What car do you need to drive for Uber or DiDi in Adelaide?

South Australia’s rules (they apply to every platform)

• Driver accreditation from the Department for Infrastructure and Transport’s Accreditation and Licensing Centre: a full South Australian licence, police clearances and minimum fitness requirements.
• Operator accreditation for whoever operates the vehicle. If you drive a car you own, you need both.
• A passenger-transport inspection of the vehicle every year at an authorised inspection station, with the inspection sticker on the windscreen.
• The rideshare class of Compulsory Third Party insurance, and the booking service’s signage on the car.
• A maximum vehicle age for metropolitan rideshare, set by DIT. The department’s fact sheet gives it as 8 years; check the current figure with DIT.

The Accreditation and Licensing Centre publishes the current requirements on sa.gov.au, linked below.

Uber’s vehicle requirements in Adelaide

• UberX: 8 years old or less by year of manufacture, 4 doors, seats for 4 to 7 passengers plus the driver.
• A 5-star ANCAP safety rating (or Uber’s exemption policy), registered and CTP-insured in South Australia, and a passed vehicle inspection.
• Uber Comfort: manufactured within the last 7 years and on Uber’s eligible model list.
• UberXL: seats for 6 to 7 passengers plus the driver.

DiDi’s vehicle requirements in Adelaide

• 10 years old or newer, 4 doors, seats for 4 to 6 passengers, and not an ex-taxi.
• A vehicle inspection passed in the past 12 months, with CTP and third-party or comprehensive insurance.
• For the driver: an unrestricted Australian licence held for at least 12 months, and an ABN with GST registration.

So which car?

Drivers who do this for a living optimise four things: fuel per kilometre, comfort over a long shift, a boot that takes airport luggage, and a car that stays inside the platforms’ age limits. That is why the Toyota Camry Hybrid is the Adelaide rideshare standard, and why 55 of our 81 vehicles are Camry Hybrids: five seats, automatic, three large bags, hybrid economy.

For UberXL you need six or seven passenger seats: a people mover such as the Kia Carnival Hybrid (eight seats). For DiDi, note the six-passenger ceiling.

Hiring versus owning

Owning means a deposit or a loan, servicing, tyres, roadside cover, rego and the day the car ages out of the platform’s limit. Hiring by the week turns all of that into one number, with maintenance and 24/7 roadside included and unlimited kilometres, and you hand the car back when you stop.

Whoever you hire from, check three things: that the car has a current passenger-transport inspection and the rideshare CTP class, who holds the operator accreditation, and that rideshare use is allowed under the hire agreement. With us, choose “Approved rideshare” when you book and the hire is set up for that use.

ABN, GST and your costs

Rideshare drivers must have an ABN and register for GST from the first dollar, whatever their turnover: the Australian Taxation Office treats ride-sourcing as a taxi service for GST purposes. Your weekly hire is a business expense; keep a logbook and talk to an accountant who knows rideshare.