How to rent a car for Uber & Lyft: See the best options!

Need a car to drive for Uber or Lyft?

Uber and Lyft offer rental car programs that provide cars for drivers starting at around $250 per week—with auto insurance and routine maintenance included.

Renting a car is a great way to start with Uber and Lyft without making a big financial commitment.

But is buying a car the better financial decision?

Read on to learn how to rent a car for Uber & Lyft, and see if buying or renting is the better move!

Article Contents

• The Uber rental car program
• The Lyft rental car programs
• Third-party rideshare rental options
• Should you buy a car for rideshare?

How to get a vehicle for Uber and Lyft

Want to drive for Uber or Lyft, but you don’t have a car? Here are your options:

• Rent a car for Uber through their rental car program
• Rent a car for Lyft through the Lyft Express Drive program
• Rent a car with HyreCar, or other third-party rideshare rental companies
• Buy a vehicle, typically used

The Uber and Lyft vehicle rental programs: An overview

Both Uber and Lyft partner with rental car companies to provide rental cars for drivers.

Here’s how it works: You pay a weekly fee to rent a car. Insurance and basic maintenance are included in the weekly rental cost.

After you make a rental reservation in the Uber or Lyft app, you will visit a local rental car lot to pick up your vehicle.

Rental associates will help you add the rental to your Uber or Lyft profile so you can immediately start accepting rides.

One limitation to remember is that you can’t use your Uber rental to drive with Lyft or your Lyft rental to drive for Uber. Drivers who use a personal vehicle don’t have that limitation.

Upsides to renting

• You can drive for Uber and Lyft without having your own car
• Insurance is included — You don’t have to worry about upgrading your personal policy
• You can rent with no credit or bad credit
• You don’t have to worry about vehicle depreciation or maintenance costs

Downsides to renting:

• High weekly cost — Plan to drive close to full-time to be profitable
• Not available in all cities
• Rentals are in high demand, so it can be hard to get a car when you need it

How to rent a car for Uber: Uber rental car program

Uber partners with several vehicle rental companies to provide rental options for drivers. 

You can view rental options in the Uber driver app or visit the online Uber vehicle marketplace.

Uber currently partners with the services below to provide rental vehicles for Uber drivers.

Hertz Uber rentals

• $200 refundable deposit
• Around $250 – $300 per week
• Unlimited miles
• Must be 21 or older

Avis Uber rentals

• $200 refundable deposit
• Around $250 – $300 per week
• 700 miles included, pay more for unlimited
• Must be 25 or older

KINTO Share rentals

• No deposit
• Around $275 per week
• Unlimited miles
• Must be 21 or older

Getaround Uber rentals

• Rent cars by the hour
• Unlimited miles
• Our full Getaround review

Hive EV Uber rentals

• $169 per week + $0.20 per mile
• Unlimited charging is included
• Insurance is NOT included
• Available in Los Angeles

Sally Uber rentals

• Specializes in electric cars
• Deposit required
• Starting at $275 per week
• Must be 21 or older
• Available in Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, NYC, San Francisco, Seattle

How to see your Uber rental options

Uber rental options aren’t the same in every city. To see what is available in your area, open the Uber Driver app and tap Menu > Account > Vehicles > View Rental Options.

Tap View Rental Options to see a list of all rental options in your area.

Credit check: Can you rent with a bad credit score?

Uber doesn’t run a credit check for renters, but rental car agencies may run a credit check depending on the payment method you use to pay for the rental.

There is no credit check if you use a credit card to pay for your rental. However, if you pay with a debit card, Hertz and Avis may run a soft credit check that will not affect your credit score.

Hertz and Avis don’t say what the minimum credit score requirements are. If you have a low credit score, bring a credit card to your reservation as a backup payment method.

Paying for a rental: How much money to keep on your card

If you plan to pay for your rental with a debit card, make sure you have enough funds in your account to cover the rental deposit, the weekly fee, and taxes.

