You may have heard of Uber Black, but did you know that Uber has another luxury option called Uber Premier, now available in many US cities?
Uber Premier and Premier SUV are premium services that give you a ride in a luxury sedan or SUV with a highly-rated driver. Premier rides cost more than Uber X or XL, but you get more.
If you’re an Uber driver, you might wonder which vehicles qualify for Uber Premier, how much you can earn as a Premier driver, and how to sign up to get Premier rides. Read on!
What you need to know
- Uber Premier and Premier SUVs are luxury ride options
- Premier rides cost around twice as much as a standard UberX
- Premier replaced Uber Black in some markets
- To drive for Premier, you must have a qualifying luxury vehicle that is 6 years old or newer
- Drivers must also maintain a 4.85-star rating
- Premier rides pay significantly more than UberX, but ride request volume is lower
Want to drive with Uber? Click here to sign up!
What is Uber Premier?
Uber Premier is a ride type that offers a ride in a luxury car or SUV. Uber Premier and Premier SUV are the most expensive Uber services, typically costing more than twice the price of an UberX ride.
Uber Premier replaced Uber Black in some cities. Other cities never had Uber Black, and Uber Premier was added as a new luxury option.
To see if Uber Premier is in your area, open the Uber app and input a destination. Scroll through ride types to see if Uber Premier is available. You may find that your area has Uber Black instead of Uber Premier.
Uber Premier vs Uber Black
Both Uber Black and Uber Premier are high-end luxury services that require newer vehicles and cost more than other Uber ride types.
The significant difference between Uber Black and Premier is that Uber Black drivers have commercial auto insurance and must comply with other state regulations for livery drivers. Uber Premier drivers aren’t required to meet those regulations.
Anyone with a qualifying vehicle can become an Uber Premier driver without additional licensing or insurance. Uber Black drivers are typically commercial livery drivers who drive for Uber Black and other private transportation services.
Each city only has one of the two ride types. If a city has Uber Black, it won’t have Uber Premier. And if a city has Uber Premier, it won’t have Uber Black.
Cost & features
Uber Premier costs around twice as much as UberX. For example, in Austin, TX Uber Premier costs $1.97 per mile and 73 cents per minute, while UberX only costs 97 cents per mile and 27 cents per minute.
Uber Premier commands a higher because it has higher vehicle standards than other Uber rides. Drivers only qualify for Premier if they drive a newer luxury vehicle from automakers like Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Lexus, Lincoln, Mercedes, Tesla, and Volvo.
The picture below shows UberX and XL prices compared to Premier and Premier SUV prices for a typical ride. Notice that Premier is around twice as expensive as UberX.
Other features
- You get up to 10 minutes of wait time. UberX only offers 7 minutes
- Uber Premier drivers must be rated 4.85 stars or higher
- You can select ride preferences for temperature, music, and conversation level
Uber Premier for drivers: Vehicle requirements & earnings potential
To qualify for Uber Premier, you must have a qualifying vehicle, complete at least 250 rides, and maintain a 4.85-star passenger rating.
Vehicle requirements for Uber Premier
- Vehicle must be 6 years old or newer
- Must be on the approved list of luxury vehicles
- Use the Uber vehicle search tool to see which models qualify
The vehicle makes with models that qualify for Premier are Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, Ford Expedition, Genesis, GMC Yukon, Infiniti SUVs, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, Tesla, Volvo.
Premier drivers can also get ride requests for lower-priced Uber services, like UberX and XL. You can change your driving preferences to only accept Premier rides, but the request volume may not be high enough to keep you busy.
How to add Uber Premier to your Preferences
If you meet the qualifications for Premier, Uber may automatically add Premier as an option in your Preferences.
If Premier isn’t an option on your account and you think you qualify, contact Uber and ask to be added. Uber will verify that our vehicle qualifies, then add the Premier option to your Preferences.
