Pros
Make your own hours (wouldn't do it otherwise)
Cons
They tell the IRS an artificially low mileage so they can greenwash. Any driver who wants to make money turns off their app as they drive to the hot spots (the bonuses disappear when they know drivers are heading towards the zones), and Lyft doesn't count those miles or the miles you drive to get back to the airport or the center of the city, or when you drop off a passenger in a bad neighborhood and want to not pick up drug dealers. I got audited when my miles that I actual put on my car and Lyft's mileage report didn't match. The IRS then disallowed 2 years of water, mints and puke bags and half my mileage and cost me about $18k - basically all the profit I had made driving drunks around Portland for 2 years, and wouldn't help with the IRS. They don't tell you that an "independent business" needs to keep a log of their own daily miles and Jan. 1st- Dec. 31st odometer readings for the IRS to counter their lies. Or that the City of Portland wants tax money too. They just tell you to go get the business license - they don't say why. Be your own bouncer - feels totally safe for a lady driver to make creepy drunks get out in the middle of nowhere. And, they conveniently get creepy when they're almost home so if you cancel the ride - you drove them for free and you don't get to rate them (so they can do it to the next person). Those miles don't count towards your tax info either. Vomit Dogs, doesn't matter whether you're allergic or scared or not. So drivers' disabilities don't count. Passengers break your car and don't tell you so you don't know whom to make a claim against. You get to eat that cost. Lyft continually changed the percentage the drivers kept, and became increasingly murky about what the split was. Lack of transparency got crazy, and they somehow kept more of the money, even though the drivers get taxed on it. They say they provide insurance, but read the fine print! It doesn't count if you're in between passengers, and the deductible is crazy high. Like, if I had $2,500 laying around, would I need to drive drunken strangers around in my private car? And, they are evasive if you ask directly if you need commercial or rideshare insurance. They don't want to tell you that if your insurance company (or the bank that holds your car note!) finds out, you can get cancelled (or your car repossessed)! They give coupons and vouchers away all the time, so you keep getting passengers who won't tip and some who are getting streeted from the psych ward. Makes Lyft look great and charitable, but they're not the ones in the car with unstable people who can't tell you their address or what day of the week it is.
