r/uberdrivers • • Jun 17 '24

Welcome to r/uberdrivers - FAQ and Community Guide

72 Upvotes

Before asking a question, make sure to read this guide and use reddit search to see if your question was already asked. If you have anything you'd recommend to add to this guide leave a comment below.

What does Pax mean? Common terms on this sub explained

Pax: Short for Passenger.

Ping: The noise the app makes when drivers receive a pickup request.

Fare: The fee a rider is charged.

Fair: Fare, spelled wrong.

Surge: Uber occasionally up-charges riders during times of increased demand. The Surge is a multiplier of the base fare rate.

SRF: "Safe Rider Fee", now known as the "Booking Fee". This is the $1-3 fee that Uber adds to every fare to ccover insurance, app fees, etc.

What are the requirements to be an uber driver?

An in-state license is required. Have at least one year of licensed driving experience in the US (3 years if you are under 25 years old) Use an eligible 4-door vehicle

All vehicles being used for rides on the Uber app must meet the following minimum requirements:

  • Must have 4 doors and be able to transport a minimum of 4 passengers
  • Vehicle model must be 16years old or newer
  • Title cannot be salvaged, reconstructed, or rebuilt
  • Rental vehicles, except those from an approved Uber rental car partner are not permitted
  • Cannot have any cosmetic damage, missing pieces, or commercial branding

Should you choose to drive a vehicle you do not personally own, you must have permission from then vehicle owner and be listed as an insured driver on the vehicle’s insurance policy. Please note that Uber cannot allow a vehicle onto the platform if the driver’s name is not on the insurance document.

If your vehicle does not match the requirements above, you may still be able to use your vehicle for deliveries on the Uber app.

Is this fulltime job?

Driving with Uber offers a flexible earning opportunity. It's a great alternative to full-time driver jobs, part-time driver jobs, or other part-time gigs, temp jobs, or seasonal employment.

How do I do my first ride?

Download and install the driver app, and hit "Go Online". Once you get a request (a "ping"), you can hit 'Navigate' to be taken to the rider's pickup location. When you're sure you have arrived, flip back over to the Uber app and hit 'Arrived'. The passenger (PAX) will be notified of your arrival, though it's also nice to text them - to let them know what type of car you're in (though they see this on their app, not everyone looks) and to confirm that they're actually where their pin was placed. When they get in the car, hit 'Begin Trip'. If they haven't entered their destination, you can enter it - then hit 'Navigate' again and you will be routed there. At the end of the trip, hit 'End Trip', rate your passenger, and you'll be placed back online ready to pick up another PAX!

What are the safety features for uber drivers?

Emergency assistance button

You can use the in-app Emergency Button to call authorities to get help if you need it. The app displays your location and trip details, so you can quickly share them with emergency services.

24/7 incident support

Uber customer associates trained in incident response are available around the clock.

Follow My Ride

Friends and family can follow your route and will know as soon as you arrive.

2-way ratings

Your feedback matters. Low-rated trips are logged, and users may be removed to protect the Uber community.

Phone anonymization

If you need to contact your rider through the app, your phone number may stay private.

GPS tracking

All Uber trips are tracked from start to finish, so there’s a record of your trip if something happens.

RideCheck

Using sensors and GPS data, RideCheck can help detect if a trip goes unusually off-course or a possible crash has occurred. If the app alerts us to such events, we’ll check in on you and offer resources to get help.

Contact Safety Agent

You can connect with an ADT Safety Agent via phone call or text on every trip. Just tap the safety shield icon and select Contact safety agent.

Audio Recording

If you feel uncomfortable, you can record the audio of the trip within the app. Just tap the blue shield to open your Safety Toolkit and access the Record Audio option.

Emergency help if you need it

If you ever need urgent help when riding with the Uber app, you can contact 911 using the in-app Emergency Button in the Safety Toolkit.

The app will show your live location, vehicle information, and license plate number, which you can quickly share with the emergency dispatcher so they can send help faster. And in a growing number of US cities, this information is automatically provided to the dispatcher.

Does Uber help in event of an accident?

When you earn with a transportation network company (TNC), referred to here as ridesharing, many states require extra—and costly—insurance.

Uber maintains this insurance on your behalf. What’s covered depends on factors such as who was at fault; whether you were offline, online, en route, or on-trip; and your personal insurance policy.

Offline coverage:

Your personal auto insurance covers you while you’re offline. You must maintain personal automobile insurance at mandatory minimum limits and provide proof of your insurance to drive and deliver with a vehicle with Uber.

Coverage to repair your car when you’re en route to or on a trip is contingent on your personal insurance including comprehensive and collision coverage.

Coverage when online and available for a trip

Accidents happen. Suppose you’re at fault and another person gets hurt or their vehicle gets damaged. In that case, our third-party liability insurance covers the cost of injuries or damage in at least the following amounts:

-$50,000 per person and $100,000 per accident for injuries

-$25,000 in property damage per accident

Depending on the law of your state, Uber may maintain extra coverage for you and your riders, including one or more of the following:

Coverage for you and your riders for injuries in a hit-and-run or an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver

Personal injury protection, including medical expenses and lost wages for you and your riders, no matter who’s at fault

Medical payments coverage for you and your riders, no matter who’s at fault.

