# Maintaining 4.8 star



## Abu_Abdullahi (Dec 1, 2015)

Yellow hello Fellow drivers. 

Anybody out there besides me that has a 4.9?

Anyways, the point of this thread is to sheet with you guys my experience driving for Uber and Lyft. I started driving Uber last Summer and I have 606 trips on my belt. Watched while my rating fell down easily from 5 to 4.85. And then thats when I started panicing. Reached out to Uber but like you all know give me the usual computer response they give to every driver don't frustrate blah blah blah. With Lyft my first 21 rides hit me hard and my rating was 4.6.

Anywho, I changed and become more customer service engaging where I start a conversation with the rider. If they're chatty, they'll respond well and if not, I keep quit. 

I also offer 1 chewing gum that cost 0.96 cents per person and thats if their destination is 4+ miles and a portable charger for both iPhone and Android. 

When they're exiting my car, I fair well them well and that's the end. Currently my Uber rating is 4.9 and my Lyft rating is 4.9. And I only drive daytime ONLY and Sunday nights.


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

I have uberX account (700 trips) with 4.91 and uberBlack (300 trips) 4.89.

When I drove for uberX, I offered nothing. 

All you have to do is keep your car clean and drive safe. That's all it is to it.


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## EcoboostMKS (Nov 6, 2015)

What do you get as a 4.9 driver that a 4.6 or 4.7 doesn't get?


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## Abu_Abdullahi (Dec 1, 2015)

EcoboostMKS said:


> What do you get as a 4.9 driver that a 4.6 or 4.7 doesn't get?


Lol nothing I guess


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## EcoboostMKS (Nov 6, 2015)

Abu_Abdullahi said:


> Lol nothing I guess


Exactly. So who cares about stars? For uberx, get the cheapskate riders from point a to point b as cheap as possible. Stars do nothing for you and should be the last thing on your mind as a driver for this budget service.


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## SafeT (Nov 23, 2015)

It really helps if you are stupid enough to drive Uber in a brand new car. That's really what riders like... 5 stars for stupid. With a new car you can also get on here and brag about your customer service skills that had nothing to do with your ratings.


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

You know ratings don't really matter until the time hits for deactivation and this is your only source of income


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## galileo5 (Jan 16, 2016)

EcoboostMKS said:


> Exactly. So who cares about stars? For uberx, get the cheapskate riders from point a to point b as cheap as possible. Stars do nothing for you and should be the last thing on your mind as a driver for this budget service.


I don't want to give ScrUber any excuse to deactivate me. If anyone departs, I'd rather do it.


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## UberBlackPr1nce (Dec 28, 2014)

EcoboostMKS said:


> What do you get as a 4.9 driver that a 4.6 or 4.7 doesn't get?


Longevity. Eventually hanging out around deactivation numbers will eventually catch up to you. Some may not care about deactivation but others will.


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## Adieu (Feb 21, 2016)

Huh? Why are your accounts separate?!



James Lee said:


> I have uberX account (700 trips) with 4.91 and uberBlack (300 trips) 4.89.
> 
> When I drove for uberX, I offered nothing.
> 
> All you have to do is keep your car clean and drive safe. That's all it is to it.


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

Adieu said:


> Huh? Why are your accounts separate?!


Commercial and non-commercial


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## hackajar (Mar 2, 2016)

I just hit 400 trips and have 4.92 rating. Biggest factors - 1) Unique car (2015 Buick Encore) pax like something that is not a Corolla or Prius 2) New car (bought it 6mo before Uber) Yeah I'm a big dumb idiot using a new car 3) Leather, pax seem to enjoy the two tone leather seats, and they don't stain when pax spills crap 4) iPhone/Android charge cable available to pax.

These combined seem to be a good formula for good rating for me. Also attitude. I had a crap day on Monday from day job, brought a down attitude to Uber job, got 4 non-5 stars in one night! (life total is 14 non-5stars).


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## RichR (Feb 12, 2016)

EcoboostMKS said:


> What do you get as a 4.9 driver that a 4.6 or 4.7 doesn't get?


More distance from the dreaded 4.59 death knell?


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## MulletMan (Mar 2, 2016)

Abu_Abdullahi said:


> And I only drive daytime ONLY and Sunday nights.


Bingo! Don't let drunks be in charge of your rating. How? Don't do drunks.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

Ubers rating system is unrealistic. Let's be honest, as long as the pax is ATLEAST 4 starring you, you should never have to worry about being deactivated. So 4.0 and up should be fine. But because Uber is bribing new drivers to come on board to replace you they don't care. They will eventually when the new drivers have all dried up. That's why they are already begging old drivers to come back.


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

uberdriverfornow said:


> Ubers rating system is unrealistic. Let's be honest, as long as the pax is ATLEAST 4 starring you, you should never have to worry about being deactivated. So 4.0 and up should be fine. But because Uber is bribing new drivers to come on board to replace you they don't care. They will eventually when the new drivers have all dried up. That's why they are already begging old drivers to come back.


Its very realistic actually. It definitely differentiate between good and bad drivers


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

James Lee said:


> Its very realistic actually. It definitely differentiate between good and bad drivers


You're going on record saying that Uber forcing you to have a 4.67 or higher is a realistic expectation, even for new drivers who get a few bad apples right off the bat and get deactivated because of it ?


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

uberdriverfornow said:


> You're going on record saying that Uber forcing you to have a 4.67 or higher is a realistic expectation, even for new drivers who get a few bad apples right off the bat and get deactivated because of it ?


