How Long Can I Go Without Driving For Uber Before I’m Deactivated?

I’ve heard many drivers ask, “How long can I go without driving for Uber before I’m deactivated?” A lot of people are worried about getting deactivated and doing things against Uber’s policy that will get you deactivated. That type of deactivation is actually a little bit different than getting deactivated due to inactivity. Inactivity is basically not driving. Generally after about two months of not driving, Uber will deactivate your account.

Uber deactivations due to inactivity: Not as bad as it sounds

This type of deactivation is not quite as menacing as it sounds. It’s not the same as getting deactivated for low ratings. If you get deactivated for low ratings, you have to take a class to come back on. This deactivation is actually a little bit different. The only thing you have to keep in mind is if let’s say you got and you are taking a trip or for whatever reason you just need a break from Uber, you’ll get a ton of messages, you’ll get a ton of emails and texts or basically warnings saying, “Hey, your account is going to be deactivated in one month, or your account is going to be deactivated in one week.”

Take one trip to prevent deactivation due to inactivity

All you need to do is go back out and take one trip. And this is all messaging from Uber because they don’t want to lose you as a driver. They’ve already got you signed up, they’ve got you through the process, they want to, you know, just like other services. If you’ve ever tried to close your Facebook account, for example, they’ll ask you five times, “Are you sure you want to do this. This action is irreversible. You are going to loose these, X, Y, and Z.” Because they don’t want to loose you as a user. Same thing with Uber. They don’t want to loose you as a driver. So that’s why they send all of these notifications and texts and things like that.

Lyft won’t deactivate you for inactivity

Lyft actually has a different policy. On Lyft, you can go as long as you want without driving for them and still stay an active driver. That’s a nice thing for driving for Lyft. You do want to make sure that you keep all your insurance documents and everything like that up-to-date, which should be pretty easy. Lyft will send you a reminder if your insurance is about to expire and stuff like that. Just to make sure that you keep all those documents up-to-date. And then, if you need Lyft as a backup for example, the Uber app has been known to go down. I think every driver should be doing at least Uber and Lyft regardless of how much you are doing one over the other just so you kind of diversify your income streams and have a backup plan.

Keep both your Lyft and Uber accounts active so you have a backup

The Uber app has gone down on Halloween, for example, so then you can try and go drive for Lyft. You want to make sure that your account is active and up-to-date with Lyft. If your Uber account does get deactivated, it’s not a true deactivation in the sense that you can never drive for them again. Send them an email, go through that process to get reactivated. But even if you do get deactivated, you can actually still refer new drivers, you can still refer new passengers, and you can still get paid out for those drivers and those passengers. Deactivation isn’t the end-all, be-all.

But if you are going to be away for a while, maybe that’s something you can use to deactivate your account until you are ready to come back and drive for Uber. If you just want to keep your account active though, it’s pretty easy. You can always just go out and just do one quick ride and take the first request you get, do a ride and you only have to do that every couple of months to stay active. I think that’s probably a lot easier than getting deactivated and having to deal with Uber and go through that process again.

Worried about deactivation? Leave a comment

Hopefully this video was helpful, and you guys are out there and you are worried about getting deactivated due to inactivity, you know what the process is like, what the potential outcome is, and what you need to do to get back on the platform. If you have any questions, definitely feel free and leave them below. I’ll definitely appreciate the likes, comments, and subscribes. Look forward to hearing from you guys soon. Take care.