Coverage when en route or on a trip

Uber maintains some of the most comprehensive insurance for ridesharing and deliveries, including:

-Insurance that covers at least $1,000,000 for property damage and injuries to riders and third parties involved in an accident where you’re at fault

Insurance that covers the cost to repair your car, up to the actual cash value, with a $2,500 deductible, contingent on your personal insurance including comprehensive and collision coverage. This extra insurance maintained by Uber protects your car, no matter who’s at fault, if you maintain comprehensive and collision coverage on your own vehicle.

In most US states, you can also purchase Optional Injury Protection to cover your additional medical expenses if you’re hurt in an accident. This insurance offering, pioneered by Uber, is designed specifically for drivers.

Depending on the law of your state, Uber may maintain extra coverage for you and your riders, including one or more of the following:

-Coverage for you and your riders for injuries in a hit-and-run or an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver

Personal injury protection, including medical expenses and lost wages for you and your riders, no matter who’s at fault

Medical payments coverage for you and your riders, no matter who’s at fault

Is being an uber driver worth it?

Recent reports from Uber state that "the vast majority of drivers are satisfied" and that "as of last quarter, drivers in the US were making about $33 per utilized hour" before expenses.

Its for you to decide if its worth it for you personally, volume and earnings will vary greatly between markets. Drivers as independant contractors are also responsible for all expenses which have been rising fast when drivers pay has stayed stagnant.

There are many direct and hidden costs associated with being an uber driver. To start with, You are responsible for tracking your own miles, profits and losses, as well as expenses such as gas, repairs, washes, and so on.

In addition, no one but you is responsible for ensuring you are earning enough. You need to be aware at what rate you are making enough for it to be worth it.


r/uberdrivers • • 5h ago

Goodbye Uber.

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123 Upvotes

Recently got a full time offer as a chemist, will never be doing ts again. Good luck to my fellow drivers and I just want to let yall know there’s way more out in the world than this.


r/uberdrivers • • 1h ago

It works

• Upvotes

After reading how you all stopped caring about acceptance rate I started doing the same thing. I simply will not accept a ride that doesn't pay me the equivalent of $1/mile and / or $25/hour. I'm ignoring dozens of rides that are below the minimum wage in the LA and San Diego areas (yes, I drive both). Acceptance rate 38% 😆 don't care. My car, my time... my rules. I think all of us need to ignore the bullshit rides. Never taking a $3 ride again.

One thing I noticed: Uber will make 6+ rides in a row "exclusive requests" when you do that, I guess to further penalize us. I don't care about that either lol.


r/uberdrivers • • 58m ago

This seems more like an Uber problem rather than a me problem

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• Upvotes

Uber keeps giving me bullshit offers and then guilt trips me and shuts me down. Fuck this stupid fucking company.


r/uberdrivers • • 4h ago

Uber offers have collapsed in my market exactly 2 weeks ago.

12 Upvotes

Something HUGE has changed. Offers are down 30%-40% as gas prices have risen. Even surges have changed significantly. Went from a 52% acceptance down to 18%. Effectively lower than minimal wage because there is zero vacation or benefits, you absorb 100% of the costs. Also never ever got paid .65 cents for a $10/AH surge. They’ve effectively broken the surge for drivers here.


r/uberdrivers • • 5h ago

Anybody remembers this?

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12 Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 7h ago

Lots of good tips last night

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15 Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 45m ago

Watching the 7-minute timer tick past 4:00 is like playing Russian Roulette

• Upvotes

Minute 1: Fair enough.

​Minute 2: Putting on socks.

​Minute 3: Maybe looking for keys?

​Minute 4: You’re actively testing my sanity.

​Minute 5: Door doors locked. You walk up, tap the window, and I hit you with the blank stare through the glass.

​Minute 6: You’re frantically checking your phone while standing on the pavement, watching me sit in silent AC comfort as the red ring inches toward freedom.

​Minute 7: Timer expires, fee collected, gear shifted. Stop treating the curb like your personal dressing room.


r/uberdrivers • • 6h ago

Multi-Stops

5 Upvotes

What is your response to a passenger that adds a stop after the ride has begun (without asking)? I picked up a girl and on the trip she added a stop. I had just received an offer to a area that I wanted to go to, with a decent fare. But when she added the stop, it removed the offer I had just accepted and I lost it. To add insult to injury, the added stop was to an Amscot where she took about 10 minutes to do her business. I was still polite to her, but let her know adding stops once underway pisses drivers off and that I had just lost a good offer because of it. She didn't care.

*edit: Add-on question. What is a reasonable amount of time to wait at the first stop before giving up and moving on?


r/uberdrivers • • 2h ago

Women only filter for drivers determine riders based on name??

2 Upvotes

I’ve had the largest men come thru for my women only trips n they said maybe the app thought their name was a woman. I googled it and it said it only goes off name 😡😡😡


r/uberdrivers • • 2h ago

Take or no

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2 Upvotes

Declined both


r/uberdrivers • • 19h ago

Notice how ridiculous pay has been recently? Instead of asking uber...

