Video by Eric Gardner and Sam Quigley
Uber blames rising insurance costs. But one analysis found the fee Uber charges for insurance tracks the price of the ride, not the risk.
TRANSCRIPT
ERIC GARDNER, MORE PERFECT UNION: Everything is expensive right now, but the rides you take to work, to the airport, home from the bar — that’s climbing higher than almost anything
Uber’s CEO was asked where the money’s going.
CLIP OF DARA KHOSROWSHAHI, CEO OF UBER: Well, I think it is about inflation. Our drivers need to make a living.
GARDNER: And maybe he’s right. So check. Pull up a fare and do the math.
The problem is, you can’t check.
Since 2022, Uber uses an algorithm no one outside the company can see to set prices and wages. In 2024, I ran an experiment with seven drivers. Different pay for the same rides. Uber said we got it wrong. In 2026, Consumer Reports tested the other side: 174 riders, same trip, different prices, and fake promotions.
Uber said they got it wrong.
Drivers have been pooling receipts. Not seven. Not 174. Millions.
But one driver noticed charges that don’t add up the way they should. Same driver. Same ride. Different fee.
LEVI SPIRES, UBER DRIVER: So somebody’s getting rich off of it. I don’t know. Not me. Not the passenger.
GARDNER: Every one of those charges comes out of the same place: The fare you pay.
So I started to investigate, and it led me places I never expected. An Ivy League business school. A little-known insurance company in Hawai’i. And an amendment to a transportation bill.
None of it looks connected. But it all ends up on the same receipt. Yours.
