, and I monitor what goes on, but I stay out of its operation, unless there is a reason for it to take up my time.

By the way I do not know how many additional drivers are in Niagara , but the day before yesterday there were so many and I made $o after 9:AM. So yesterday after I took care of my regular rides, I went to Hamilton for the first time, and did very well in just over 3 hours. The rides there are consistently higher fares. Mine were $12 to $17. I would have stayed there longer, but there was a motorcycle waiting for me in my garage, that definitely needed ridden in the beautiful sunshine.
Somebody is going to say "is this guy nuts, telling us where the good ones are?" I'd rather have $6 an $7 rides here in Niagara and be done by 10:AM. I hope all the extra drivers head for Hamilton, and let me have my short rides.
This will be my last post, I don't want controversy, I'm in the game to enjoy, and I do.
 
One Star

One Star

Well-Known Member
So what is this "Specialty Licence", you speak of?


atomck said:
You have got the poaching thing wrong. I will never solicit an UBER rider to go with my private transpo company. That is turning my cars into Speedy cabs.
Click to expand...
And how is it turning your car into a "speedy cab"? You did say you had commercial "for hire" insurance, which they do not, so I'm not sure I follow you.
 
Uberrat

Uberrat

Member
atomck said:
Uberrat<
My accounting might now suit you, but it has made me a very successful businessman. So you know I pay my accountant to do my total books, and that is why I pay what is fair on quite a large income. I can assure you that a very small proportion of my income comes from UBER, just like the rest of the drivers around these parts. Very small !

No one seems to be depreciating their car in any paperwork I have seen. What happens? Does the Sugar Plum Car Fairy buy you a new car every 300,000 KM's. My car will break 300K in 3 years, so $26,000 paid and I figure it'll be worth $3,500 in 3 years. That's $22,500 divided by my mileage which just depreciation alone is 7.5 cents per KM. You should have been depreciating your car from the day you turned your first UBER kilo. Sure it's deductible but the tax man is not going to buy you a new car, when yours is ready for the boneyard.

UBER is not the best way to make a buck, especially if any of that buck has to be used for groceries. That simple. I don't need it, but it's fun trying to squeeze out every bit of profit from every UBER dollar. And if you Uberrat can actually make $23 an hour, unlike most of the guys that net $23 a day, you should be charging to teach an UBER budget management class.
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Not really sure what whining is all about but just stating what is available to all drivers through the tax policies.
If you believe you don't/can't use what is available good for you.
As for cca, since I started last doing uber last year I used the numbers that were available.
If cra has an issue, great we will work it out.
If not then I is good to go.
I am trying to give some advice to drivers to reduce their tax burden, don't like it, tough.
Don't complain to me if
 
V

Vavvav

Active Member
Do you find stock that business is down in the mornings now? I am finding no matter what way you slice it that it takes 40 plus hours a week to make a sniff.
 
atomck

atomck

Member
Poaching nothing. Uber wants us to be independent contractors. That means an independent businessmen. Independent means just that. I don't poach anything to my platform. My platform does what Uber doesn't do. If someone calls for an Uber ride, it goes through the Uber app. I don't steal anything from Uber. What I is act proactive, that means I go after business. I don't sit back and wait for a ping. I find out who is using Uber and I make sure if they can do an Uber hookup with me, I am the guy sitting at the end of their driveway waiting for their ping. It is a rare rider that does not know that I will transport them between 5:AM and noon Exclusively. Most tell me they don't understand why the other drivers don't do it. It works far better than I expected it would, and it gets better every day.
Now I am being fed longer riders from two of the Speedy companies. I have insurance, I have licensing so when I take someone to Parry Sound like last week there ride is insured, they travel in a safe car with a sober driver. How novel when booking through a Speedy. $525 to me and I hand back $5o to Speedy. Another Speedy bugger up and I got my second Montreal ride from them this past Thursday. A man was moving to Montreal, everything he owned was in eight big suitcases. Speedy took a deposit and booked him for Thursday morning. They did did not have a car available at 5:AM to hold everything. He had my card but had previously told me I was too expensive. He had my card, and he had to get to Montreal. All of a sudden I was not too expensive. He called me at 5:50 AM and I folded down my seats, picked him up and had him in Montreal for 3:pM. $650 fare and $150 for gas and lunch. Nothing back to Speedy on that one, and he has to try and get his $100 deposit back.
This Uber driving works for me because I spend 'cause I make. Specialty insurance is $12,000 a year, which Uber Ray tells me is less than he paid in the beginning. Licensing $1500 a year. And that is without paying my regular auto policy to drive Uber. That is what you called my platform. And I don't have buddies. I have employees. I pay them 50% after gas driving my cars. It all helps. Uber is a fantastic lead generator. People see my NRP Uber sticker in my window and every day someone comes up to me and tells me about their transportation needs. I saw on this blog some time ago, that nobody should be forced to have I.D. in their back window. I wish I col cover my car in UBER stickers. So I just get out their and "make". I keep finding ways to "make" more. Hope I can connect with other guys but it just doesn't happen.
 
