After each Uber ride, you can generally rate your driver. For the most part the ratings are 1-5. For a short while in Austin Uber was testing having riders rate their drivers with emojis.
- As Uber signs on more and more drivers, they institute minimum ratings that drivers must maintain in order to stay on the platform. Uber’s local customer service may also reach out when you give an especially low rating.
- Those minimum ratings can increase. So drivers do want to be rated well. That’s why you’ll see some cars offer bottled water or candy for instance.
In certain markets Uber has offered UberVIP where if you’ve taken enough rides in the market you can opt to only have the highest-rated drivers. However that can mean longer waits for a ride.
Uber drivers rate you as well. Although it doesn’t matter nearly as much. Consistent problem customers can be invited to no longer use the platform — and either get a new phone or take up with Lyft instead.
A rider’s number is more of a curiosity. Uber will tell you your number. You used to have to ask. Now it’s in the app. And in fact they will now give you your average rating to two decimal places.
My average rating is 4.77:
Now, I have only tipped a driver once. That was near the Seattle airport when someone in my party got sick in the car. They didn’t make a mess, but it was still pretty gross and I felt I had to make good.
One of the unique selling propositions of Uber is that it’s cashless. You get in, you get out, there’s no friction in the process. I wouldn’t object per se if there was a tipping function (the way there is in the Starbucks app) even though I do not like tipping culture. But I am not going to start carrying cash for that purpose.
Some drivers report in their discussion forums that they rate down customers who do not tip. In my case it hasn’t hurt my score. And I do not think I would care if it did.
Want to know your score? Here’s how:
- Open the Uber app.
- Choose ‘Help’ from the menu
- Then ‘Account’
- Then – about 10 items down – “I’d like to know my rating”
You’ll be offered a screen that gives you the chance to see your average rating from all the rides you’ve taken.
Want to know how your next driver rated you?
- Check your score before the ride
- Check your score after you’ve received your next rating
- Do math
Let’s say I’ve taken 20 rides and have a 4.50 rating.
- If I have a 4.52 rating after the ride, it means the driver gave me a 5.
- A 4.48 means the driver gave me a 4.
- A 4.43 means the driver gave me a 3.
- A 4.38 means the driver gave me a 2.
- A 4.33 means the driver gave me a 1.
An unchanged rating means you haven’t been rated for the ride.
(HT: One Mile at a Time who has a 4.6 rating.)
I am an uber driver rated 5 star, tips are greatly appreciated as we are performing a service and if u were in a restaurant or bar u would leave a tip , I never expect a tip but it’s nice to get one, anyone who rides with me gets a 5 star rating just because I feel that I shouldn’t be given a platform to influence someone’s ability to get a ride that they need based on knowing them for 10 minutes in my car, I also feel that unless the driver is ignorant in some way, drives recklessly or fails to get u to your destination then there is no reason to not give that person 5 stars
@ James Crawford: The vast majority of Uber drivers are as intelligent and conscientious as you. The ones you see here crying are not the norm.
Of course people should tip their Uber driver and now that it’s in the app there should be no excuse not to. Still, almost all of the Uber drivers I talk with state that almost nobody tips and I, for one, can’t understand why. But it is what it is. The vast majority handle it like you with responsibility and maturity. Others, though, are snowflakes and with their sense of entitlement are in perpetual whiny little biatch mode. Sucks to be them.
It turns out Uber drivers are not that nice. I tipped every single one of my drivers since 2015. Have always been kind and polite. Have never taken a ride drunk or been unfriendly. I’ve always given every one of my drivers a 5 star rating (even if some drive like maniacs and had no idea where they’re going – I’ve never complained about this though because you never know if someone is just having a bad day). And yet I have a 4.8 rating. I guess I won’t be tipping any drivers going forward and forgetting the 5 stars. Whoever gives a poor rating for no reason are just ungrateful people.
Natalie, I am in the same position. I am always polite and give my drivers 5 star ratings and tip them, but was actually disappointed and discouraged today. Just because I didn’t engage as much as today as usual and apologised for being tired, the guy must have graded me down. I went from a 5 to a 4.96. What the heck!
My rating has gone from 5 in the Uk to 4.5 after 4 trips in the USA, Why? I think because I did not tip, have taken 45 rides in the UK and had a perfect rating. Had a friend who said the same, her rating always goes down when she visits the USA. I find this wrong, especially when most of my USA rides are when I am in the hot zone and I pay much more, so why tip.
