How Do Uber And Lyft Sign Up Bonuses Work?

In this video, I really want to explain how sign up bonuses work. They are one of the most important things you need to think about if you’re a new driver. We make some of our revenue off driver referral bonuses and it’s one of the ways we are able to create all of this content, but there’s also a lot of money at stake for new drivers.

Watch the video below to learn how the Uber driver bonus and Lyft driver bonus work, then read the transcript to see all of the points I cover.

The first thing you have to note about the sign up bonuses is that in order to be eligible for a sign up bonus you have to sign up using a driver’s link or a current driver’s referral code. You can’t go to Uber.com, sign up to drive with Uber and get one of these bonuses. T

How much will your bonus be?

Now, the bonus amount. The amount that you’ll be paid is based on your city. You might see all these different links floating around, all these different amounts, and you should just ignore all of them because the amount that you’re going to get won’t be the same as the amount that you see in a random link. I’m a driver in Los Angeles, my link might say $500 and the only reason it says $500 is because I’m in L.A. If you’re a new driver and you sign up using my link or anyone else’s link and the current bonus is $500 for new drivers in L.A. you’ll get that $500 regardless of the amount the links says.

You’re probably asking yourself right now, “All right, how do I figure out what the bonus is for my city?” The best way to find out the bonus amount is to contact Uber. You probably don’t want to trust third parties, even me. Even if I tell you what the bonus is, you probably shouldn’t trust me because they change so often. You should get it in writing from Uber and say, “Hey Uber, what’s the bonus for my city? I’m in Los Angeles.”

Then sign up as soon as you get that information with a driver’s referral link. If you’re wondering how much the amounts are, the amounts are honestly often pretty high. The average bonus in small to mid size markets is usually in the $100 to  $300 range. In the bigger cities at certain times it can even go up as high as $500 to $1,000.

There’s a lot of money at stake so it’s important that you guys really follow my instructions and do all your due diligence to make sure that if you do sign up you are eligible for the highest bonus possible. We typically see highest bonuses in the periods leading up to Halloween and New Year’s Eve because that’s when Uber does the most volume of rides. October because of Halloween and then December because of New Year’s Eve.

That’s definitely always a good time to just see what the bonuses are to consider signing up. Then the other time that you see bonuses peak are the months leading up to summer, April, May, June because a lot of people are traveling in the summer. That’s the trajectory of sign up bonuses and there’s no guarantee but that’s what we’ve seen based off the past few years.

Find out the terms of your bonus

Once you’ve figured out the amount, it’s also super important to find out the terms. You’re always going to want to get this things in writing, that’s super important. That’s one thing I’ve learned through trial and error. Typically you have to do 50 to a 100 rides within 30 days in order to get your bonus. They count the 30 days from your activation day and there’s no email or no text usually that says you’re activated or not always at least but basically activation date is when Uber allows you to go and get a ride. That’s basically your first day that you could potentially work is actually your activation date, that’s an important date.

Even when you just try to log on yourself and you see that you now have been activated then you know hey I have 30 days from that day. The other reason why activation date is important is because usually Uber will actually allow you to add a retroactive referral. So let’s say you signed up with my link or something like that or you signed up to drive with Uber but you forgot to include a driver’s code. Remember, you’re not going to be eligible for a sign up bonus unless you use that code. Fortunately, Uber knows that you guys you might forget, you might get information on my site or somewhere else and then go sign up not using a link and want to add it later, Uber does give you a two week grace period. If you’re still within that grace period, you can email Uber.

Lyft bonuses: Similar to Uber, but no retroactive bonuses

Bonuses for Lyft are a little bit different. Lyft doesn’t publish their bonus amounts anymore. They used to but they don’t do it anymore, but they will give you an email confirmation with the amount of sign up bonus that you’ll get and the terms and they send it to both the new driver and the referring driver. For example, you signed up for Lyft using my link, you’ll get an email that says, “Hey, you get a $500 bonus after you do a 100 rides in 30 days.” I’ll also get an email saying, “Hey, XYZ driver signed up using your link. If they complete however many rides in however many days you’ll get this bonus.”

That’s the nice thing about Lyft, but you must sign up with the driver’s code. Lyft have pretty good bonuses, and they often match or even go higher than Uber’s bonuses so definitely take a look at those.

There’s no retroactive bonus with Lyft but hopefully that clears things out for you guys as far as what you need to know for sign up bonuses. Alot of drivers make good money through referrals, and I’m one of them. That’s one of the main ways we monetize the site and you can do it too. If you have friends, you can go and sign up new drivers and make a few hundred dollars extra here and there. I think it’s a smart strategy.

Hopefully that clears things up. If you guys have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment below. If you guys like this video, give me a little thumbs up and definitely subscribe to the channel too. We’ve got lots of new and fresh content coming out so hopefully you guys enjoyed this and look forward to hearing from you soon. Take care.