Rafael Montoya Rideshare and Delivery Driver Chicago, 60639, United States [email protected] · (312) 555-0203
17 September 2026
Mr. Dariusz Bielawski Operations Lakeshore Transit Services Chicago, United States
Application for Shuttle Driver, Lakeshore Transit Services
Dear Mr. Bielawski,
I am applying for the Shuttle Driver post at Lakeshore Transit Services. I have driven full time on rideshare and delivery platforms in Chicago for five years, roughly 11,400 completed trips, at a 4.94 star rating and a cancellation rate under 2%, with no at-fault collisions and a clean Illinois record.
I worked as an independent contractor rather than an employee, which means I ran the whole operation myself: my own vehicle, insurance, fuel and maintenance, an annual inspection each year, and quarterly filings against the platform's annual tax summary. Over those five years I cleared the annual driving and criminal history rescreening every time, averaged 42 to 48 driving hours a week, and covered 1,900 to 2,200 miles a month through Chicago winters and event traffic. Before that I spent five years on a warehouse dock, so loading, manifests and a fixed shift are familiar.
Your posting mentions a fixed morning and evening campus loop with occasional charter work. I already drive that corridor daily, and the part of your operation I would want to help with is turnaround between runs, which is where most of my own attention went as a contractor. I hold an Illinois Class D license and am ready to start the Class B with passenger endorsement at my own cost if the role requires it.
My driving abstract, my last two annual tax summaries and my inspection forms are available on request. I can start within two weeks. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Rafael Montoya
Summary
An Uber driver cover letter turns platform driving into the evidence a courier, shuttle or fleet employer wants: tenure, trip volume, rating, cancellation behavior and clean annual screening. This guide gives you a full adaptable letter, how to write self-employment without inventing a title, and the openings that get a driver file read.
Uber Driver cover letter examples by experience level
An Uber driver cover letter is a one-page letter telling a transport employer how long you have driven, how much you have driven, how you behaved while driving, and what screening you have already passed.
This guide is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Uber Technologies, Inc. Every company detail below comes from what Uber publishes openly on uber.com, cited with its retrieval date.
Guide to an Uber driver cover letter
This guide and the corresponding Uber driver cover letter example will cover:
- How to structure the letter, paragraph by paragraph
- Which platform records belong in the first paragraph
- How to write self-employment without inventing a job title
- What to say when a figure is not in your own account
How to write an Uber driver cover letter
| Paragraph | Its job | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | The post, your tenure, your trip volume, your record | 2 to 3 sentences |
| Evidence | One number on behavior, one on safety, one on scale | 4 to 5 sentences |
| Fit | Something real about their operation | 3 to 4 sentences |
| Close | License class, screening, availability | 2 sentences |
Open with volume and behavior, not with enthusiasm
A dispatcher reading driver applications is predicting three things: will this person show up, will they finish the run, will they cost us a claim. Platform driving already measured all three. Uber publishes that "your driver rating is an average of the last 500 ratings from your riders", that drivers earn "one point for every trip you take" toward its loyalty tiers, and that it "reruns driving and criminal history checks at least every year" through providers "nationally accredited by the Professional Background Screening Association (PBSA)" (uber.com, retrieved 17 September 2026).
So the first paragraph writes itself: five years, 11,400 trips, 4.94 rating, cancellation under 2%, rescreening cleared, no at-fault collisions.
An Uber driver cover letter example you can adapt
Dear Mr. Bielawski,
I am applying for the Shuttle Driver post at Lakeshore Transit Services. I have driven full time on rideshare and delivery platforms in Chicago for five years, roughly 11,400 completed trips, at a 4.94 star rating and a cancellation rate under 2%, with no at-fault collisions and a clean Illinois record.
I worked as an independent contractor rather than an employee, which means I ran the whole operation myself: my own vehicle, insurance, fuel and maintenance, an annual inspection each year, and quarterly filings against the platform's annual tax summary. Over those five years I cleared the annual driving and criminal history rescreening every time, averaged 42 to 48 driving hours a week, and covered 1,900 to 2,200 miles a month through Chicago winters and event traffic. Before that I spent five years on a warehouse dock, so loading, manifests and a fixed shift are familiar.
Your posting mentions a fixed morning and evening campus loop with occasional charter work. I already drive that corridor daily, and the part of your operation I would want to help with is turnaround between runs, which is where most of my own attention went as a contractor. I hold an Illinois Class D license and am ready to start the Class B with passenger endorsement at my own cost if the role requires it.
My driving abstract, my last two annual tax summaries and my inspection forms are available on request. I can start within two weeks. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely, Rafael Montoya
Openings that work
| Instead of | Use |
|---|---|
| I am passionate about driving and helping people get around | I have driven full time on rideshare and delivery platforms for five years, roughly 11,400 trips |
| I am writing to express my interest in your driver position | I am applying for the Shuttle Driver post, with a clean Illinois record and no at-fault collisions |
| I am a reliable and hardworking individual | 4.94 star rating, cancellation rate under 2%, annual rescreening cleared |
| I believe I would be an asset to your team | Your posting mentions a fixed campus loop, the corridor I drive daily |
Self-employment: write the business, not a title
Platform drivers are usually independent contractors, and Uber's tax guidance says so: "as an independent contractor, you may owe quarterly taxes on your Uber earnings" (uber.com, retrieved 17 September 2026).