Im in the same situation as many of the above comments. I was on a 5 star rating for a while until I started using uber more regularly. I have never been drunk or sick in any of the vehicles. I talk to the drivers if they start a conversation. If not I am still polite but quiet, as I understand not everyone is a talker. I have read that you can lose your rating if you book small trips or if you dont tip, I hope for everyone’s sake….this is not true. A ride, is a ride….isnt it?
You have to think about what is going on in the car on the ride. Are you talking on the phone? Are you over powering in body spray or perfume? Did you wave someone down as if they didn’t see you or know where to pick you up at? Were you rude? Grumpy, hard to understand? Just some of the things I find to be very difficult to just give people 5 stars. I have given 5 stars to people who slammed my doors, kicked my center console, knock stuff over tried to tell me where to go, just take it slow next time and try to be different dont overthink it.
I drive for Lyt and more recently Uber.
First off, to the person the people who say they won’t tip anymore because you don’t have a perfect score, I assure you it’s extremely rare to see a person with a perfect 5 unless they have only taken a few rides. I ask the perfect 5ers “Have you been using Uner/Lyft for a long time?” and they almost always say “No, I’m new to it” or “I don’t use the service very much.” So please don’t stop tipping. I’ve haddys where I drive 200 miles to make $100 but if you take in the USA government tax deduction of $.54.5cents a mile, that day I technically lost money. Even if you just count gas at $3.50/gal, my take home was $65 (20mpg) and it took me hours to make that money. So please tip! Thanks!
Secondly, to those who say most people don’t tip, I have a way that you can get 40%-50% of your riders happily tipping 1) The basics. Clean car. Nice smell. Make sure the pax is buckled up before you start moving and let them know “safety’s first”. Drive safely. Make conversation but know when the rider wants a quiet ride. It should be obvious but if they give short answers like when you ask “How’s your day?” and they say “Fine.”… They don’t want to talk. I always let them know if they want to, they can roll down the window and depending on the weather I’ll ask if they would like heat or A/C. Be polite. 2) Provide water and mints. Water should cost you about $.15 a bottle including CRV tax if you shop around. I prefer soft mints which costs about $7 for 180. Pennies. I offer each customer a free gift- wallet/credit cards are magnifiers that I buy in bulk for $.10 a piece, but sell for 3 for $5 online or 1 for $5 at a store. 90% of customers absolutely love them and they say things like “Cool!”, “I’ve never seen these” and always “Thanks!”. 3) I have a tip sign that’s lit up just enough to read at night, when I drive the most and I also put together a two LED three AAA battery powered system that lights up the two water bottles in my back seat drink holder in a nice orange and green hue. The sign says “Free: Water, Soft Mints, Charging and Quiet Rides- Just ask… and at the bottom it says, in as slightly larger font “Tips are appreciated” 4) At the end of the ride I ask them “Is it okay to send you ONE text through the app just before I end the ride? It has coupons for the major food delivery services out there (GrubHub, DoorDash, etc.) plus a $40 coupon for Airbnb”. 90% say “Sure, no problem” then, I send the text with the coupons (which, by the way earn me credits if they use them). In that text, I have the coupons and a note that says “Tips are greatly appreciated, but if money is tight DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT, I completely understand. I hope I EARNED any tip you may give and even just a buck is great”
My tips went from about 10% to the 40% to 50% I promised you. And the real kicker is that the tip amount has doubled or tripled. I rarely get a $1 tip and I think it’s due to the verbiage “even a buck”… I think people like to be above the lowest tip so I usually get $2, $5 or $10 tips. And I hope you agree too, that I earned them. As all drivers know, not every ride goes perfect, but doing these “extras” I believe keeps the one stars away and a 4 now and again won’t hurt you in the long run. My average rating stays around 4.9 plus or minus a few points and I drive an 11 year old Caliber with 130k miles on it. Ido my best to keep it clean but after all that time and two kids it’s not perfect.
I’ve ordered some tiny stickers that has my website on them and I intend to put them on the maginifiers to promote my site, which has a link to all the coupons and I promote a best priced guaranteed solar company that covers all of California. One sale is an extra $500-$1000 in my pocket. I hope to get at least one sale or two a year with the website from my driving promotion/promo gift. Thesite is only two months old. I don’t have a sale yet but I’m going to work on promoting it as much as I can until I do. Hopefully many will follow. I doubt I can post the website here but I’m already ranked in the first page of Google if you type in “Best priced Solar Bay Area” so I’ll leave it at that.