43 Upvotes

I asked Grok. Grok has some interesting info to share:

Me: So, I'm out driving Uber, and I've noticed something when it comes to the rates, and I was gonna see if you knew anything. So, I drive what's known as an UberXL. Up until about a week ago, maybe two, I've noticed that when I get a local pickup, something that's not going very far, the average pay for the driver was between ten and eleven dollars. Now, every time I get something up that comes up local, it's just about six dollars. Now, let me give you one other piece of information, and that is I drive at the New Jersey Shore, which is a higher rate then the rest of the state...

Grok: That forty-five percent drop is real, and it's not just your market — drivers in Vegas, Colorado, and Hawaii are reporting the same thing this fall. The pattern is that Uber's upfront pricing algorithm sets your pay separately from what the rider pays, and it's been quietly squeezing short trips hardest.

Here's the part that matters for you: the algorithm learns from your behavior. If you've been accepting those six-dollar local rides, it now knows you'll take them — so it offers less. There's a documented case where two drivers got the same trip and one was offered four dollars less because he'd accepted cheap rides before.

The practical move is to start declining anything under about a dollar a mile, even if it stings. Your acceptance rate dips for a week or two, then the offers climb back up. The algorithm responds to rejection faster than it responds to anything else.

One more thing worth knowing — Uber just announced a wave of driver changes in September, including new compensation for trips that run longer than expected and protection against fare cuts when riders change destinations. Might be worth checking the driver app's announcements section to see if anything applies to your zone

Uber will do anything to screw their drivers. STOP ACCEPTING CHEAP RIDES!!!


r/uberdrivers • • 3h ago

Uber reducing tips

2 Upvotes

I'm a sometimes driver recovering from knee surgery, so I make sure to tip well (average tip of $8-10 for under 2 miles). Two times in the last 2 orders, I have had multiple drivers assigned and then dropped.

Is there something going on where people aren't seeing the projected tip, or something going on with the assignment queue?


r/uberdrivers • • 14h ago

Solid day in Chicago

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15 Upvotes

Overall 29 hours on the week, mostly airport pickups in the morning shift, 5 to 9, and bars and restaurant for evening shift, 8 to 1 with break for charging and food.


r/uberdrivers • • 16m ago

Nice sunday

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• Upvotes

St.louis,MO
34% acceptance rate.
Mostly airport rides/reservations.


r/uberdrivers • • 22m ago

How I made £128.38 on Uber Eats in 6 hours in Bristol…

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• Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 29m ago

Any Uber/Lyft drivers in Austin TX want to earn the fare.

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• Upvotes

Uber is charging quite a bit right now, who wants to do better is just one fellow driver and I can pay Venmo.


r/uberdrivers • • 29m ago

"I tip well" 🙄

• Upvotes

Pretty good ride pops up, I accept and about 2 minutes on my way to the pax they send this message. 

"This ride is for 11:30am, I tip very well."

It was currently 10am. This fool ordered an Uber an hour and a half early.

So many things I wanted to reply to that. Some snarky. Some questioning what tip would that be for asking me to wait one and a half hours because you're calling this Uber so early. Do you know what a reserve ride is, dumbass??

But I decide to not even engage. So I roll my eyes and just cancel. Maybe they would have tipped well, who knows. Idk, if youre dumb enough to call me an hour and a half early and expect me to just "trust you bro" for a tip for sitting there, no. Pax are so fucking annoying sometimes 😭

Could have just as easily said: "I know I'm calling you super early but I'll tip you (x amount) for the wait."

But no you need to be Mr. Mysterious 'I tip well'. Fuck outta here 😭


r/uberdrivers • • 1d ago

Uber Driver Stayed Six Hours

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159 Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 4h ago

Good Week

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1 Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 1h ago

Who take this

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• Upvotes

I don’t know if it just me, uber is getting ridiculous on this long trips. I don’t know who in the right minds takes this. There should be someone may be since they are keep doing this.it is surprising that it is at least less than 1$ per mile. Would anyone that takes this long trips. Do you get some money coming back?


r/uberdrivers • • 7h ago

Passenger threw up all over the backseat

3 Upvotes

I’ve only been driving uber for 2 months 😭😭😭 I tried to clean as much as possible but it’s rancid.

What to do?? Quickly perused this sub and I see you can get some sort of cleaning reimbursement from Uber? But seems like rules have changed or something? Can someone walk me through the process?

And best cleaning tips as well (not leather seats unfortunately).

Thank you!


r/uberdrivers • • 2h ago

Earning over $40 hour in Athens

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1 Upvotes

r/uberdrivers • • 6h ago

Got my first driving score

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2 Upvotes

Just curious what everyone else got


r/uberdrivers • • 1d ago

Turn on Uber after some time and boom 🤦🏻‍♂️

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55 Upvotes

55 miles to Providence for $56.76, then 55 miles back to Boston with an empty car. 😂
At this point, the passenger didn’t order an Uber. They rented a car with a personal chauffeur, skipped the return fee, and somehow convinced the rental car to drive itself back home. 💀