If you are considering driving for Uber and/or Lyft, then you need to prepare yourself to succeed and maintain a good star rating. Now star ratings are based on a number of factors, and these include first impressions, driving, and overall experience. I won’t tell you how to drive, and I am not discussing overall experience here, what I am concentrating on is first impressions, and that comes from what you wear.
OK, first impressions actually start from how fast you reached your pick up, how great your car looks from the outside, how clean your car is, and what it smells of. After that comes what you wear and how you appear.
Let’s split this article into two sections, what you should wear, and what you shouldn’t wear.
What you should wear is dependent on the car you drive and the clientele you intended to pick up, and this might sound daft, but when you drive a standard Uber X, you will dress up differently to an Uber Black driver. Now you do you understand.
OK, back to the dress code.
Let’s start with Uber X drivers. We can split this into cold and hot weather code.
Cold weather dress code requires warm clothes, clean clothes and preferably clothes that will keep you dry if you need to get out of the car in the rain or snow. The clothes you actually wear are up to you; you are an independent contractor, so the only dress code is yours. With this, I doubt if you will get a lot of tips if you dress up intimidating, or garish. On the other hand, you don’t want to wear shorts with flip-flops in the winter, it looks daft, but it might get a few laughs. Who knows, I never tried it.
The bottom line for winter or night time, so long as you are not naked, or even half-naked, just wear normal everyday clothes and you will get through the day comfortably.
For summer, or hot days, its best to wear light clothes, but again, don’t wear flip-flops. Sandals are fine, as well as shorts too, but don’t be too revealing; some customers may be prudes and get offended. Remember, your star rating is dependent on many things, and one of them is how you dress.
The most important thing to remember is that the Uber X driver is driving everyone from anywhere to everywhere, they are hoping their driver is sane and stable, and if possible fun to be with. As such, the clothes you wear have a direct impact on the perception that has a direct impact on tips and star ratings.
The bottom line to what to wear is to wear everyday standard clothes, average clothes, clothes that you are comfortable in unless that happens to be Spiderman costume, which is great too, and possible will win a few laughs.
For Uber Black or upscale driving, you will want to wear a suit. Basically, an Uber black driver is a limo driver, and wearing a suit and tie goes well with the cars appearance and the overall perception and experience the client has. The other option is casual but with a light, upbeat style, in other words, jeans in a Merc., look good if you own the Merc., and if you do own your Merc., and drive for Uber, let the passenger wear the jeans.
What Not to Wear
Now, remember that clothes do affect your driving loose fitting footwear will impact your driving performance and impact safety. So do not wear loose footwear such as flip-flops, crocs, and other such loose wear.
Don’t wear see-through materials over a naked body; it can be off-putting to some, unless you look like Chris Hemsworth or Scarlett Johansson, in which case, showing some flesh can cause a heart attack. So don’t.
Try not to wear headgear, a baseball cap is fine, but anything else looks weird.
Do not wear “cool” sunglasses unless its daytime and sunny, sunglasses might look cool on film or on an idiot gangsta, but when driving and trying to portray solid safe driving, you don’t want to look like a blues brother.
Conclusions
You can dress any way you like, just be prepared to face the consequences.