For debit card users on Avis, your first week’s payment as an authorization hold.

Hertz charges you for your rental when you return the vehicle or at the end of your four-week contract. Make sure you have enough funds to cover the full rental period and the refundable deposit.

Most rental agencies do not accept pre-paid cards. You will need a credit or debit card to make a reservation.

Should you get optional supplemental insurance?

Insurance is included with Hertz and Avis rentals, typically with a $1000 deductible. That means you’ll have to pay up to $1000 if you are in an at-fault accident. 

You can lower the deductible to $0 on Hertz rentals if you buy “optional supplemental insurance” for $50 per week.

Whether optional supplemental insurance is worth it depends on how long you plan to rent and your financial situation.

Doing the math, you’ll pay $1000 in supplemental insurance if you rent for 20 weeks or more. If you rent for a full year, you’ll pay $2600.

That means that optional supplemental insurance may only be good deal if you’re planning to rent for a short time. 

But if you plan to rent for longer than 20 weeks, it is more profitable to decline the supplemental insurance. Instead, put money aside to save for the full deductible.

Can you use an Uber rental for personal use?

You can use an Uber rental for personal use. Uber does not distinguish between personal use miles and rideshare miles.

Keep in mind that each rental option has different mileage limitations. For example, many Hertz rentals offer unlimited miles, but Avis rentals may limit you to 700 miles per week before adding additional charges.

Can you lease a car through Uber, rent to own, or buy?

Uber does not currently provide an option to lease a car, or rent to own. Uber used to have a leasing program—Uber Xchange—but it is no longer available.

You can use a leased car to drive for Uber, but you may exceed mileage limitations or restrictions on commercial use.

Many typical leases limit you to 1,000 miles per month, which you can quickly exceed driving for Uber.

You can’t directly buy a car through Uber. The vehicle marketplace has a ‘car sales’ section, which only links you to TrueCar, an outside car sales company.

How to rent a car for Lyft: Lyft Express Drive

Lyft offers a vehicle rental program for drivers called Express Drive. With Express Drive, your weekly rental fee covers rideshare miles, insurance, and vehicle maintenance.

Lyft rentals cost around $250–$300/week. Additional personal miles may cost extra.

Lyft currently partners with Hertz and Flexdrive for the Express Drive program. You can only use a Hertz rental to drive for Lyft, but you can use a Flexdrive rental for other companies.

You must be 25 years or older to qualify for Lyft Express Drive rentals.

• Our full review of Lyft Express Drive

Can you use an Uber rental for Lyft or a Lyft rental for Uber?

You can only use a rental from Uber to drive for Uber, and a Lyft rental to drive with Lyft.

One exception is Lyft rentals through Flexdrive: Flexdrive allows you to use the rental for other platforms.

The rental agreements for both Uber and Lyft strictly prohibit using the vehicle to drive for another platform, so unless you rent with Flexdrive, don’t try to use your rental for another app.

HyreCar—a third-party rental platform—allows you to use rentals on any platform.

• HyreCar — Use code HYRE10 for 10% off your first rental

Other rideshare rental options

Many drivers choose to rent vehicles directly through Uber and Lyft, but several third-party companies also offer rentals that you can use for rideshare.

A qualified third-party rental agency will give you the vehicle documents you need to add the rental vehicle to your Uber or Lyft driver profile.

HyreCar, a peer-to-peer rideshare rental platform

HyreCar is a vehicle marketplace that allows you to rent vehicles from private owners for use on any rideshare or delivery platform.

You can rent a car on HyreCar for as short as two days. Map and filtering tools make it easy to find a vehicle that fits your budget. Insurance is included with every rental.

• HyreCar 101: Step-by-Step Guide to HyreCar

KINTO Share

KINTO Share is a service by Toyota that offers rentals for rideshare, delivery, and personal use. Rentals are available by the hour or by the week.

