9 Things You Can Do To Raise Your Uber Or Lyft Rider Rating

Last updated on April 25th, 2018 at 07:25 am

In the last few months, Uber and Lyft have made it easy for riders to know their passenger rating. While it’s currently easier to check your rating on Uber than Lyft, the situation is a vast improvement from a couple of years ago when getting your passenger rating on either platform usually required about three or four email exchanges.

How To Check Your Uber Or Lyft Passenger Rating in 2018.

For Uber, you just click on menu in the upper left hand corner inside the app, and your rating is displayed right below your name.

While this is great for passengers, it sucks for drivers. Here’s why. If you’re a passenger who’s has a 4.85, and immediately after a ride, your rating drops to 4.83, you’ll know your driver didn’t rate you five stars, and you are less likely to rate them five stars. Since drivers usually have to rate passengers before they can accept another trip, this means the driver is at risk of receiving a bad rating in return. Uber could easily fix this by having the passenger rating update a week later (the time passengers have to rate drivers).

Lyft still doesn’t let you check your rating in the app, but you can contact them here or message @AskLyft on twitter. If you want to keep your rating private, be sure to direct message @AskLyft.

Many Passengers Are Astonished That Their Rating Is So Low

Now that passengers can find out their rating pretty easily, more riders are checking to see what their rating is. Unfortunately, there are many passengers who, for some reason, thought they were a 4.9, but are only a 4.5, or a 4.1, or worse. The gentleman in this article recently found out he was a 4.2. In order to boost his score, he resorted to, “making conversation, laughing at drivers’ jokes, giving a great tip.” He was able to raise his rating to a 4.4 – still not great, but an improvement.

I feel for the guy in the article. He seems like a perfectly nice fellow and he’ll probably never know why he received some bad ratings. In truth, there are many things that can get you on a driver’s bad side, and what pisses one driver off may be just fine with another. This is similar to the situation drivers have been dealing with for years. As drivers, we generally have no idea why a passenger leaves us a bad rating. So passengers, welcome to the club.

As for the rating of the guy in the article, I’ve picked up passengers with a 4.2 or 4.4 and the riders have usually been fine. However, if the passenger is under a 4, they’re always awful. I used to pick up pretty much everyone, but if you’re pulling a 3.7 or 3.5, you’re not getting a ride from me.

What passengers must understand is that when you take an Uber or a Lyft, you are getting in someone’s car. Sure, the driver is providing a service to you, but it’s their car. In most cases, they bought it and want to take care of it. So, if you don’t treat the driver, and their vehicle, with respect, you’re going to get a bad rating. Luckily, there are a few things you can try to boost your Uber or Lyft passenger rating.

How To Raise Your Uber Or Lyft Passenger Rating

First, watch this video so you have a better idea of the things that piss most drivers off.

Now that you’ve watched that, here’s a list of things you can do to raise your Uber or Lyft rating.

Tip your driver. Less than half of Uber riders tip. If you tip, you’re far more likely to get a five star rating.
Tip your driver. I put it twice because it’s probably more likely to help than anything else on the list.
Don’t make the driver wait. If you drive Uber or Lyft, time is money, and drivers hate waiting.
Don’t eat, smoke, or fuck in the car – The last two are definite no-no’s (no vaping either). If you just grabbed a sandwich and you’re absolutely starving, ask the driver nicely if you can eat in the car. Say please and grovel a little. “I haven’t eaten yet today”. Don’t just start stuffing your face. If you ask, the driver will most likely (but not always) say yes.
Don’t hit on your driver. I understand the thirst is strong sometimes. However, your driver is working and probably isn’t interested. Even if they are, they’re working. Wait until you get home and avail yourself of the copious amounts of free pornography available in our great nation.
Don’t leave trash in the car. Who does that? Believe it or not, lots of passengers. The trait seems particularly strong among the bro-douche crowd.
When you get out, don’t slam the door.
Don’t mess with the radio or air condition controls.
If it’s 30 degrees out and the driver has the heat on, don’t open the damn window.

This is not a complete list, but there is a common theme running through the items on this list – respect. If you treat your driver with respect, like they’re a human being as opposed to your servant, you’re more likely to get a five star rating.

If you’re a driver, and you have other suggestions for passengers on how they can improve their rating, leave them in the comments.