I’ve had many drivers say “too much work for me” and that’s fine but if you give just 20 rides a week, with my system you will make THOUSANDS more every year. Guaranteed.
Peace.
Mark
Tip the drivers who give you good service…. Those who give you a safe ride and especially those who offer you water or candy whether you accept it or not should be tipped. And for the record, the lowest you should ever rate a driver is 3. 3 means you will never be paired with that driver again and shouldn’t that be enough? A 1 or a 2 could cost them their job and for drivers like me who have a lot of health problems and can’t hold down a regular job, the flexibility of driving is the only way I can make money to survive. I can’t even do deliveries due to chronic feet pain and mental health issues keep me from being able to drive every day, but when I feel okay I’m able to earn the income I need to get by.
And wow, I read this whole thread and it makes me sad how so many have been arguing. There’s a lot more problems in this world than you having a driver rate you a 4, making you so angry you rate them a 1 and put their job at risk? I just don’t understand how anyone could be so petty. Maybe you smelled bad or cut a fart and didn’t realize it or accidently left trash in the car or slammed the door without noticing or maybe you made racist comments or talked about how great you are and the driver rated you a 3 so they wouldn’t have to deal with you again. So what? Nobody’s perfect and maybe that day your precious 5 star rating went down to a 4.96 or whatever, you weren’t perfect. So what? Get over it. It takes a real jerk to rate below a three as a driver or a rider.
And when Travis declared ‘The tip is built into the app’ drivers were making $2 a mile. Now it’s $.99 in San Francisco and get this, in Sacramento it’s $.68 a mile! The pay per minute is negligible, like $.18 so even if you aren’t offered water or candy, as long as the driver was nice to you and got you to where you were going in one piece, just out of common decency, you should tip your driver. Taxi drivers have always been tipped so why not your Uber driver? Because Travis told you not to 8 years ago? That guy is a jerk and if not for him, this wouldn’t even be an issue. He ruined tipping for drivers forever.
I tip my waiters and waitresses, my hair stylists, my pizza guy and Uber Eats person or DoorDash delivery person, my bartender, I’ve even tipped my garbage collector by leaving $5 in an envelope taped to the bag when I’ve put out one extra. My paperboy back in the days when newspapers were delivered by kids on bikes GOT A TIP at Christmas time. My mailman. My vallet, the guy who carries my bags up to my room in a cart at a hotel, the doorman, the hotel clerk who takes my credit card esspecially when I want the highest room or one with a balcony… The list goes on… Not tipping an Uber driver, someone who shows up on time in a clean, non-smelly car and drives safe DESERVES a tip more than most of the service industry jobs I listed… Definitely more than a Taxi driver, but they always got tipped. I had my battery die last week and I TIPPED the guy who came out to give me a jump!
Too
Insure
Promptness
A wise man once said “Be good to yourselves, and to eachother”.
Amen!
Sorry for all the typos. It was late.
Marcus, while I agree they should be tipped, you are not paid enough just off rides alone. I don’t agree with everyone getting a decent rating. I have only given below a 5 to 3 people in the last 2 years. One of them because the chick was talking on speaker phone the whole ride (not to a customer), then took some wack way that made me 20 minutes late (20 minutes after the latest drop off time), then proceeded to argue with me for 10 minutes about the way she was going, and got very hostile and combative. She received 1 star, only 1 star i’ve ever given, and she should lose her job! People are putting their lives in your hands, and this is a service industry. Being a dick is unacceptable. You are being paid for a service, not doing me a favor. If a waitress argues with a customer like that, she would most likely be fired, so why is driving uber any different? I gave 2 stars to a man that almost got us killed not once, not twice, but three times in a 15 minute ride! He got 2 stars for being a nice guy, but having a license and a vehicle doesn’t mean you should be driving for a living. I gave 3 stars to a man that didn’t speak a lick of english, missed both possible exits to get me to my destination, and because of the language barrier, he didn’t understand my directions when he clearly was having an issue with following the navigation. He was lost and I couldn’t help him. I’m sure there’s a market for portuguese speaking drivers her in Vegas, but considering the majority of the population speaks english, you’d think that would be a requirement… I have a 5 star rating because I am nice to everyone (except the lady who was close to getting punched because she was being so hostile, but I started off nice), i’m pretty good at gaging peoples personalities, so I know when people wanna chat, and when people just want it to be quite. Driving is not a job for everyone, and i think it’s a disservice to other riders to rate someone a 3 when they deserved a 1 or 2. It’s not being a “jerk”, this job isn’t for everyone. My husband drove for uber for a year when he was in between jobs, so i know some of what you all go through, but we go through some crazy stuff too sometimes.