More reading
How to only receive Premier requests
If you only want to receive requests for Premier rides, tap on the Preferences icon in the lower corner of the home screen and deselect all other ride types.
How much can you earn as a Premier driver?
With fare rates roughly twice as high as UberX, Uber Premier rides pay much more per trip than Uber X rides.
But it’s hard to say precisely how much you can earn as an Uber Premier driver because many factors are at play, and there is not much publicly available data to analyze.
Just because Uber Premier rides pay more doesn’t necessarily mean that a driver who only does Premier rides will earn more than an UberX driver.
Ride volume for Premier will likely be much lower than UberX because prices are much higher on Premier. Most passengers will choose an X or XL over a Premier.
You also have to consider the higher costs of a Premier vehicle. Most UberX drivers use a lower-cost, high-MPG car like a Toyota Prius.
If the volume of Premier rides isn’t high enough, you won’t earn enough to justify the additional costs of a luxury vehicle. And depending on your market and your vehicle, it may not be profitable to drive a higher-priced car on UberX.
Example of Uber Premier rates for drivers vs. Uber X
UberX | Uber Premier | |
---|---|---|
Per Mile | $1.07 | $1.95 |
Per Minute | $0.22 | $0.56 |
Base Fare | $1.22 | $2.92 |
Minimum Fare | $6.52 | $16 |
Is it worth buying a car just for Premier?
Many drivers see the higher prices of Uber Premier rides, and their first idea is to invest in a Premier-eligible vehicle. Is it worth it?
It may be worth it if you can get a great deal on a qualifying Premier vehicle with decent gas mileage. You also need to live in a larger, busy market with a high-income population.
But the reality is that the volume of rides on Uber Premier may not be high enough to justify the higher cost of a Premier-eligible vehicle.
You could buy a Cadillac Escalade and discover that you can only get a few Premier rides per day. You can do X and XL rides in your downtime, but that’s not profitable in a big, expensive SUV.
If you want market-specific information about the viability of Premier, visit driver forums on Facebook and Reddit. Ask if there is enough Premier ride volume to justify a big investment in a vehicle.
Chris says
Can I do Uber Premier and premier SUV in a 2017 Suburban RST with a white exterior and black interior or does it have to be all black
Doug H says
2017 qualifies, and it doesn’t have to be all black. You should be good to go
Stacy L Piroy says
I have a 2022 Toyota Camry hybrid XSE, BLACK with Red leather interior, everyone says they feel like they are driving in a luxury car. But very seldom does UBER even give me comfort rides. Plus I’m a 5 ⭐ driver, been driving over 5 years, but Uber gives me the lowest paying offers possible, with upfront I get more trip radars ( which is everyone’s declines) than I do anything else. Uber truly only listens to customers when it’s negative because if they listen to customers compliments I would be getting better rides. DO BETTER UBER, DON’T JUST LISTEN TO CUSTOMERS WHEN YOU WANT TO DEACTIVATE, LISTEN AND OAY YOUR DRIVERS BETTER.
Sharon says
I bought a 2024 Kia Sportage xline. It is more leg room ,has all the bells s whistles. It is a luxury SUV with panaroma sin roof. Rides thing it is a very luxury SUV. I want to know why I can get SUV Premier SUV
Kora says
the sportage is a crossover with 5 seats, so it doesn’t qualify for XL or premier SUV. You need a full size adult capable third row. As to why you can’t do Premier, my honest best guess is uber hasn’t caught on to how nice the interiors and safety features of new kia’s are yet. I recommend emailing uber support about it, maybe you can help them update their outdated lineup
Uber Support says
By the end of the day, it is just a KIA… wake up. Nobody wants to pay more ride in a KIA.
edward w jarman says
can i have two different cars and drive uber
Doug H says
Yes. You can have multiple vehicles on your profile and switch between them.
John s. says
I do know you can have 2 different vehicles listed. When I first bought my new car it took a while for the old 1 to disappear from the Uber app and I would have to select which car I was using so I would imagine you would get different requests depending on if 1 of your vehicles is premier/XL etc.
