When Should Uber Drivers Sign Up for Lyft?

Most drivers start with Uber. They’re the dominant ride-share company, they’re in more cities, they’ve got tipping now, and they just have more driver and more passengers. They’ve got about 80% market share, so most people find themselves signing up with Uber.

We have a lot of content where you can learn about the differences between Lyft and Uber, and pick who you want to start with. But let’s say you’ve already signed up with Uber, since that’s the situation most people are going to be in. Should you even add Lyft, and if so, when should you do it?

Watch my video to see my answer, then check out the video transcript below.

Sign up for both, but necessarily not at the same time

I actually recommend that everyone eventually sign up for at least both, Uber and Lyft, but not immediately and here’s why.

The first reason is the sign up bonus. If you get onboard with Uber and you use another driver’s referral link, like the one we have down below, you’ll be entitled to a sign up bonus or guaranteed earnings. Or if you’re in a city with a guarantee instead of a sign up bonus, you can do a bunch of short rides and max out the guarantee money.

Get the hang of driving first

The second reason is you also just want to get the hang of things. You don’t want to go and add a bunch of apps first. You want to get the hang of how does Uber work in general? How can you be a good Uber driver?

Your first few weeks on the job, it really shouldn’t be about maximizing your money and trying to do a million things at once, it’s really just about getting the hang of things. You’ll need to maintain a 4.6 star rating, and you want to make sure that you’re doing a good job, learning navigation, learning the top landmarks, everything that a good new driver should be focusing on. Keep things simple, learn the ropes. And I think the best way to do that is just one app. After you’ve done about 100 rides, or let’s say you’ve been driving for 1-2 months, that’s when I’d recommend adding Lyft, and vice versa.

A second app diversifies your income sources

Let’s say you signed up with Lyft first, I’d wait the same amount of time and then go and add Uber. And the main reason why you’re going to want to add another app in the first place, is because you want to diversify your income sources. Two is always better than one when you’re a business owner. And whether you realize it not, you’re now a business owner as an Uber or a Lyft driver.

During slow times you can actually have two apps on to go online, then you take whichever request come first. I use the Mystro app to manage this process automatically, so it’s a pretty cool app we’ve reviewed, and it basically logs you onto Uber and Lyft, and then logs you off whichever app you don’t get a request on. I Highly recommend you download Mystro the app if you’re doing both Uber and Lyft, it’s sort of a no-brainer.

Take advantage of Uber and Lyft competing for your business

The other reason that you want two apps, is because of the competition. You want these companies competing against each other to get you to drive for them, especially if you live in a big market, you’ll probably get competing guarantee offers every week. You’ll get emails from Uber, texts. Texts from Lyft, whatever it might be, and these companies are competing against each other for you, you’re the driver that they want. And this may not work in every single city because the competition isn’t as fierce in every single city, but I can tell you for a fact that Uber and Lyft know exactly what each other are doing. They know the bonuses, they know the guarantees that each other are offering, and they’re always trying to outdo each other. They take a lot of this information into account.

Why do you think Uber sometimes sends you an email or a text and say, “Hey, if you have any Lyft pay statements or statements from other companies, we’d love to see them and we’ll pay you money for them.” There’s a reason for that and that’s how they determine a lot of that. That competition is another really good reason.

Now I often hear a lot of drivers who say, “Well, I get most of my rides with Uber in my city, or my city’s a big Lyft city so I don’t need the other app,” and I actually think that makes sense, but I don’t agree with it completely.

You need a backup app. Things go wrong often

I still think that you want both, because what if Uber or Lyft app crashes? And that’s been known to happen. What if one of your documents expires for some reason and now you can’t get ahold of Uber’s customer support, you can’t log onto the Uber app, you have no way to make money and it’s Saturday night at 1:00 AM right before the bar rush hits? At least if you’re going to have it as a backup, that’s going to make a lot of sense, because these things do happen.

You won’t have time to go sign up for Lyft really quickly if your Uber app crashes or you can’t get online with the Uber platform and wait for them. This is really your livelihood so you need to be prepared.

If you guys haven’t signed up for Lyft yet my code is “Harry757.” Definitely go ahead and check it out. And if you guys are out there, I’d love to hear from you on your Lyft versus Uber. What’s it like out there? How long was it before you added both apps, or are you still doing a single app, Uber or Lyft, and why? I’d love to know if there’s any reasons that I haven’t thought of, or if there’s something that I should consider.

Definitely make sure if you guys enjoyed this video, give us a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel. Until next time, take care.