14 Things that Can Get You Deactivated as an Uber Driver

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Home » 14 Things that Can Get You Deactivated as an Uber Driver

Getting fired by Uber is on top of every driver’s mind. In fact, it is their worst nightmare. You try to get into the app only to find out that your Uber driver account has been disabled. And just like that, your source of livelihood is gone!

While there are many reasons why a ride share driver can get terminated, there are general policy violations that every Uber driver should learn by heart. Don’t let the urge to make a quick buck get the better of you. Strive to get answers to those frequently asked questions by Uber drivers like how to make customers’ riding experience better and cut car expenses.

If you are not making enough money, try using a smart technology such as GOFAR to cut your expenses.

GOFAR helps you to find your car engine’s sweet spot and then helps you drive more efficiently to save fuel.

Areas where the GOFAR app and device can help you include;

  • Tracking the car mileage for tax deductions
  • Alerting you when the car has a fault
  • Explaining the car faults in plain English
  • Reminding the driver of Registration and Insurance
  • Connecting drivers to top-rated mechanics and parts suppliers
  • Saving fuel by finding the engine’s sweet spot

Click here to learn how to increase your gas mileage and save up to 30%* on fuel costs each year.

Knowing the reason why you might get deactivated on Uber could help you avoid getting in trouble, so this is the list you need to be wary of.

1. Fraud

Fraud includes purposely increasing the time/distance of a trip, creating fake accounts to take advantage of promotions, claiming fraudulent fees and accepting falsified trips.

2. Safety Issues

Every time you put yourself or your passenger in danger, you will be deactivated. So if you’re out driving passengers around drunk, molesting/harassing passengers or just a maniac on the road, your Uber driver account will be disabled.

Other behaviours that may get you deactivated include;

  • Failing to abide by local traffic laws
  • Failing to buckle up
  • Texting while driving
  • Carrying a gun in your car. Only have essential things in your Uber.
  • Exceeding the speed limit

Passengers won’t always leave comments for their drivers after the ride is over, but if you put the passenger’s life at risk, they are going to let Uber know about it.

3. Documents Expiration

All the driving documentation – i.e. the driving license, the vehicle registration, the insurance certificate and the motor vehicle inspection certificate – has an expiry date.

Failure to renew the documentation in time will attract a deactivation from Uber. Note that you will not be notified of the deactivation as you are expected to be a responsible driver.

4. Low Uber Driver Ratings

You should ensure that your rating is always above 4.8 because if it falls below 4.6, you risk deactivation. Uber allows the drivers to pay customer service fees to get reinstated. So, try to have essential tools a customer can use while in your car to help encourage them to give you an excellent rating.

5. Promoting a Competitor

The most common thing that can get you deactivated is passing out Lyft referral cards to Uber passengers. Uber doesn’t have a problem with you supporting other services like Doordash or Airbnb, but Lyft is a direct competitor, so they don’t like that.

6. Giving Pre-arranged Trips

To discourage an Uber driver from sweet-talking Uber customers to become private clients, Uber will immediately deactivate you if it gets wind of any pre-arranged trips that are outside the app.

7. Giving Free Rides to Meet Ride Minimums

Be a proper Uber driver!
Photo courtesy of Flickr Images by Kyle Taylor

If you are found to have given free rides to your friends or family members to meet the minimum guarantee rides, Uber will immediately deactivate you.

8. Getting Commercial Taxi Licence

Commercial licenses require lots of regulations and Uber wants no part of this. This could be the number one reasons why they opt out from commercial licenses.

9. Updated Background Check

Sometimes, some government authorities require Uber to run an updated background check. Irrespective of whether you have driven thousands of miles on the platform, if you fail this check, Uber will have to deactivate you.

The only thing you can do to ensure you stay in the good books of government is to drive safely and stay out of police’ criminal records.

10. Excessive Cancellation

Before you are signed up as an Uber driver, you will sign a deactivation policy that has a clause about “Acceptance and Cancellation Rate”.

Uber reckons that if you are serious about working as a ride sharing driver, you will have a high acceptance of customer pings and very few poor reviews.

Try to keep cancellations rate below 10%. And if you’re going for one of Uber’s incentive programs (e.g. Power Driver Plus, Guaranteed Hourly Fares), they usually have an 80-90% acceptance requirement.

11. Idle Uber Account

To avoid crossing the red line, offer at least one ride monthly. Uber will notify you when your idle account becomes a problem, and it is easy to get back to the platform as an Uber driver if you were kicked out for inactivity.

12. Having Someone Else In Your Car

The only other person in the car when you are driving for Uber should be the customer. If a customer ever leaves feedback that you carried another person during the ride, you will be deactivated.

13. Cancelling Because the Distance is Short

Since Uber charge per mile, short distances do not pay a lot of money. If you cancel on a client just because the ride distance is short and Uber finds out, you will be deactivated instantly. You can join Uber Eats to make extra money.

14. Switching Vehicles

Get all the cars that you own and want to use on Uber added on the platform. Uber is offering free vehicle inspections in most cities these days if you’d like to add another vehicle.

No one who earns a living by being an Uber driver would want to see their account being deactivated from the app; unfortunately, it does happen very often. To keep out of trouble;

  • Update your documents
  • Read, understand and follow Uber’s rules
  • Be a courteous and safe driver
  • If you get deactivated, correct the problem immediately

Don’t antagonise Uber support employees

Remember — this is a service job. Your passengers want a safe ride from a sane driver, so don’t do anything to make your passenger uncomfortable.

Danny Adams sitting in a chair with a laptop

Danny Adams

Co-founder of GOFAR and with a Computer Science background from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Aerospace, Aeronautical & Astronautical Engineering (Honours), UNSW. I want to transform data from cars into useful services so -> drivers save time & money -> emissions fall -> Australian roads are safer. So we built an ATO-compliant logbook app called GOFAR. I write to help you understand how to use GOFAR to maximise business travel. Reach out via support@gofar.co.

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This content is provided for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice from GOFAR. We recommend consulting with an independent legal, taxation, or financial expert to ensure the information is applicable to your specific situation. Please note that relevant regulations and laws may evolve over time.