One Star

One Star

Well-Known Member
Basically you are doing the same thing on your own as https://uzurv.com/ does in the U.S for booking Uber rides.
Couple that with what Speedy throws your way (way too cheap imo, and everybody knows they are an illegal taxi brokerage but that's your business), and add whatever you generate from Yell Niagara and you've got a good little gig going. I applaud your "hustle".

So please answer my previous question as to what specialty licensing you possess?
And 12 grand a year for insurance? I'm hoping that's for at least 2 cars!
 
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atomck

atomck

Member
Hi One Star,
when I started doing passenger carrying with my company, the insurance was only available in what is referred to as "the facility" It was a pool of companies that took on difficult to insure drivers and cars based on either driving record (not me), or theoretical risk. That was what they got me on. If I had 5 years of driving a limo for Niagara airbus with no accidents, it would have been half of what I started at and that was one car, one driver and seriously $16,000+ annually. That was two and a half years ago. The second year it dropped to the now $12K. In 5 months when it will be three years with no claims or tickets it will go down to about about $8500. My other cars are discounted substantially, but restricted to certain types of rides only. Minimum $50 charge, must be booked at least one hour in advance. Beerman Ray put me onto a good insurance company that now is offering a lower rate, after 3 years of claim and ticket free driving. I will be switching to them as soon as I do 3 years. The licensing for each car is called Specialty Licensing $12,000 annually, on top of regular insurance, and a special drivers license is required $100. My main car has to generate $1191 in profit every month to cover insurance and licensing charges. I do OK so we can cover that, expensed out on each car. Wages first, insurance second and car operating and owning expenses next. I still do OK, but it takes a fair bit of operating capital to start and maintain this. Fortunately every car is generating about $140 a day in sales on the average. Some months it can be tight, but the good months are very good. Thank you recognizing the hustle.
 
atomck

atomck

Member
When I say that is what they are generating on a daily basis, that is my net after all expenses from Uber and Yell-Niagara.
 
One Star

One Star

Well-Known Member
atomck said:
The licensing for each car is called Specialty Licensing $12,000 annually
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?????I think you misquoted something here?
According to the Niagara region by-law it's 1250.00 for each initial "specialty vehicle licence" and only 250.00 for renewal.
http://www.niagarapolice.ca/en/contentresources/resources/whoweare/Licencing-By-law-361-2016.pdf

So basically according to what the by-law defines as a "specialty vehicle", you are either operating as a limo or a paratransit service correct?
 
