Thread by @frodofied

RECENTLY, as a way to achieve a higher level of self sufficiency my friend @Solutioneer72 helped me get a few things organized around the idea of me entering the rideshare economy. We felt that the best route would be to enter one the available rental programs. Big mistake.
1/

After some research I chose @Lyft Express and mainly because it is the most affordable of the various options. By choosing this program, however, I was limiting my opportunities to only Lyft. It was a big risk.

Last Monday I had a 1 PM appointment to pick up a vehicle.

2/

The appointnent was at a n @Avis location in Franklin Park, Il. I was in no way prepared for the chaos I would encounter.

I will not go into detail about that experience because it was overwhelming and unprofessional.

3/

Two hours after arriving I was finally assigned a vehicle that I was told had been inspected. And while nobody was exactly sure where it was they knew it was on the far side of the lot and said I should use the panic button to find it.

I was looking for a '17 Jeep Renegade.

4/

As suggested, I found the vehicle by utilizing the electronic key's panic button. I was more than a bit nonplussed when I finally found it, however.

The car was not what I considered clean or even presentable.

There were stains all over the back seat (see pics).

5/

It had not been vacuumed, and one of the grocery nets at the back of the vehicle was shredded. But the worst problems were ones not visible.

The first was the overpowering smell of cigarette and other types of smoking. It smelled utterly disgusting.

7_

Next, there was a digital message indicating that the front passenger side tire was at 22 psi and needed to be inflated to 35. I found the message by accident. Having witnessed the chaos & having overhead many exchanges that took place during my time I knew I was in trouble.

8/

There had been a shortage of vehicles at the location all day so getting a different one was almost certainly out of the question, but I could at least have them fill the tire.

Right?

But I was told the issue had been taken care of & some setting or other needed resetting.

9/

I began the drive home highly depressed. I'd imagined the experience to be much different. Reality sucked.

The rental terms are obnoxious with all benefit and favour going to Lyft/Avis. The drivers are doing little more than becoming modern day indentured servants.

10/

The rental costs are $260 a week, which covers basic maintenance and a pathetic level of insurance. And by taking possession of the car each driver becomes responsible for basically any accidental damage done to the vehicle. The costs are enormous. A flat? $250 per tire.

11/

But this opportunity was one I needed and so I tried to be optimistic.

That was stupid.

First, the smell of smoke was so overwhelming that it took nearly three and half days of Febreeze and open windows in order to make the vehicle passenger ready.

12/

This sent me into panic mode. On Friday I was now in the unenviable position of having to complete at least 17 rides to even keep the vehicle, and would have to hope the rides I got would cover the rental costs.

But around 10 PM last night things got grim.

13/

I noticed that the message about the tire pressure had changed and indicated that it had fallen to 18 PSI and a short time later it was down to 17 PSI. I decided to call it a night and I left Chi to drive home. Along the way I stopped at a gas station in order to add air.

14/

Now I don't know much about cars but I know how to add air to a tire. When I attempted to remove the cap from the valve air begin to rush out from the stem at an incredibly High rate of pressure. It took 2 attempts & much effort to reattach the cap but much air had escaped.

15/

The tire was now at 10 psi and I was 15 miles from home. With few options I realized I was going to have to drive the rest of the way home with the tire in this unsafe state.

So now my position has worsened in that I will not be able to work for most of the day.

16/

There's no way to safely transport passengers in the vehicle and by the time I am able to communicate this issue to Lyft and we come up with some sort of solution I will probably have less than 12 hours to reach my minimum ride requirement. It gets worse.

17/

In all likelihood I am going to actually owe Lyft somewhere in the region of $100 for the weekly rental cost for the vehicle.

I had already been having difficulty even coming up with gas funds to actually use the car as intended.

One step forward ten back.

18/

Thanks to @slb42jcb I would have at least had the gas money needed.

I wish now that I had made a decision to purchase a vehicle instead of renting one. This is a total nightmare.

I will probably end tonight in the red and lose the vehicle in the process.

Yaaaay.

19/

I am utterly exhausted by all of this.

Be careful what you wish for my friends.

#Lyft #LyftExpress #Avis

Update: I contacted @Lyft Express support about this at 5 30 am and was told to wait for their answer.

It is 11:59 and I am still waiting.

At @AskLyft maybe you could possibly read the above thread and make something happen.