Is the world's best Uber driver a Macedonian retiree in Auckland?

Friday, 5 August 2022

Marika Sutinovska, a 69-year-old Uber driver, has clocked up 16,000 rides while maintaining a 5-star rating.

A Macedonian Auckland woman might just be the world’s best Uber driver – and it’s only partly to do with the aged Turkish Airlines vomit bags in her glove box.

Marika Sutinovska, a 69-year-old Mount Eden woman, has 16,400 Uber trips to her name and holds a five-star rating from the ride-share company.

The retiree has been driving for 13 years, eight of them for Uber.

In recent years, Uber has been the subject of a legal tussle as to what constitutes an employee and the company has been criticised for taking a large cut of drivers’ earnings.

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Marika Sutinovska is a 69-year-old Uber driver in Auckland. She has more than 16,000 rides with a five-star rating.

But Sutinovska loves driving as a hobby to keep her busy and out of the house during her retirement. She drives from 7am to 2pm around Mount Eden.

“It is so good to be out a little bit, otherwise what would I do at home? Argue with my partner?

Sutinovska said if she wasn’t driving she would probably be at home arguing with her husband.

“I feel very nice, so good when the people like you and give you a good star,” she said.

The red Toyota Prius Sutinovska drives is her third Prius. She calls it her “best friend”.

Sutinovska gave Stuff reporters a lift around Mount Eden in Auckland. The trip was very smooth.

She’s cultivated regulars in Mount Eden who commute into the city and students going to school.

“We are doing the job that public transport can’t do,” she said.

Her secret to a good rating is a clean car, professional dress, only talking to the rider if they want to talk and smooth driving.

“I don’t rush anywhere … just be patient, don’t argue with the people, enjoying the drive, just be patient and drive normally, you don’t need to be rushing even if you have a job.”

In Macedonia, Sutinovska was an architect. She arrived in New Zealand in 2000 but wasn’t able to cross-credit her degree and continue working in her profession, she said.

Sutinovska said she usually gives five stars to her riders. She would even give a rider a full rating if they vomited in her car but managed to get it all inside one of the airline vomit bags she’s collected from her overseas travels and keeps in the glove box.

“I was driving before in nighttime, so I was dealing with drunk people but they are not difficult at all – you just need to be polite with them, not make them nervous and just give them a [vomit] bag just in case … they just want to go home, they don’t feel so good, even if they are drunk.”

Sutinovska said her rating wasn’t five stars at the beginning, but she had received so many in the subsequent years that her average now showed as five stars on the app.

Her husband, who she said used to drive Ubers, was jealous over her rating, she said.

She attributed part of her high rating to Kiwis’ friendliness.

“New Zealanders I always say to them, they are around 50 years behind how they [Europeans] are acting, everywhere in the world, including in Macedonia, the people are more nervous, they don’t like to talk with you, they are not friendly at all,” she said.

Uber couldn’t give Sutinovska’s ranking.

However, it said in a statement: “At Uber, drivers and delivery people are at the heart of everything we do and we love to hear members of the Uber community interacting with the platform in positive ways.”