‘This is why I deleted Uber’: Customer books $12 Uber. Then they charged her $23 instead
This rider says Uber charged her double what she agreed to pay. Commenters urge her to use Lyft instead.
"Why is Uber just allowed to charge however much they want and no one questions them about anything ever?" TikToker Myah Elliott (@yomrants), who has nearly half a million followers, said.
In a video, Elliott explained that it was almost midnight and she had missed her bus. So she decided to book an Uber.
The app said it would be $12 for a 12-minute ride, which was fine by Elliott.
But the next morning, Elliott is taken aback when she sees her Uber receipt the next morning.
She said they charged her nearly double the original cost.
"As a result of expenses associated with California's commercial auto insurance requirements, the Booking Fee has increased," the receipt stated.
Elliott assumed the increase would mean a few extra bucks, not double the price.
"Why is this auto instance expense not included when I paid for the Uber initially," she asked.
Elliott added that she was extra frustrated because she couldn't speak to a real person about the matter and fight the charge.
To make matters worse, Elliott is Canadian, so with the conversion rate, the ride was likely closer to $31-$35 for, again, a 12-minute ride.
@yomrants And what if my card declined the new total, THEN WHAT #greenscreen #uber #storytimes #rant #yomrants ♬ original sound - myah elliott
The trending video gained about 15,000 views as of Sunday.
What is this charge?
The Daily Dot scoured the internet for an explanation of this California-specific charge but only found a Reddit thread on the matter. There are no news articles that delve into the matter, and Uber's website doesn't mention the California distinction.
The Reddit thread confirmed that other riders have had this charge pop up for them after initially accepting the ride at a lower cost.
One Redditor, who travels to Los Angeles often, said that they've noticed a jump in Uber costs within the last year.
"Noticed my rides along the same routes I usually take have been significantly more expensive since the last time I was here in July, and just today noticed the increased fee message on my receipts," they wrote. "Last night I got charged a $20 booking fee for what would have been a $31 trip."
Many agreed that the booking fee was too high. Others said their main issue is that Uber doesn't disclose the fee upfront and forces riders to agree to pay an unknown amount.
What is Uber's policy?
Uber's website doesn't specifically address how California's commercial auto insurance requirements differ in cost from other states. Instead, they give a general overview stating that personal auto insurance doesn't cover ridesharing, so Uber maintains commercial auto insurance coverage (which is required by law) for drivers and builds the cost into rides.
Riders can see the expense breakdown in their weekly statement.
A TechCrunch article stated that Uber described the commercial insurance costs in California to be "baselessly higher" than other states. "Up to thirty times that of taxis and thirty times that of personal vehicles,” an Uber spokesperson said in an emailed statement to TechCrunch.
"As a result of these lopsided requirements, personal injury attorneys have created a cottage industry specializing in suing rideshare platforms like ours, pushing Uber’s California state-mandated commercial insurance costs to rise by more than 65% in just two years," the person added.
Because of this rising cost, Uber increased the minimum age for California drivers to 25, up from 21.
Commenters react
"Use Lyft it’s always 3-10$ cheaper?" a person advised.
"if u dispute they [either] refund or give u credit!!" a commenter suggested.
"They should have let you know before hand. That’s crazyyy," another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Elliott for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to Uber via email.
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