What: Wingz is a high-end car service that connects drivers with people who need pre-arranged rides, often to and from the airport. 

Expected pay: $25 + per ride

Husl $core: $$$

Where: California, Texas, Phoenix, Seattle, Portland.

Requirements: 

  • Be at least 21 years of age.
  • Possess a valid driver’s license .
  • Have auto insurance that covers both you and your car and that has no exclusions for driving people for pay.
  • Have a car, five years old or younger
  • Pass DMV and background screening
  • Have a smart phone, iPhone or Android

Review:

The challenge with some ride-sharing apps is that you may be asked to perform a number of short-haul trips that don’t pay enough to make providing the ride worthwhile. And, you never know when you sign in whether there will be enough ride requests to make the time worthwhile.

Wingz solves that by focusing on pre-arranged rides to and from the airport and to pre-set appointments. The company is cagey about how much drivers earn. However, drivers say the cost per ride is $2 per mile and that Wingz takes 12% of that. So you’d earn $1.76 per mile. For a 20-mile pick-up, that pays a reasonable $35.20. The app also doesn’t add drivers when it believes it has enough for existing demand, and it provides business cards so that you can establish a regular customer base, which are also positives. 

That said, these are generally one-way trips. So when accounting for your time and costs, remember that you are generally not going to have a fare going the other direction. If you happen to live nearby one of the many airports that Wingz services, this could be a pretty good deal. But you may want to also sign up for another ride share application, such as Uber or Lyft, to fill in the other side of the trip. 

Those in California metro centers, may also want to consider driving kids through Ride Zum, Kango or HopSkipDrive. All three promise higher rates of pay than typical ride sharing apps. However, ride sharing and delivery apps have also become more profitable in recent months for two reasons: The pandemic has reduced the number of people willing to drive, and California’s Prop. 22 is ushering in new rules, which include a minimum wage for engaged time. When the new rules go into effect in January 2021, we believe driving for Uber, Lyft, GrubHub and DoorDash will become a better deal. 

What their drivers say: (from UberPeople.net)

You have to build up your own private client list with them. Its for frequent business travelers who want the same driver every time. Trips are pre-scheduled in advance. It’s up to you to find your own clients so they add drivers slowly. Only sign up if you do the airport regularly and want to hand out business cards to be peoples personal driver. Decent pay and good tips, but they expect black car service. You wont get many if any random pings.

Yep … pays $2/mi … but they only take 12%. Though it’s hard to swallow $2/mi when you’re used to $2.75 or $3.75

*Updated 11/19/2020