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My Uber driver stopped to get gas. How should I rate the ride?
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The Guru Take
Before you rate the driver, consider these scenarios.
This very topic was discussed last month on RideGuru. Has your Uber driver ever stopped to get gas while you are in the car? mid-ride?
If and when this happens, don’t immediately blame the driver as it may not have been under his or her control. Before you leave a bad rating, remember there are two types of drivers:
A bad driver - Those who keep on neglecting the amount of remaining fuel, for the sake of taking more rides. During their shifts and between customer rides, the drivers have the option to go off-line and temporarily stop incoming requests. This is what they are supposed to do to maintain their car, e.g. going to a gas station. Unfortunately some drivers will push this for the sake of not missing rides and losing out on revenue.
A good driver - They try their best to keep the car in good shape and have the car fueled. However, keep in mind that drivers are (typically) not aware or notified of the length and duration of the trips before accepting. They may think they have enough fuel, but the pickup itself could be far and the drop-off destination much further.
(Update: There are situations where every driver would push it. For example, when the surge is in effect (i.e. a chance to make more money), drivers may really not want to go offline. There are also cases where the driver is headed back home at the end of a shift and has a place to be (say for personal reasons). Most drivers would try to pick up customers to be efficient with the fuel. These are all circumstances that you have to try to understand as a customer.)
How you judge the situation is up to you. If your ride was 5 minutes and he stops for gas, what do you think happened? If you ask for a 100 mile ride home, that’s a different scenario.
Comments
Often a ride request will come in while we are still mid ride and though I may have 60 miles worth of gas when that happens which should cover most rides if after arriving at pick up I learn you are going to a destination 70 miles away I will mention that a quick pit stop will be needed. Would you rather not get picked up or picked up by a driver dispatched from 20 minutes away or a driver who was 2 minutes away when ride got added to his que? A fuel stop is no more that 5 minutes so if you feel that leaving a driver a bad rating who got you within minutes of request and is willing to take you on a seventy mile ride is legitimate, I hope those riders get crap ratings back and next time at rude request the wheel will just keep spinning while driver after driver will decline you.
Right. Excellent point on how the next ping can come mid-ride. (Then again, you don't have to accept it either, huh.)
1. On Uber a mid-ride add-on request comes in in a similar manner as a regular request so you can decline it - Yes.
2. On Lyft a mid-ride add-on request is just shoved down driver's throat with a message "Another passenger has been added to your que", there is no way to cancel these while you are in middle of the original ride, and I am not about to start tinering with the phone to try to figure out how with a passenger in my car.
So a passenger who just got off the plane and requested a ride on lyft at the airport during rain and no other drivers in sight will get matched up with a driver who is still 10 minutes away just from dropping off the original rider and about 5 additional minutes to the pick up. As a driver I will drop off the original passenger and only now I get to either cancel the ride or head 5 minutes to pick up the add-on. What would you rather happen in the shoes of that passenger? Would you rather I cancel on you and you get to wait at least another 15 m…
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1. On Uber a mid-ride add-on request comes in in a similar manner as a regular request so you can decline it - Yes.
2. On Lyft a mid-ride add-on request is just shoved down driver's throat with a message "Another passenger has been added to your que", there is no way to cancel these while you are in middle of the original ride, and I am not about to start tinering with the phone to try to figure out how with a passenger in my car.
So a passenger who just got off the plane and requested a ride on lyft at the airport during rain and no other drivers in sight will get matched up with a driver who is still 10 minutes away just from dropping off the original rider and about 5 additional minutes to the pick up. As a driver I will drop off the original passenger and only now I get to either cancel the ride or head 5 minutes to pick up the add-on. What would you rather happen in the shoes of that passenger? Would you rather I cancel on you and you get to wait at least another 15 minutes for another driver to hopefully scoop you up and agree to take you where you are going or be picked up by the first driver with a 4 minute pit stop after ride starts? Could a driver go get gas before the add on pick up, maybe but that is another 10-15 minutes as by time you get out of the airport after drop off and come back the passenger with screaming kids has been in the rain all this time. So there you have it, and it is just one example.
And only covers lyft regular, shared is even more likely you pick up someone on a short hop and the next shared passenger needs to go very far so you never get a chance to cancel them nor to gas up between rides.
If a have 150 miles of gas in tank left and a ride request comes in with a long ride banner, I will take it, but guess what if that ride is taking me 160 miles to drop off - I will be pulling over to get gas.
So Passengers, do not be handing out crap ratings for drivers actualluy doing you a favor, and do not forget to tip. I had passengers who still rate me 5.00 but do not tip because I stopped to gas up with them after explaining how their ride was added on and instead of making them wait 20 miuntes I got them in 10 after first drop off and now we need to get few gallons of gas. However, as drivers we feel when a lower rating is coming and may priemptively return the same to the passengers :)
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That GIF has nothing to do with the Uber drivers getting gas. At least I hope not. LOL.
Talladega Nights, right?