I absolutely love Uber and have been using it since its beta stages years ago. It’s no surprise that it grew to be the enterprise it is today, and I’ve even met other travelers who have given up their own personal cars to solely rely on Uber when needed (it does make financial sense)!
Here are 10 ways to be sure you’re maximizing your Uber experience:
Earn Free Rides
This is a given. If you have an Uber account, you can invite friends, and you both will receive a free ride (up to $20). If you don’t already have Uber, you can sign up using my link and you and I will both receive a free ride (thanks!).
Get a 20% Discount
The Capital One Quicksilver card just announced a pretty awesome benefit – 20% off all Uber rides (in the form of a statement credit). The card has no annual fee and the 20% savings can be pretty significant if you use Uber frequently.
Earn Starpoints
Link your Starwood Preferred Guest Account to Uber to earn 1-4 points for every dollar spent on Uber (that’s in addition to the points you can earn from your credit card that you’re paying for the ride with).
Find Out Your Passenger Rating
The good thing about Uber is that both drivers and passengers are rated at the end of the ride to help weed out “bad apples”. I was able to find out that I had a passenger rating of 4.96 (pats back) simply by asking my driver what my rating was. If you don’t wish to ask for your rating, you can email Uber support and ask.
Connect Spotify
You can now create a playlist to listen to during your Uber ride (great for moments when you want to kick back and don’t feel like interacting with your driver). You can connect your Spotify account here.
Trip History Can Help With Expense Reports
I love that all of my trip history is easily accessible (it didn’t work out in Mr. Points Traveler’s favor though…), so that I can refer back to it when it’s time create expense reports.
Contact Customer Support
I have found Uber customer support to be quite awesome. And whenever I have a less than stellar experience (everything from being in a car that was side swiped, the occasional rude driver, and even a “kidnapping scare” during my brother’s first ride), I never hesitate to reach out. Uber usually compensates for grievances in the form of credits or an adjustment to the fare you paid.
Avoid Bad Drivers & Protect Yourself From a Cancellation Fee
A rule of thumb about Uber is that you have a 5-minute grace period to cancel a ride after it’s been requested and accepted. Though 99% of my drivers have been beyond awesome, I did have a few that I just knew weren’t going to work out… like the driver who called repeatedly asked me to walk 5 blocks in the rain to meet him at his parked car, even though I specifically said I called an Uber to be picked up in front of my location. After his 3rd phone call and request, I found it best to just cancel and not deal with him. You can also cancel within that period if your driver has a less desirable rating. Also another data point: you’ll never be matched with a previous driver again that you’ve given a poor rating to.
Sit in the Front if Traveling to/from Some Airports
Some airports have banned Uber and will fine drivers if they suspect they are Uber/Lyft drivers (by looking for an “Uber” sign in the window, seeing the Uber phone on the dashboard, or simply seeing a shiny black car with a passenger seated in the back). I was recently made aware of this when I called an Uber in South Beach to be driven to MIA. The driver asked if I would mind sitting in the front so he wouldn’t look suspicious. I had no objections to his request. If you feel comfortable, consider this tactic when traveling to/from some airports.
Talk to Your Driver
Lastly, if you’re up to it – talk to your driver! Most drivers are friendly, welcoming, and appreciate chatter. I have made some really interesting connections this way. It’s always nice to connect with new people, whether it be listening to their interesting Uber experiences, or learning what they do when they’re not driving.
Do you have any other Uber tips and tricks you’d like to see added to this list?
Thanks for the Uber positivity. I’m an Uber driver, and money earned is secondary to the human contact. I’ve had several useful conversations with passengers about collecting miles and points. Uber’s driver/passenger rating system is virtually useless, however. It is purely subjective with zero guidance from Uber. I can be a 5 one week and a 4 the next.
I always chat with the driver, unless I’m in an uberpool with someone I don’t know (awkward social situation). And, on getting out, I always say “5 stars!” and often the driver will then say “5 stars for you as well”. Just a bit of social engineering to ensure I get the best ranking as a customer.
“Talking to the driver” is a hack? come on….
