Update: Get over $100 in additional free ride credit from competing car services here!
Uber is a service that allows you to summon a ride via a private car or taxi using just your smartphone. All payment including tip is put on your credit card via the smartphone app, making it a cashless transaction. Your smartphone knows where you are, so you can tell how far away the nearest car is as well as estimate your total fare ahead of time.
There are a few different flavors (from cheapest to most expensive): UberX, UberTAXI, UberVAN, UberBLACK (black town car), UberSUV, UberLUX. UberX involves private individuals driving their personal cars, and recently announced price cuts in 36 cities making them 25% cheaper than taxis.
Right now new users can get $30 off their first ride by signing up for a new account using this invite link: https://uber.com/invite/uberMYMONEYBLOG. This is triple the usual $10 offer for a limited time, and contains my personal referral code uberMYMONEYBLOG for which I’ll get a free ride as well. Works anywhere in the USA. Good for all ride options.
(You can no longer stack multiple promo codes on top of each other.)
Bonus: Get $25 credit towards any hotel stay booked through the Hotel Tonight app. Sign up online at this link with promo code JPING2 for $25 in credit (new customers only). Then download the Hotel Tonight app (Apple or Android). More info here.
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I am confused about whether uber drivers accept/expect tips or not.
I believe they do. There is a tip setting that is automatically added to the fare when you are done and charged to your linked credit card.
Edit: The setting is only for uberTAXI, not uberBLACK and other flavors.
For taxi service, the tip is automatically added. For black car service, tipping is not required, but the drivers will accept tips. I believe they originally tried to insist drivers not take tips, but you know… it’s America and we insist on tipping everybody.
I usually will give them a buck or two for helping me with my bags, but rarely for anything else.
Thanks for the clarification, dood.
I had an impression they weren’t allowed tips, and I wish it was so because I hate tipping because I am too embarrassed to give a buck or two (on $10 ride) and too cheap to give $5 (which I end up giving anyway and hating it)
With uberBLACK there is no allowable setting for tips, so I don’t think the drivers expect it but more like it is not banned. The website explicitly says “no need to tip” for uberBLACK.
Well uberBlack is overkill for my needs and way too expensive . I am talking about uberx. With the recent discount it’s almost half as much for my usual commute at night (when there is no traffic) just $8. I pay $15 with yellow cab ($10 plus $5 tips). I only hope they have a much higher profit margin per trip to make tipping unnecessary
Just got from almost 3 miles for only $7 after 20 percent promo
And as I understood in lieu of tips the driver hoped for a 5 star rating. Which is a great arrangement: give them reputation instead of extra money
I was going to say, you won’t have to tip $5 on a $10 ride with uber, I don’t think the setting even goes that high. Glad you got a chance to use it!
No I was just saying about yellow cab: I tend to overtip when the base amount is low, since fear giving a buck or two mat be insulting to the driver. So I’d rather not tip at all.
What about safety? How do you know the car you’re getting into won’t take you somewhere and rob you?
Besides UberX in certain markets, I believe all the other options use licensed drivers equivalent to hailing a taxi or hiring any other commercial car service.
Use my referral/promo code “uberget10now” when you sign up for $20 as well 🙂
Signed up for Uber and will try it in Chicago (if we ever do get back there). My referral code is SQ7E9 if anyone is willing to use it.
Thanks Jonathan! I just signed up using your code.
Thanks Jonathan…my code is or7t9 if anyone wants to use it.
Interesting article regarding an Uber driver in SF:
Paul Marron, an attorney for Marron Lawyers, which is the general counsel for the Taxicab Paratransit Association of California, said the “indifference and callousness” of the blog posts “is appalling.”
Marron claimed, “If nothing more, this death could be emblematic of the California Public Utilities Commission’s indifference to protecting innocent members of the public from inadequately trained drivers and insurance full of loopholes, which allows a company with hundreds of millions of dollars to run away from its responsibility of the death.”
http://www.sfexaminer.com/sanfrancisco/uber-driver-arrested-for-vehicular-manslaughter-in-girls-death/Content?oid=2664123
Use my referral/promo code “U4008” when you sign up for $20 as well 😉
Correction: code is u40o8
If anyone wants to use my referral code, that would be great! Here it is: O6FB0