No employer gave you a job title, so do not invent one. A letter calling its writer a "Senior Rideshare Professional" reads as someone who does not know how hiring works. What you have instead is a real argument: you ran a small vehicle business, and what it demanded is what a fleet employer pays for.
| What the contractor life required | How it reads to a fleet employer |
|---|---|
| Your own vehicle, insurance and fuel | Understands cost per mile already |
| Annual inspection and maintenance at your own cost | Will not hide a fault until it is a breakdown |
| Quarterly filings and a mileage log | Keeps records without being chased |
Lead with tenure, trip volume and behavior numbers. Say you were an independent contractor and what that meant in practice. Give the license class and state exactly as your license reads. Offer the driving abstract, the tax summary and the inspection forms.
Do not invent a job title or imply an employer relationship that did not exist. Do not quote a figure you cannot produce on request. Do not describe platform pay rates, internal algorithms or deactivation rules; you cannot verify them. Do not apologize for gig work; a fleet manager reads five continuous years as an asset.
When a number is not available in your account
Say what you can evidence, and say where it comes from.
Not every driver can read a lifetime trip count off their account in a form they could show someone. If you cannot, do not estimate. Use the months you were continuously active, the miles from your annual tax summary, the trips completed in one documented year, or the consecutive periods you held a loyalty tier. "Roughly 2,300 trips in 2025, from my annual summary" beats a number you cannot back.
The same rule covers ratings. Uber states that the driver rating "is an average of the last 500 ratings from your riders" (uber.com, retrieved 17 September 2026), so it is a rolling recent measure. Writing "4.94 across the rolling 500-trip window, 11,400 lifetime trips" shows you understand your own record.
The published median is for the occupation, not the platform
BLS reports platform driving inside the occupation taxi drivers, shuttle drivers and chauffeurs, whose median annual wage was $37,960 in May 2025, with no formal educational credential typically required (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Transportation and Material Moving Occupations, last modified 27 August 2026).
That describes the occupation as a wage, and platform driving is not paid as a wage; it is paid per trip to a contractor who supplies the vehicle. So it is not what a platform pays you, and nobody publishes that.
Where it is useful is direction. The adjacent driving occupations on the same page all pay more: delivery truck drivers and driver/sales workers at $43,950, bus drivers at $49,390, and heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at $58,640, all May 2025 medians. BLS also projects employment in transportation and material moving occupations to grow about as fast as the average, with about 1.6 million openings each year on average over the decade. Your letter's job is to move you into one of those seats.
Length, format and sending it
One page, four paragraphs, 250 to 400 words. PDF unless the portal says otherwise, named for yourself and the post: rafael-montoya-shuttle-driver-cover-letter.pdf. Address a person where you can; the dispatcher or operations manager is often named on the site. Use the same numbers as your resume; our Uber driver resume example uses the figures here.
Key takeaways
- Open with tenure, trip volume and your behavior numbers.
- Say you were an independent contractor, and what that required of you.
- Never invent a job title; write the business line instead.
- Give the rating with the window it averages over.
- Only quote figures you can produce, and offer the documents.
- Name the license class and state exactly as your license reads.
- Aim the letter at the next job up: courier, shuttle or fleet.
Write your driver cover letter in 10 minutes with our AI cover letter builder.
Uber driver cover letter questions, answered
Do I need a cover letter for a driving job?
Attach one wherever there is a field for it. Driver applications collect the same structured data from everyone, so the letter is the only place to put trip volume, a rating and a clean screening history in front of the reader.
How do I describe Uber driving in a cover letter?
As self-employment with the platform named. "I have driven full time on rideshare and delivery platforms for five years, roughly 11,400 completed trips" tells a dispatcher more than a job title would, and it is verifiable against documents you can hand over.
Should I mention my star rating?
Yes, with the window and the volume behind it. Uber publishes that the driver rating "is an average of the last 500 ratings from your riders" (uber.com, retrieved 17 September 2026), so quoting it with the trip count shows what it covers. A 5.0 over 40 trips is not the same claim as 4.94 over 11,400.
What if I do not have a commercial license yet?
Say so, and say what you are doing about it. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration notes that "State governments are responsible for issuing CDLs" and that endorsements may be required for a passenger vehicle (fmcsa.dot.gov, retrieved 17 September 2026). Many employers reimburse the process for a driver with a clean record, so offer to start it.
Is gig driving a weakness on an application?
Only if you write it as one. Five continuous years of contractor driving with annual screening, annual inspections and no at-fault collisions is a stronger safety record than most applicants show. Vagueness is what reads badly, so put the numbers in.