atomck

atomck

Member
Hi One Star,
You are absolutely correct. It was a typo on my part. My licensing I guess was before the price went up. One too many 0's. The $1191 per month is correct, but typo on the annual license. The way it works, I have to make 10 downtown Toronto Uber rides a month to cover my insurance on the car that I drive. That covers both the specialty insurance and the regular Uber insurance from Intac. Thank you for reminding me it is only $250 per renewal, I have not been a specialty driver for a full year yet.
My other cars are busy doing a lot of non passenger carrying at $50 per job. You can see some of that on the website. Designated driver service is a real plus to our income. What it all is about is we just keep doing tons of small jobs locally and designated large jobs, by promoting ourselves to do them exclusively. I just got a poker club that travels to Casino Rama every Friday night, returning Saturday morning. Five of the players are riding with us now. I am doing those myself. 2 h 13 min (146.7 km) via ON-400. Five riders at $100 retrn, works out with gas to be about $375. net, Niagara To, Orillia and then the reverse every week. Those trips will now cover the insurance every month. While in Orillia I go to a 24 hour gym and have a good workout, have some dinner, find a quiet parking spot by the water and kick back for a snooze, and pick the guys up for the return ride about 8:AM. My car holds 6 passengers and I would like the revenue from the extra guy, but it's too crowded.
As to what I am doing license wise it is a vague area. The provincial government according to NRP no longer issues Limousine drivers licenses, they do issue limo registrations for real limo's. Stretched whatevers are limo's. My insurance company specifically states my Dodge Vans are not limo's. Beerman Ray has a Limo drivers license and he says they renew it, but we can no longer get a Limo drivers license. The specialty, tourist and hotel drivers licensing is what we can obtain. I really don't know much about the licensing, I just pay.
One Star are you running your NRP Uber sticker in your back window?
 
atomck

atomck

Member
I have not responded mainly because I may have taken offence to the suggestion I take off platform business. Totally separate business, with my three cars being the only link. Yes I do off platform business but never with any of it coming from UBER. I prefer to take all short rides from UBER only. I'm not a Speedy cab and I won't lower myself to that kind of work. And my license says and so does every other specialty drivers license, the fare has to be a minimum of $50 and it must be booked at least one hour in advance. That is an agreement between taxi's and NRP. No street solicitation. I don't do the one hour, all my specialty drives have to be booked one full day in advance, and there is nothing to be booked that costs the rider less than my time $100 +fuel. It's going to cost them that much to go to St. Catharines if that is what they want, but I charge nothing less. No Uber poaching. That would be like robbing Alvin Karpis. Let Uber be the thieves.
To respond to how are things income wise, after I deduct my HST I will be paid $523 for this past week. A little more with tips. Five days, just under 22 hours. Factoring in every possible legitimate expense, including vehicle depreciation, I actually netted more than $11 and hour. Not much more but $11.06 and is my killer net since everything went to the additional 23 Niagara drivers in June. They are all gone now, two of them losing their cars, to the finance company. They believed UBER's become a millionaire advertising. LOL UBER's own stats say that for every 100 Uber drivers contracted, only four of them will still be driving in a year. You've got a better chance of financial success being a 60 year old stripper at the 'Downer. Your income would be the tips for keeping your clothes on.
I like driving for UBER. If I didn't I would be a fool to work for what I make. This is not the place to make any money. On a couple of occasions good looking ladies have flashed me to try and get the fare cancelled. That was pleasant or maybe even more than pleasant, but I can't fill my tank with "flashes", so they had to pay. Take care guys.
 
One Star

One Star

Well-Known Member
atomck said:
You've got a better chance of financial success being a 60 year old stripper at the 'Downer. Your income would be the tips for keeping your clothes on.
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LOL, that's priceless!

Ya, I don't know how Speedy still gets away with it.
The got their hand slapped a few years back by NRP but the next day they carried on like nothing had happened.
Since it's obvious they are not high on the priority list for law enforcement, I had thought by now somebody would have put that f*cker in a barrel and sent him over the falls.

It just goes to show how limp dicked the taxi industry is when they can't even keep guys like that from stealing business.

I wish you continued success as you are one of the few guys I've talked to in this industry that actually knows what their true costs to operate are instead of just buying a vehicle and throwing it on the road thinking they are going to make lots of money.
Good luck!
 
V

Vavvav

Active Member
Atomck, is $523 your Uber inome or your combined Income from licensed driving. I do appreciate that you have the true costs figured out.
 
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