Uber Tips 2019
Uber Maintenance Tips & Tricks for Drivers
Careful driving, and preventative vehicle care, will keep your car functioning as an effective ridesharing vehicle (and out of the shop), while saving you critical money in the long run.
Uber recommends following these seven tips below, in order to minimize wear and tear on any & all ridesharing vehicles:
1. Keep a Routine Maintenance Schedule
This varies for each vehicle, but car manufacturers recommend drivers take their vehicles in for checkups, repairs, or fluid changes at certain intervals (such as 10,000 or 15,000 miles).
Call your vehicle manufacturer, or look over your car’s official manual for maintenance and check-up recommendations.
2. Change Your Oil Regularly
Change your oil filter, and motor oil, regularly.
Oil lubricates vehicle engines — preventing internal damage.
Oil changes are usually not expensive —and are definitely cheaper than an entire engine replacement, which is sometimes necessary if you’ve waited too long between oil changes.
Newer cars often include ‘oil life indicators’ (which will give you an idea of when a vehicle requires on oil change, based on how far the car has travelled).
If your vehicle has no oil-life indicator, simply open up the hood & look at the oil’s viscosity and color. If it the oil feels gritty (or looks dirty or grimy), it might be worth getting an oil change.
3. Warm Up Your Car
If you drive in a cold climate — or if you’re driving in the winter — it will often take a couple minutes for your vehicle’s oil to warm up sufficiently.
Your car’s temperature gauge can be used to estimate when it’s safe to start driving.
For instance, when the temp gauge arrives at the ‘mid-point’, your car will be ready to drive.
If you have to drive before you have time to warm up your vehicle, try not to accelerate too quickly, and attempt to keep your vehicle at relatively low speeds.
4. Check Your Tire Pressure
Regularly checking on your car’s tire pressure is always a good idea (check out your car’s official manual for your vehicle’s specific PSI).
Your tire’s pressure can have a large affect on your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. Keeping your tire’s pressure at the optimum level — as well as getting an occasional tire rotation — will save you money on fuel, as well as keep the tires in overall better shape.
5. Be Mindful of Your Brakes
Being a bit more gentle on your breaks is good practice for Uber drivers — regularly slamming on your vehicle’s brakes will easily wear out your car’s pads much faster than gently settling into a ‘stop’. This is why better driver’s (with better driving ‘form’) usually have to take their vehicles to the auto shop far less than aggressive drivers.
Your car’s brake pads will wear down over time (this is the case with all cars). There will be about 100 millimeters of brake pad to start with — and, when only 20 millimeters of pad remains in your car, it will be time for a replacement.
6. Park With the Parking Brake
Use your parking brake (hand brake/emergency brake)..
Using your parking brake greatly reduces strain on your transmission.
If you put your car into ‘park’ and release the brake pedal before you’ve engaged the parking brake, it puts unnecessary pressure (and stress) on the vehicle’s transmission (the car’s transmission system holds your vehicle car in place).
Instead, a simple parking routine which is more sensitive on your transmission is:
- Come to a stop
- Push on the brake pedal
- Engage your parking brake
- Put vehicle into park
- Release your brake pedal.
7. DIY Maintenance & Auto Savings
Sometimes, it’s possible to save money by simply performing simple maintenance on your car by yourself.
Maintaining or replacing headlights, switching out your car’s battery, brake lights, or changing your car’s oil are (usually) basic jobs on most cars.
Instructions are often available in vehicle’s owner-manuals (and it’s also possible to find instructions on sites like YouTube.com).
If you don’t want to DIY, always be on the lookout for auto savings and coupons — if you’re a regular Uber driver, these kind of savings can add up & save you a lot of money in the long run.
Also consider checking out Uber Momentum, and seeing if you’re able to claim savings or discounts on various auto repairs and inspections in your area.
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