Rentals start at $275 per week. Unlimited miles and insurance are included. Payments are charged upfront when you begin your rental reservation.

KINTO Share is currently available in Southern California and Texas.

Getaround: Hourly & weekly rentals (Uber Only)

Getaround is another peer-to-peer rental service that rents cars for Uber drivers. You can rent the vehicle by the hour or by the week.

Getaround uses technology that allows renters to get inside the car with a smartphone, so you never have to meet with the vehicle owner to get the car keys.

Getaround for Uber is currently available for drivers in Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, Philadelphia, Sacramento, San Diego, Seattle, Baltimore, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Miami and the state of New Jersey.

• What it’s like to rent a car with Getaround

RideShareRental: Evs and Hybrids

EV and Hybrid rentals from RideShareRental include unlimited miles, insurance, and no credit check. EVs currently rent for around $300 per week on RideShareRental.

RideShareRental is currently available in Los Angeles, Oakland CA, Las Vegas, Chicago, Cranford NJ, Vista CA, San Diego CA, and Westfield NJ.

What are the differences between the rideshare rental options?

The table below shows the features of each major rideshare rental service to make it easier for you to see which one might work for you.

	Uber	Lyft	Hyrecar
Price	~$250 per week and up	~$250 per week and up	~$30/day and up, $250/week and up
Deposit	~$200 refundable for Hertz, no deposit for Avis	~$250 refundable	$200 refundable
Rental Period	Weekly	Weekly	Daily, weekly, or monthly
Insurance	$1000 deductible	$1000 deductible	$2500 deductible
Use for other services?	No	No for Hertz, yes for Flexdrive	Yes

Rent a car for Uber Black on Craigslist

Some fleet owners rent out vehicles to use on high-end services like Uber Black. It’s a common way to drive for high-paying services without purchasing an expensive luxury vehicle and commercial registration.

How to rent a car for Uber on Craigslist

• Search your local Craigslist for “Uber rental,” “Uber Black” or similar keywords
• Contact the owner and review any offered leasing arrangement
• The vehicle owner will then add you to both the vehicle’s insurance policy and their Uber Partner account
• If you aren’t an active Uber driver, you will have to undergo background screening

Part-time drivers: Use the car you already own

For part-time drivers, it’s usually the most profitable choice to use a car you already own.

Even accounting for vehicle depreciation, your earnings will likely exceed your costs if you don’t put too many miles on your car and choose your rides wisely.

But rideshare rentals may be the best option for full-time drivers putting 1000+ miles on their car each week.

When you drive that many miles, vehicle depreciation and maintenance become major expenses that might not make sense for your everyday vehicle.

Should you buy a car for Uber & Lyft?

Buying a car exclusively to drive for Uber or Lyft is a big investment that may not pay off if your market isn’t busy with ride requests.

According to our research about how much Uber drivers make, you should expect to make around $15–$25/hour after expenses.

Many drivers can make money with an affordable used car ($15,000 or less), but other drivers who splurge on a more expensive model find that it can become a breakeven or a loss.

Always closely check Uber vehicle requirements before you purchase a car, and email Uber to make sure your car qualifies, especially if you’re aiming to use your vehicle for UberXL or Lyft XL.

Upside: You’ll own the vehicle, so you can use it as you wish, sell it whenever you want
Downside: You might get stuck with a car payment you can’t afford if the vehicle is too expensive or if rideshare isn’t lucrative in your area

Don’t buy a car until you’re approved to drive!

Some people buy a car before they get approved to drive by Uber or Lyft.

In many cases, these people were confident they could pass the driving record check and background check, so they went ahead and got the car before Uber approved their application.

Then something happened in the application process—delays or a rejection—and now they’re stuck with a car payment they can’t afford. Don’t put yourself in that position.

Get approved to drive before you get the car! You can get approved in only a week or two.

Uber and Lyft applications allow you to sign up without a car, so you won’t need to enter vehicle information to complete the application. You can figure out how to get the car after you’re approved.