Joshua Trammel says
Doug H, Ford has a new XLT that has leather. Do you think that would qualify for Premier?
Doug H says
Generally the model determines if a car qualifies for a service, not the trim level. But you can check Uber’s vehicle search tool for your area to see if it’s listed under Premier
ivan says
What cities actually have Uber Premier?
Kenneth Johnson says
I have a 2022 grand Cherokee L Overland black on black with bells and whistles and I really don’t understand why I can’t drive under Uber Premier
Nick says
What’s “premier” to you just isn’t to others….
Robert Bart says
Hi, I have a 2022 Tahoe LT loaded with every option, Black on black leather interior with captain chairs in the middle row. My old 2016 Tahoe had the same setup and qualified for all ride types. I ordered my Tahoe in May of 2021 and it came in as a 2022 in January of 22.
Uber gave me all ride types ( Miami area) except Premier SUV. I get premier rides but not premier suv. I get XL as well. Uber has no idea what they are doing. I went to the greenlught hub in person and was told that I had to apply for a black car account. There is no black car service in Miami.I wrote letters via uber help line and twitter only to be told over and over that my Tahoe doesnt qualify for any premier ridesat all despite me having all the requirements and ratings. The option for premier is on my app, check off and I get some premier rides but the SUV option isnt there. Makes no sense at all. $70,000 Luxury 7 seat ride or as some of my passsengers call it, “Whip”!
The new designed Tahoe has as much room as a 2020 Suburban which qualifies for Premier SUV and now has adjustable rear capaian chairs and room for luggage. Just doesnt make any sense to me why I cant get Premier SUV. I have taken as far as I can with ubers support and my next sttep is to send a letter and pictures to uber corporate.
Jacob says
Brother, I have a 2021 GMC Yukon SLT with black on black and captain’s seats 2nd row, rear entertainment screens. I feel your pain. Don’t bother contacting Uber Support or Uber Corporate anymore; it will not change…been trying for years. Lol
For Miami, FL or Atlanta, GA or any big metropolitan city, our Luxury SUVs (Yukon SLT, Tahoe) that don’t have the extra cargo space or top-end trims like Denali or Premier/High Country will never be classified as Uber BLACK SUV or Uber PREMIER SUV according to their vehicle classification lists. For this reason and this reason only, I have taken my rideshare services on my 2021 GMC Yukon SLT to exclusively Lyft where I do have those premium driver options (Lux, Lux BLACK, Lux Black XL). I only bounce back to UberXL while having both driver apps open and if there legitimately are no Lyft Premium rides coming through at that time.
Lyft is the way to go for now until Uber updates our SUVs (Yukon, Tahoe) to be Uber BLACK SUV worthy when it 100000% is on par with Cadillac Escalade, Audi Q7, BMW SUVs, Lincoln SUVs.
Oh also, no commericial tags, insurance, or license is required for Lyft to drive the premium luxury equivalent vehicle categories.
Joe says
Thanks for the information, I’ve had this question for a while, contacted uber support twice but the agents on both occasions didn’t know the difference between uber black and uber black suv and kept telling me that a new chevy tahoe would qualify for uber black suv.now reading your post it seems they’re strict on the type of the vehicle
that must be a single, solid chassis.also during the time you drove on black or black suv platform did you have enough rides to justify the investment. I’ve been doing uberx in Chicago and demand is high for uberx
Lance says
You may want to keep in mind that Uber suv requires that it be commercially licensed, I had a Ford Expedition on the suv platform I did well but I also carried private rides and had to carry commercial insurance costing 500+ dollars a month with a million dollars coverage required.
I did well during ski season from December to April then I mostly ran on XL during summer that’s in Utah.
think about all the added expenses to drive black SUV it’s a big commitment.
Josh says
New 2022 Honda civic, now has minimum requirements leg room 37+ in but doesn’t qualify for comfort