What’s it like to drive a Mercedes, BMW or Audi and be an Uber driver?

Now that the sharing economy is so popular, it is normal for practitioners to experience it! I just want to take this opportunity to talk about my experience as a driver for the past month.

1. Uber

It entered Changsha on June 15, 2015 and has been in operation for nearly 2 months, and its development is very poor. Passed the review and became an Uber driver around July 10th. I kept driving the driver app on Saturday morning and had no orders in the morning. I drove out after lunch, driving aimlessly, and noticed some strange phenomena. I was clearly driving from north to south on the Ring Road, and I was assigned an 11-kilometer southern route. If I turned around and went back to pick it up, I would have to walk 15 kilometers. about. It was agreed that we would be dispatched within a short distance, that we would only dispatch orders that were on the way, and that we would be able to pick up passengers with just a few right turns. It has been a month since we entered Changsha. Is it possible that there are still so few car owners? This kind of long-distance dispatch happens frequently, which makes me more and more disappointed.

The first ride I took was from a girl. Because I could get a free ride that day, I tried using Uber.

In the past month since I became an Uber driver, I drove for three consecutive weekends and six days, and only took 4 orders (will be offline if there are any ride-hailing orders), mostly men. In line with the principle of not losing money on gas, it is actually very uncomfortable to drive Uber to pick up orders when there are few passengers. I am afraid of traveling too far to pick up passengers, and then only delivering them to a very close place, with all kinds of uncertainties. But I was very curious about how many people in Changsha knew about Uber, so I wanted to drive the driver app, until I found out that the orders sent were stupid.

Another point is that people who take Uber have a sense of superiority. How should I put it? They talk like they are their own full-time driver. Come on, this thing is very common abroad!

For someone like me, who commutes 20km one way to and from get off work in Changsha and uses a lot of cars, if there is no particularly big reward, I will never drive the driver app again.

2. Didi Express/Private Car

I was young and ignorant. After experiencing Uber and feeling unhappy, I wanted to give Didi a try, so I registered as an Express online and followed the prompts. , only after completing 50 orders can the express train be upgraded to a private car. Well, since there is such a request, let's just run. I started walking around on Friday night, thinking that I had to complete the 50 orders as soon as possible, so if I had an order, grab it, grab it, grab it!

The first day was very high, I ran until 2pm (I usually didn’t sleep at this time), and then I went out at 8pm on Saturday night and ran until 12pm. This has been going on for several days in a row. When I finished 50 orders, I calculated that I could take 3 orders per hour on weekend nights, with an average customer price of about 20, and 2 orders per hour on working days, with an average customer price of about 20. Based on this calculation, basically It's a loss of gas money and a loss of maintenance fees, not to mention wear and tear.

Of course, the psychology at this time is quite strange. There is always a urge to complete 50 orders as soon as possible and upgrade to a private car as soon as possible! ! ! So excited. Head towards high-level cars.

As I met the requirements, I immediately applied in the backend. When I encountered something I didn’t understand, I called a friend to ask. When I heard that I was upgrading to a private car service and had completed 50 orders, I burst out laughing. He said, "I am now a car rental company. If you register directly with my company, you will be upgraded to a comfortable model on the spot without having to make 50 orders." I have ten thousand thoughts in my heart. . Damn it. . . This dad is cheating!

However, this 50-mile ride was quite interesting. People who got on the bus asked me why I didn’t run a special car. Not many BMWs make fast cars. Is it to experience life? Experience a P, my pursuit is a private car, okay?

But from an operational point of view, Didi’s strategy is great. No matter what kind of luxury car it is, if you don’t know the inside story, you can come up and provide me with 50 express rides. It is a value-for-money experience for passengers. For drivers, this directly filters out a group of people who cannot persist. Regardless of whether you persist or not, the previous express orders have contributed to Didi. Awesome! There are still some rules that I don’t understand. Maybe there is another shortcut to get there by private car.

I finally upgraded to a private car. I think I will make a fortune now, and my monthly gas expenses will depend on you! Excited

In the end, all the happiness was in vain, one trap after another! If you only accept special car orders, you may only get 2 orders from morning to night! The assignment mode is even more confusing. You have to pick people up from very far away places, or you don’t have any orders from morning to night!

