Uber testing guaranteed earnings instead of sign-up bonuses in some markets

Lately, Uber has been testing guaranteed earnings instead of sign up bonuses for new drivers. If you’re a new driver and you’re wondering what your sign up bonus is, or if you’re an existing driver and you’re looking to refer new drivers, this video is going to be for you.

Take a look at the video and read the video transcript below if you prefer to read.

First thing to keep in mind is that Uber doesn’t really provide a whole lot of information when it comes to sign up bonuses. It’s taken a lot of trial and error for us to figure out, and things change quickly. If you’re out there, and you’re seeing a link, you’re seeing something on a website, or even this video to be frank, it could be quickly out of date. Most of the information will still probably be good, so don’t turn away right now.

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Ultimately, the best information you’re going to get comes from Uber. You can’t necessarily trust some link that you read on the internet that says, “Hey, get $800 by using my link.” That’s obviously a third party person, you want to go straight to the source, and here’s how you’re going to do it if you guys do have questions.

Uber is testing this new thing called guaranteed earnings. In the past, the sign up bonuses worked like this: If I’m an existing driver, and I have my buddy Joe who I want to sign up to drive, I send him a referral link and my code. I’ll send him my code, 3E3DG, or I’ll give him my link. When he signs up with Uber, he gets a sign up bonus based solely off whatever city he’s in. All that matters is that he uses some driver’s link. He can use my link, he can use a driver in his own city, he can use a driver in any city in the U.S., as long as he uses some driver’s link. He’ll get a bonus based off his city sign up amount.

How guaranteed earnings works

That’s a thing that you definitely want to understand that most important thing is that you use someone’s link. By using my code, or using someone else’s code, you’re going to get the same bonus. We got that out of the way. What Uber is actually testing is now guaranteed earnings. Those terms still work the same. You still have to sign up with some driver’s link, and the terms are still based off of your city, but, instead of a $500 bonus for example, they might offer $800 in guaranteed earnings.

What I found is that the guaranteed earnings program is not as good as the sign up bonus, but there’s not a whole lot you can do about it. If Uber’s doing guaranteed earnings for new drivers in your city, that’s sort of what you have to do. In most cases it might be $800. I’ve seen in L.A., for example, it’s $840 after 75 trips. Most average trips are probably going to be in that $6-$8 range, so you might end up with $200-$300 in guaranteed earnings. If you go out and drive really busy times and make a ton of money, you might end up with zero.

How to ask Uber about your potential bonus

If you think about it, it’s sort of an incentive to do as many short trips as you possible, if you are on this guaranteed earnings program. Uber hasn’t released a list of cities that they’re testing it in, but you can either confirm with Uber ahead of time. It’s therideshareguy.com/uberinquiry, and that basically takes you to the exact page on Uber’s site where you can submit a message without having to be a driver yet. You can email them, or you can send them a message and they’ll email you back. You can ask them, “How much is the sign up bonus for my city?” They’ll hopefully tell you it’s $500 after 75 trips, or it’s $840 guaranteed earnings after X number of trips.

Once you have that information, then you can use a new driver sign up link. The key point, once you sign up, you should get an email from Uber saying what the terms are, whether you’re under guaranteed earnings, or whether you get a regular sign up bonus. If you want to be super safe, you can even check with Uber, which I definitely recommend. Really just think about these sign up bonuses and guaranteed earnings, because you want to stay proactive, you want to keep checking, because it’s a lot of money. If you can get three, four, $500 for signing up, and you were going to sign up anyways, or you just want to come in, try it out, and might as well make a few extra dollars on each trip. It’s definitely a good deal, and that’s why so many new drivers are looking to take advantage of it.

How to make sure you get your bonus

One thing that I want to note too, is that there are some problems sometimes, the codes don’t get applied. Uber does actually offer retroactive Uber sign up bonuses. Let’s say you sign up without a code, and then you realize, I forgot to enter Harry’s code, or something like that, you can actually message Uber through the driver app under the help section. We have instructions on therideshareguy.com on where you guys can go if you need to submit a retroactive Uber referral. You have 15 days to submit a retroactive Uber referral.

Related: How do Uber and Lyft sign up bonuses work?

Even if you signed up, and something happened with your code, or you forgot to enter the code, you can go within 15 days after activation, enter all my information in, or if you have a friend, or whoever helped you to get signed up driving. It doesn’t have to be me. Then you can actually still get that bonus, or the guaranteed earnings.

Hopefully this explained what guaranteed earnings is. It is a pilot program by Uber, so it could end up that drivers don’t like it, or it doesn’t get as many new drivers on the road and they get rid of it. I’ll definitely keep you guys updated if any changes happen there. If you guys like this video, give me a little thumbs up. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out in the comments below. I’d love to help, and I’d love to answer any questions you might have.

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