Should you really be sweating your Uber acceptance rate? What do you know about the Uber acceptance rate and what that means for Uber drivers? Does your Uber acceptance rate affect your standing with surges, bonuses, or incentive programs? What about earnings or the way the app algorithm sends calls for rides and deliveries to you?
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What is the Uber acceptance rate, and how is it calculated?
The acceptance rate is exactly what it sounds like. The figure, expressed in a percentage, reflects the number of ride or delivery requests sent to you divided by the number you choose to accept.
There was a time when Uber would deactivate drivers for low acceptance rates, but they no longer do this. In the past, they would also send more requests for rides to drivers who had high acceptance rates. These policies, quite understandably, were anything but popular with drivers.
Even though there are no longer severe penalties for having a low acceptance rate, Uber does encourage drivers to keep their rideshare and Uber Eats acceptance rate as high as possible.
Passengers and delivery customers must be able to rely upon drivers to be there when they are needed. If too many drivers refuse too many rides and orders, Uber’s business, and therefore drivers business, would most definitely suffer. That’s why there are still some incentives left in place that encourage drivers to accept more offers for rides and deliveries.
What does the acceptance rate do for drivers?
Uber acknowledges there are reasons why drivers would refuse offers. They might be ready to go offline to take a break or go home, or they might be wary about going to unsafe or congested areas. Rides and deliveries that have a lot of distance involved, or which ask drivers to get to a place or person that is unacceptable, get rejected by drivers a lot as well.
Before the rollout of Uber upfront fares, as described in this Gridwise blog post, some drivers, namely those with high ratings and acceptance rates, were not able to see how much they’d be paid, and where the ride or order would take them. This was an incentive for driers to improve their acceptance rates. Now, the upfront fares feature gives this ability to all Uber and Uber Eats drivers.
There are still a few things that acceptance rates can affect, though. Uber Pro is the brand’s rewards program for drivers. It’s a tiered system, which means that drivers must earn certain privileges, such as higher quest rates, a free year of Costco membership, better deals on cash back credit cards, and bigger discounts on gas and EV charging.
If you want to maintain the higher Gold, Platinum, or Diamond status privileges, you also must keep your cancellation rate between 4.1% and 10% . If you fail to do so, depending on the level at which you start, you won’t be able to reach a higher status by earning more points. Instead, you’ll remain at your current tier. Uber further states that if your cancellation rate rises above 10%, you will lose access to Gold, Platinum, and Diamond rewards immediately. You’ll have to bring it down to 4% to earn back your rewards.
Does Uber driver acceptance rate matter all that much?
What happens if your Uber acceptance rate is low? Aside from losing certain driver statuses, not a whole lot. The acceptance rate Uber Eats drivers have isn’t all that important, either. Unless you plan to use the perks offered by Uber’s rewards plan, you won’t be adversely impacted by a low acceptance rate. However, the other thing you’ll miss is higher payment for quests. If this is something you use to help you maintain high earnings, then it’s worth keeping your acceptance rate, and your Uber Pro status, high.
Even though you don’t need to worry as much about getting and keeping a high acceptance rate, there are some aspects of your driving patterns and performance that will help you earn more.
- Driver rating. Your customers get to rate you after every ride. If you deliver, the restaurant or company can also give you a star rating. A higher rating will make you more appealing to riders who have more than one driver to choose from, for example. Plus, if you get consistently low ratings, you could be marked for deactivation. No one wants that!
- Cancellation rate. As we said in the last section, keeping a low cancellation rate will help you keep your rewards. It will also hold you in good standing with Uber.
- How much you drive. Obviously, if you drive more, you stand a chance to make more. The added bonus for driving more is more access to rewards through the Uber Pro program. The number of rides or deliveries you complete will be tallied and considered as a qualification for the various tiers of this rewards program.
Now that the upfront fares feature is in place, you may not need to get nervous about having a low acceptance rate. There are lots of ways to earn more as a rideshare driver, and Gridwise makes them easy for you to find.
Ready to take your gig work to the next level?
Download Gridwise, the app that helps you track your expenses and maximize your earnings
Check out this collection of insight and ideas in the Gridwise Rideshare Guide, and discover all the different things you can do to put your driving gig to work for you.