When I chatted with passengers, now express trains are cheaper than taxis, the trains are in good condition, and there are many cars. Who would take a private car?

Passengers should just follow the price. Several passengers told me that when China held activities, the recharge of 1,000 and 1,000 was used a lot. Now that express trains are so cheap, there is no need to recharge. Who would bother to recharge? Use Shenzhou? Moreover, there are too few people in China buying their own cars, and now it takes a long time to receive orders.

One day I thought there might be too few people taking the bus on weekends, so let’s go for a run on Monday. Well, that's it, let's see if we can make money during the working day. Running from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Nima receives one comfort order every hour on average, okay? The unit price is still 20, and you have to wait for more than 30 minutes to receive an order. If you are like a taxi running and receiving special orders at the same time, you will lose your underwear.

3. Didi Hitchhiking

This is my favorite way. Before commuting to get off work or going out, check to see if there are any people traveling nearby and make an appointment directly. You won’t feel lonely on the road, and it’s also environmentally friendly and energy-saving. At least you don’t have to pay for gas out of pocket, as gas prices are so high now!

Personally, I think free rides are a trend, especially in China, where residential areas and CBDs are concentrated, and the matching between commute and get off work is very high. There is no requirement for service when carpooling. Whoever earns the same money, and the atmosphere of equal communication and chatting will be different. I don’t like those girls who hitchhike alone and sit in the back row. I remind them every time. There are still people who insist on sitting in the back. Sorry, I am not your driver.

Summary:

Personally, from the perspective of domestic office workers, Didi’s localization of order grabbing, designated destinations, and carpooling functions are very good. Only in this way can we make full use of idle social resources, mobilize the enthusiasm of private cars, pick up passengers along the way, save fuel costs and expand our social circle.

If you are not a full-time sports car, you really can’t use Uber. Every order is unknown. Damn, I have to run something when I go out. What should I do if I am sent to a weird place.

The shady story:

Under the subsidies and temptations of Didi Private Car, a large number of drivers were tricked.

The monthly income of 10,000 yuan as a full-time driver advertised on the Internet is not a dream, they are all liars, liars!

When I took a private car, I would always ask the other party why they brought new cars, and most of them were Accord, Camry, Passat and other models priced below 200,000. Later, I learned about it after chatting with a car rental friend (they specifically cooperated with Didi to provide local qualifications, and they can come forward to solve the problem after being caught). Their company’s new business is to rent and sell cars. You pay 20% down and then pay for each purchase. Pay monthly installments to the company and take the rented car for a private ride. If you no longer want the car at any time, just return it to the company. People who rent cars from their company have dreams of earning tens of thousands a month. . .

Then in Changsha, many people used to run illegal trains. Many people sold their old cars and replaced them with new cars to run express trains. They drove illegally and took express train orders at the same time. They could earn about 300 yuan a day. I felt very happy. .

The publicity strategy of Didi and Uber is to attract more drivers to join. But after joining, I found that my income was not as good as before I bought a car. What I earned every month was not enough to pay off the car loan. It was a rip-off for a bunch of people.

I went to Dongtang at 2 o'clock yesterday afternoon. I thought it was difficult to park there, so I would just take an express train. After waiting for 5 minutes, no one picked up. Didi gave me a 13 yuan sticker and asked me if I wanted it. If you want to convert it to a private car, then do it. When I arrived at the Taishin-Singapore-Malaysia Railway, I asked the driver, feeling very depressed. I saw on the Internet that I could make money by running Didi, so I bought a new car in installments. After running for ten days, I found that I was losing money by running express trains, so I just waited for a special car. I could take about 15 orders in 12 hours a day. If there were no customers, I would stop on the road to rest. . Earning around 100 yuan a day, although I think it's a bit of a trap, is better than working before. It's free and I can run as long as I want to make more money. After all, I still have to pay off the car loan. This probably represents the thinking of most people who join Didi as a driver, and they will suffer even if they are cheated!