Best time to start trip

Once you start the trip, power shifts to the customer. They can now one star you for any reason. Don’t start the trip until everyone is in your car, you look them over, and you’re comfortable. If you need to cancel the trip before it starts, pax can’t rate you, and you can collect a cancel fee if its been 5 minutes waiting. The few cents per minute you get waiting isn’t worth it.

You have a point. I had ultimately started that trip, and when they got out they rated me and my rate dropped right in front of my eyes. I knew it was them, and that’s why i’m contacting uber explaining and hoping it works in my favor. I know it won’t but I still don’t want this to go unnoted.

That is a cancel by driver and counts against you. It is an individual decision as to what to do. However if you start the trip early, and they know about it, you will most likely get a bad rating.

Yeah canceling would be best I suppose. Problem is it’s super slow here. I had 3 riders in 4 hours last night. 10-2am, and 7 cancelations, 2 of them I collected the fee on. Hardly worth it right now. I’ve seen it surge one time since we got Uber here, when it was snowing.

If any pax gets in your car you start trip right away, no matter what she/he says. Tell them once you start the trip the uber insurance starts and if anybody were to rear end you, maybe a drunk driver, you both will be covered.

Not for me. What happens when their three friends stumble down with their red solo cups, you enforce the rules, they get rude about it then the entire ride is a mess? Or you kick them out and they can still rate you.

If concerned about insurance then don’t let anyone in until all parties are ready. Get out and make small talk I suppose.

Actually now the app won’t let you end the ride because it didn’t reach the minimum distance of 3 blocks I think. So when you try to end ride, it won’t let you but you’ll get an option to cancel. Cancel it tell them to gtfo, well it’s better if you threaten them a little like “I’m reaching for my bear mace or tazer”.

Sorry but that’s not right. The pax is covered as soon as they get in the car. Don’t start the trip until all riders are in. You need to keep the ability to cancel without being penalized until you’re comfortable.

Pax isn’t covered until you start trip that’s a fact. Once you get a ping and you accept you are covered up to $50,000 I think. If you don’t start trip, and pax gets hurt, your uber insurance status would still be in “en route to pick up pax”. Once trip is started, ubers $1,000,000 policy kicks in.

Exactly. These dudes scared of a 1*, I don’t take any sh1t from pax since day 1. When I looked at the rates and they were half the cab rates. Last time I pulled up to a bar with smokers out front, had window half cracked and heard guy standing in group of 4 go “uber is here” then he continued to smoke and talk, I gave him about 40 seconds before I pulled off.

Nothing in Uber’s language suggests this is the case for my city. What happens if an accident occurred with a pax before I could tap start trip. They’d be covered.

Funny after handling over 900 rides never had an issue starting the trip as soon as the first passenger steps in my car. But then I only drive during the day so I guess at night I would be sure before starting the trip on how the pax is acting.

I’m in the same boat, but I think our situations are very different from drivers at night – especially late night. I’ll pick up just about anywhere in Miami in the morning. Late afternoon and beyond, I’m more selective because I know the thugs are up and about. I very rarely cancel (2%) and those are all pax no shows after the time limit.

I wait 5 minutes. If they don’t have their s together by then I drive away and collect the cancellation fee for having my time wasted. Starting the trip early only sets the stage for problems and the few cents you’ll get are peanuts.

They treat us like this because uber is a rider friendly company.they could care less about the drivers.you could have 10k rides of excellent service to the company and the riders,but if one thing goes wrong on a trip they could just fire you because we mean nothing to them.