4.6 or above. Its very realistic in every way. I use uber very often and rating does show the quality of driver. I also drove for uberX with 4.9 rating in 800 trips which was mainly at night time dealing with drunks and now I'm driving for uberBlack with 4.91 rating in 300 trips. Rating system does not lie. It shows the type of driver you are.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

I'm sorry but if every rider gave me a 4 I should be very happy with that. It's almost a 5 star but not quite. If I buy something online at Amazon and an item has atleast a 4.0 I buy that item. Expecting almost everyone to give you a 5 star or you get deactivated is really unfair. There are some areas that are better than other areas where people have no heart and come into your car with an attitude that are just looking for a reason to 1 star you.

The difference between a 4 star and a 5 star shouldn't really be much.


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

uberdriverfornow said:


> I'm sorry but if every rider gave me a 4 I should be very happy with that. It's almost a 5 star but not quite. If I buy something online at Amazon and an item has atleast a 4.0 I buy that item. Expecting almost everyone to give you a 5 star or you get deactivated is really unfair. There are some areas that are better than other areas where people have no heart and come into your car with an attitude that are just looking for a reason to 1 star you.
> 
> The difference between a 4 star and a 5 star shouldn't really be much.


As long as you keep your car clean, drive safe, take efficient route and have positive attitude, there is no reason to be rated lower than 5.


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## itniloe (May 13, 2015)

hackajar said:


> I just hit 400 trips and have 4.92 rating. Biggest factors - 1) Unique car (2015 Buick Encore) pax like something that is not a Corolla or Prius 2) New car (bought it 6mo before Uber) Yeah I'm a big dumb idiot using a new car 3) Leather, pax seem to enjoy the two tone leather seats, and they don't stain when pax spills crap 4) iPhone/Android charge cable available to pax.
> 
> These combined seem to be a good formula for good rating for me. Also attitude. I had a crap day on Monday from day job, brought a down attitude to Uber job, got 4 non-5 stars in one night! (life total is 14 non-5stars).


You're just paying for better ratings - not necessarily dumb but your depreciation cost per mile is probably around twice what a less swanky car would be, and gas expense is probably about double. In our market that would be significant expense and taking typical min fares with your vehicle would be chump change or a loss. You would have to do XL or surge to make it worthwhile. I guess if you are retired and have nothing better to do with your pension money but if not it just doesn't make sense for most drivers.
Probably generates some frustration for professional drivers as it affects passenger expectations resulting in lower ratings for more conservative cars.
Just out of curiosity I'd love to drive a Lincon MKV for X just to see how much that would affect ratings with no/minimal customer service vs excellent customer service and and average car.


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## uberdriverfornow (Jan 10, 2016)

itniloe said:


> You're just paying for better ratings - not necessarily dumb but your depreciation cost per mile is probably around twice what a less swanky car would be, and gas expense is probably about double. In our market that would be significant expense and taking typical min fares with your vehicle would be chump change or a loss. You would have to do XL or surge to make it worthwhile. I guess if you are retired and have nothing better to do with your pension money but if not it just doesn't make sense for most drivers.
> Probably generates some frustration for professional drivers as it affects passenger expectations resulting in lower ratings for more conservative cars.
> Just out of curiosity I'd love to drive a Lincon MKV for X just to see how much that would affect ratings with no/minimal customer service vs excellent customer service and and average car.


Exactly. Summed up what I was going to day nicely.


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## RichR (Feb 12, 2016)

James Lee said:


> As long as you keep your car clean, drive safe, take efficient route and have positive attitude, there is no reason to be rated lower than 5.


*If* Uber makes it clear to the pax that anything less than a 5 means unsatisfactory, I will agree with you. Given that I've only ever had two pax rate me less than 5, I have to think Uber does that. (I don't know; I've yet to ride with Uber.)

Otherwise, some people will see a 1-to-5 scale and naturally assume 3=Average, 4=Above Average, and 5=Truly Exceptional, like a bell curve. (Personally, I would tend to rate everyone a 4 unless I received lousy or exceptional service.)


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## James Lee (Nov 10, 2015)

RichR said:


> *If* Uber makes it clear to the pax that anything less than a 5 means unsatisfactory, I will agree with you. Given that I've only ever had two pax rate me less than 5, I have to think Uber does that. (I don't know; I've yet to ride with Uber.)
> 
> Otherwise, some people will see a 1-to-5 scale and naturally assume 3=Average, 4=Above Average, and 5=Truly Exceptional, like a bell curve. (Personally, I would tend to rate everyone a 4 unless I received lousy or exceptional service.)


And you are one of those 5% rare ones. Most of Pax rate 5 on average rides.


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## RichR (Feb 12, 2016)

James Lee said:


> Most of Pax rate 5 on average rides.


Right, I've noticed. I'm thinking that must be because Uber says anything less than 5 means there was something wrong. Otherwise, it makes no sense to me that Uber requires 4.6 as a minimum to keep driving.


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## OrlandoUberX (Feb 15, 2016)

Abu_Abdullahi said:


> Yellow hello Fellow drivers.
> 
> Anybody out there besides me that has a 4.9?
> 
> ...


I got a 4.91. I don't offer sh!t for my pax but my awesome personlaity and good conversation. Also I pick them up quick, get there quick. My best advice to a good rating, know your audience (customers). I treat all pax as if they are my best friend and were going somewhere. But be cautious and know if your getting played and know how to take a stand.


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