Bring Your Own Commercial Permit and Auto Insurance in California

Uber is introducing a new earnings supplement for every mile you drive with a passenger in your car on economy trips (like UberX, UberXL, Comfort and more) for drivers who have their own commercial permit and insurance in San Diego.

This opportunity will launch in San Diego on  December 3. Los Angeles will be launching in the coming weeks and the rest of California will follow in early 2025. Check back in for the ability to bring your own commercial permit and commercial auto insurance to a city near you!

Read on to learn more about the difference between being a rideshare¹ driver and a commercial driver, how to become commercially licensed if you feel it’s the right decision for you and what that means for your driving experience.

California law requires that rideshare drivers have specific insurance with high limits and extra coverage which Uber maintains. This is in addition to your personal auto insurance. You can learn more here. 

With the right permits, registration, and insurance, you can earn extra using the same car you use today. Inshur, one of Uber’s commercial auto insurance partners, can help you estimate the cost of getting your own commercial insurance². 

You are encouraged to carefully evaluate your insurance and permit costs, as well as your activity on the app, when determining if this option makes sense for you.  For example, if you typically only drive a few hours a week, this may not be the right option for you.

You could earn a supplement for each mile with a passenger on eligible rides³. There is no cap on the number of trips or miles potentially eligible for this supplement. The Supplement will be based on estimated miles for the trip and displayed on your offer card³. 

For example, you would earn  $16,800 if your mileage was 35,000 miles with a passenger (35,000 miles * $0.48 supplement = $16,800) and if you determine it will cost you $10,000 for commercial licensing and insurance costs annually, your earnings from the supplement after deducting expenses is $6,800 per year.⁴ 

Remember that any extra earnings from the Commercial Supplement will count towards calculating top-ups under Prop 22 and may result in lower top-ups than you would have otherwise received.

More details on how we are keeping your day-to-day driving experience unchanged –

Please note that you will not be able to make LAX pickups through the Uber app at this time if you choose to obtain your commercial documentation.

This Commercial Supplement is exclusive to commercially licensed and insured drivers. To sign up as a California commercial driver on the Uber platform, you must obtain a commercial permit and commercial liability insurance coverage, and upload your documents to the platform, including but not limited to: 

Once you’ve obtained your commercial documents, you can upload them in the app via Work Hub.

If you become a commercial driver, you can also drive with Uber Black if your car meets the requirements for Uber Black, which you can find here.

The California Public Utilities Commission website has more information on getting your commercial licensing and other requirements to operate in California (click here for the CPUC TCP application instructions)

Local airports may require additional permitting and compliance requirements for airport transportation operations

Inshur has additional resources here.  

If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at help.uber.com.

If you are already a commercial driver, great news! You will begin earning the commercial supplement without any additional action. Just look out for the additional earnings on your offer card and trip receipts. Please note that if you are part of a Fleet or Taxi company, you will not be eligible for the commercial supplement at this time.