I’m a driver and feel there needs to be a rating system for both Drivers and riders but there needs to be some control over it. As a driver there have been very few riders that I have ever rated below a 5. If a driver rates someone below a 5 you have to go to another screen and list a reason and that takes time that can be used for excepting another ride to increase what we can make. One reason I might rate a passenger below a 5 would be excessive wait time when arriving for a pick up or trashing my car. I pay a monthly fee at a car wash to keep my car clean for riders and use that service several times a week.
Now I will address the driver ratings. I think many of you realize that there are some people that will give a driver a low rating just because they can rather it’s deserved or not. When Uber looks at those type of ratings they should look at the passenger rating and see if this is something they do consistently and why other drivers have rated them low. If other drivers have consistently rated them low then their rating to a driver should be considered suspect and discounted.
As far as tips go, I tip all service people I have used because tipically they are depending on tip to suppliment an already low income.
Here is a quote from Marcus B
“I tip my waiters and waitresses, my hair stylists, my pizza guy and Uber Eats person or DoorDash delivery person, my bartender, I’ve even tipped my garbage collector by leaving $5 in an envelope taped to the bag when I’ve put out one extra. My paperboy back in the days when newspapers were delivered by kids on bikes GOT A TIP at Christmas time. My mailman. My vallet, the guy who carries my bags up to my room in a cart at a hotel, the doorman, the hotel clerk who takes my credit card esspecially when I want the highest room or one with a balcony… The list goes on… Not tipping an Uber driver, someone who shows up on time in a clean, non-smelly car and drives safe DESERVES a tip more than most of the service industry jobs I listed… Definitely more than a Taxi driver, but they always got tipped. I had my battery die last week and I TIPPED the guy who came out to give me a jump!”
@John: You are certainly right that they should be tipped. The question is how to ensure your passengers realize and / or conform.
I Uber mostly in San Francisco, tip almost every time, rate drivers 5 stars even when I wait well beyond expected times and fear for my life. I am not saying I’ve never given a 4 but it’s VERY rare and not in the last 6 mos as my rating drops even as I tip each time and hand out 5 starts. What’s up?? I am polite & arrive when and where I’m supposed to be Im really discouraged. Maybe time to try Lift
here’s to Ian and what a ignorant douchebag you are. Uber takes 42% of the ride from the driver and you feel just because there is a surge that you whilst if your driver from a tip do you do that to your waitress at a restaurant because the restaurant is busy I mean seriously what is wrong with you
Hey! hey! hey! It’s Phat Albert here. My man Mark just tipped the guy who graciously helped me with the DIY AC Kit… Just got to add that to the list- yes, you should tip your auto-parts “person” if they tell you what the check engine light said or tested your alternator.
Phat!
You cheap [redacted]! You’re bragging that you’re a cheap [redacted] that does not tip your driver? I am a full-time Uber driver (2500 trips 4.99 rating) that purchased a luxury car just to give my passengers the best possible experience. And yes, I absolutely expect a tip. Great service should be rewarded. It’s cheapskates like you that give drivers no incentive to go the extra mile!
@Tony Mack – this was nearly 4 years ago, remember back in the day Uber used to say that tip was included in the fare. That’s no longer the case (in essence a big price increase)
I had to take Uber rides in Switzerland, and although most of the drivers were nice and polite, I got this guy one day who was already aggravated when I got in the car, didn’t greet me back and drove aggressively cursing and breaking abruptly. My destination was a hospital and instead of taking me to the entrance, he stopped at a traffic light and asked me to get off quickly. I was obviously surprised but didn’t want to have an issue with a person who was far from being calm, so I opened the door and almost got hit by a bike. My reflexes worked perfect so I quickly closed the door and avoided the incident ( again, not in a town I was familiar with, there was no bike trail, just a guy riding along the traffic, and a driver shouting at me to get off quickly). He started yelling that his car almost got hit, and I asked him why he didn’t take me to the front entrance of the hospital where I could have safely left the car. He just mumbled something and drove away. I decided he maybe had a bad day and didn’t rate him at all, neither I complained about his rude behavior. I had a perfect 5 score before this. He rated me down and now I have a 4.98 score. I have always rated drivers 5 stars and tipped them no matter how the ride was, just to be nice and thinking being nice would invite to nice, but this was disappointing and unfair.