How to be a UberX driver in Singapore?
In my earlier post about why you should be an UberX driver, the main benefit is that is can help subsidise your cost of car ownership.
In fact, in terms of earnings vs a taxi, it might actually be similar on an hourly rate.
For me, my experience with signing up with Uber was fairly simple. However, there was just a lot of administrative inefficiencies.
Before beginning, you need to decide if you are looking to buy a car, use an existing car, or rent a car. For the steps below, I would be documenting for people who are looking to buy a car or to use their existing car.
The very first step is to register a business or company. In Singapore, this is basically a hassle free step that you can even do online. Make sure to include business activity code 49219 into your business.
The next step is to obtain a commercial insurance. The most common myth is that commercial limousine insurance is a lot higher than your regular insurance. However, that’s not the case. My car before doing uber, was quoted at $1650 annual premium ($800 excess, no windscreen excess). When I got my insurance for commercial limousine usage, it was only $1499 (however, it was $2000 excess and $100 windscreen excess). All numbers are not including NCD. If you have no accidents or issues, I believe NCD can be transferred to a sole proprietor’s vehicle, but not a pte ltd.
After you have gotten your insurance, make sure you call in to cancel your previous insurance.
The next step would be to go to LTA. If your car is currently under your personal name, you need to pay a $11 to do a transfer to your business or company. If there is an existing loan, you would also need to contact your bank to refinance the loan under your company. If you are buying a new car, just buy the car directly under your company. Chances are, if you have not gotten a commercial insurance and your company has not been registered for limousine service, your vehicle type would be N18, which means you would have to make another trip to LTA to get it changes to Z10/Z11.
After this is done, you would head down to Uber to activate your account and to sign a declaration for background checks. Once that is done, you’re ready to drive!
All in, your cost for doing uber would be less than $100 for registering a business, $11 for LTA transfer, and $30 for uber’s background check. The good thing is that there is no recurring costs. You only pay uber whenever you get a ride. Hence, it’s a fairly free and easy business and I would dare say all business owners or even most car owners should just sign themselves up.
For those who are still unsure about the above, feel free to contact me. I will send you a step by step guideline pdf as well as to help any of you keen. We also have a uber partner facebook group and whatsapp group.
PS: There are currently incentives for introducing drivers, as well as for new drivers when they start driving. Contact me to find out more.