You are a cheap bitch, that has probably never worked in the service industry nor will. You look like an IG tramp, fishing for a sugar daddy, that is when your empty head isn’t spewing crap on this blog. The things that you have said about rideshare drivers is completely f’d up. Do you know why some uber drivers pull the scams they have? Because of people exactly like you. See uber doesn’t give a fuck about its drivers in the sense of respect, or pay for services rendered. Much like you, I feel as though you are just as bad as the worst of them because you sound like such a cheap ass, that you would make them drive you for free if you could. No one is forcing you to dig into your empty wallet for the cash you don’t have….but should.
What the world needs to know is that these 2 companies, that won’t let contractors become employees, won’t let contractors unionize, have 0% integrity, 0% honesty, and 0% transparency in pricing to you or the drivers. As there is no regulatory body, they self govern in a most clandestine way.
In uber trying to shut down lyft – drivers money paid for that
In lyft trying to make a run at ubers market share – drivers money paid for that.
And the subsequent price war that ensued – drivers money paid for that.
But what goes to those lows will go back up….eventually, ideally. Not really.
These men and women, on both sides don’t get paid enough to drive your sorry ass. You obviously were raised by vultures.
Many of these people are 1st generation and trying to feed their family, and survive. Many are students, first time parents, young and older adults trying to earn a little extra. They are not hardship cases, scammers or thieves. They are trying to do one thing… survive. Unlike you, who looks like you are still living on an allowance from daddy. You are the bad person. You not only don’t know how to tip, how much to tip, when to tip, but you think you shouldn’t have to. It is not a tradition in which the decision is up to you or your generation in which to break from. This is a economically flawed system.
If you actually have had a real job, waitresses, being a hostess, or in sales in any capacity. Insurance, Auto, Real Estate, Financial Services. Or even banner ads on your ignorant blog, pay is a sliding scale. Uber and lyft drivers used to be ok when the per mile rate was $2 per mile, now it’s .79 and in some places grotesquely lower. But as you up until recently we’re recieving increasingly lower and lower fares. These 2 were still getting paid the same but the drivers took the hit and they lose more and more control everyday of what they should be able choose. See the corporate level of these 2 is so corrupt, and unscrupulous…it is reaching a very disturbing level. But one filled with cheap ass, self entitled, indignant, pax like you.
Learn to respect others by paying them what they are worth. You are personally contributing to the further decline of western civilization.
God help you, you will see the criminality you have contributed to in the years to come. Neither company will come out and tell you to tip your driver, because they still get paid by the cheap like you either way. It is really quite fucked. Because the driver rating creates the fulcrum for the blackmail lever of control. So when you don’t tip yes you are cheap. When you say your gonna put on card as you get out, we know you won’t….and your cheap. But these drivers as they are saying don’t worry about it, or simply being too kind as they don’t want your dumbass to effect their rating.
This was not originally a job that needed gratuity.
But in the war of expansion and pay cuts that dont get talked about. Or the lawsuits( also subsidized by driver pay)
It has become a service where you need to dig into your jeans and tip your fucking driver, cash. Because, these companies have had many allogations of skimming tips or not reporting then at all.
So show some respect to your fellow man
As you,
Tip your manicurist
The guy at carwash
The guy that pumps your gas
The wash girl, the colorist, and the stylist, when you get hair cut
You pay a commission to sales clerk that rings you up for the crap you wear.
You tip the valet
bartender, Matre’d, sommelier, server, busses, and barback, then the valet again.
And so many other people in our society
But you can’t be troubled to tip a rideshare driver.
Shame on you.
Wow. Bitter much? I’ve worked in the service industry. Spend many years waitressing, bagging groceries, bussing tables, selling crap in mall stalls, so yeah, I know what it’s like to have to hustle for tips just to break even at minimum wage. I still think it’s skeezy as hell to troll your customer with some sob story scamming for tips BEFORE you’ve even done a danged thing for them! Tips are for service. No service, no tip. I learned that day one on the job. A smile and a refill on coffee, going the extra mile to get napkins or water or mop up your kid’s cruddy mess during lunch… THAT kind of service earned me tips. Not slobbering on about how I was just a poor student or guilting you by saying you OWE me a tip. Geez, get a grip, man. No one OWES you shit. You have to earn good will and earn tips. If you don’t like the system, find a job that doesn’t depend on tips. I hear construction pays well; digging sewer trenches and hauling brick. No worries about tipping there. Angelina speaks truth; she tips where it’s earned