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Uber Surcharges and Fees: A Complete List

Posted by: RideGuru Team Mar 22, 2018
Updated Jan 16, 2020

13 comments


What surcharges can you expect with Uber? Have you been charged a fee from Uber and have no idea what it is for?

Additional fees and surcharges can be maddening, especially when it is unclear why you are being charged. To help clear up some of the confusion, we made a list of Uber surcharges and fees that you might encounter when using an Uber service.

 

Booking Fee (formerly “Safe Rides Fee”)

A flat fee that is added to all Uber’s economy car services (X, Xl, Pool) to cover Uber’s ‘operational costs’. The booking fee ranges from around $1.75 to $1.95 (and sometimes higher) per ride depending on the city.

The booking fee is always included in your upfront fare (the fare you see in the app before you request a ride).

Fun Fact: Uber Eats also charges a booking fee

 

Tolls

Uber requires all passengers to pay for any tunnel, bridge, or toll charges that are incurred during the course of the ride. These charges will be added to your fare total at the end of your trip.

 

Cancellation Fee and Wait Time Fee

If you cancel your Uber ride two or more minutes after you have made the ride request you will be charged a cancellation fee. For Uber X and XL the fee is $5. For Uber Black and SUV the fee is $10.

After two minutes of waiting your driver can cancel your ride and mark you as a “no show” and you will be charged the cancellation fee. If you tell your driver to keep waiting after the 2 minute mark and your driver agrees, a per minute wait time fee will begin and it will continue until after you enter the vehicle and your driver begins the trip.

 

Cleaning Fee

If you cause any damage to your driver’s car, you will be charged a cleaning fee. The cleaning fee ranges between $20 and $150 depending on the severity of the mess. The breakdown of cleaning fees is as follows:

$0 – Not a significant mess. Cleaned or wiped up quickly and easily. Includes water spills.

$20 – Small interior mess that requires vacuuming or simple cleaning (minor food or beverage spills, dirt).

$40 – Moderate mess on vehicles exterior (food or beverage mess).

$80 – Moderate interior mess (larger food or beverage spills on fabric or other hard-to-clean surfaces, minor bodily fluid messes).

$150 – Major mess that requires cleaning between the window and door or air vents (major bodily fluid messes).

 

Airport Surcharge

At some airports Uber will charge you a flat fee usually between $2 to $5, depending on the airport, for pickups and drop-offs. Usually this fee is passed onto Uber via the airport, and Uber will then pass this surcharge onto you.


Long Distance Pickup Fee

Long distance pickup fees are incurred when a driver has to drive a considerable distance to pick up a passenger. Fees only start accruing after the predetermined Long Pickup Threshold (typically anywhere from 8-11 minutes). In other words the first 8-11 minutes of drive time that your driver is on their way to you will still be free. After that point you will be charged your cities time and distance rates. Long Distance Pickup Fees currently only apply to UberX and UberPOOL rides

For more information on long distance pickup fees visit this article.

Lost Item Fee

If you lose one of your personal items while taking an Uber and your driver returns the item to you, you will be charged $15. Currently not all cities charge the $15 fee. In cities where there is no set fee, a driver who returns a lost item may ask you to pay them for going out of his/her way. Keep in mind that drivers are not responsible for any items you leave behind in their car!

If you have lost an item, here is how to contact your driver.


Temporary authorization charges

If you are new to Uber or when you add a new payment method, Uber may make a temporary authorization charge to verify that your payment method is active. Typically, an authorization charge is around $5, and will disappear from your account after a few business days.


Want to fight your fee?

In some cases, you may find that you have been wrongly charged a fee by Uber. If this is the case, submit a ticket request in the app under your trip receipts. Your Trips > Click on Desired Receipt > I would like a refund. If you explain your situation to Uber, they might refund your fee!


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Comments

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    AngieKM169
    120 Rider
     6 years ago

    Wow.  Those are lots of different fees. All the ways Uber tries to squeeze money out of us.  Why not just raise the rates all together?

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      tramason
       4 years ago

      You won't be charged as long as if you respect our vehicle. I type a response in the main comment section. It's worth recognizing that this is a business. You can't call an Uber unless you have money, if you damage our vehicle then we submit the evidence and Uber charges you to maintain their contractors quality. If we are traveling to you and then you cancel we are losing money at an exponential rate from depreciation, gas, and the possible rides we rejected by accepting yours. 


      I don't drive with lyft anymore because they cancel all the time. It's not worth the hassle of fighting traffic to be cancelled when I am right around the corner and now I have to find a location to drive to and waste more money. 


      Uber and Lyft require money to make money. We can't make money for our bills if we are throwing it away because of someone else's carelessness. 

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      ally223456
       3 years ago

      Thank you 👏👏👏👏👏

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      ally223456
       3 years ago

      Thank you 👏👏👏👏👏

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    CasPer
    330 Rider
     6 years ago

    Some of these fees entirely go to the drivers, and some entirely go to Uber.  It's interesting to look at it in a single list.

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    juan-time-commenter-835447
    1 Driver
     5 years ago

    booking fee is $3.10 (or possibly higher) in some markets

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      lilly
      1026 Rider Guru
       5 years ago

      Thanks for the info!

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    tramason
     4 years ago  (edited 4 years ago)

    These fees are so uber can exist. Think about this when you schedule a driver to take you under 3 miles and it's less than 10 minutes we lose money with gas and depreciation of the vehicle (traveling charge). Not even saying someone vomits in the vehicle (150$) or gets in with heavy soil so now you have to go offline and clean for a message that someone left without cleaning up or we're unable to so that one hour can be anywhere from 10$ to 50$ lost because of someone who didn't wipe their feet outside.


    Booking fees and cancellation fees have always been there. Even yellow Cab Co. Charges you 150$ to cancel so they may cover the cost of travel and the time wasted in transit. Uber only 5$. This is a business and a ride sharing service. If you can't handle paying the money then be considerate to someone's vehicle, it's personal property.  Transportation is not a right, it's a privilege to travel. 


    As drivers we don't make much and still have to service to car and maintain it in a professional environment. 

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      toolbox
      Driver
       4 years ago

      bs. yellow can does not charge$150 to cancel!

      if you have a problem making money on uber, then don't drive for them.

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    ndickter
    Driver
     4 years ago

    Is there a way to see a detailed breakdown for Tolls, Surcharges and Fees? Should I assume that the $3.40 I was charged for a ride in Washington, DC, is entirely for the Booking Fee, and that I wasn't charged any other fees that I shouldn't have been charged for? Thanks.

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    ndickter
    Driver
     4 years ago

    Is there a way to see a detailed breakdown of the "Tolls, Surcharges and Fees" charged for a particular ride? Must I assume that the $3.40 fee I was charged for a ride in Washington, DC, was just for the Booking Fee, and does not include any other fee that should not have been added? Thanks.

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    MLT2
    Driver
     4 years ago

    Show the fee I was charged. I still don't know what it's for.

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    kevincottingim
    Driver
     2 years ago

    I don't remember getting an Uber booking fee until last night. Is it included in the original price quoted before I book, or is it added after the fact?   They say it is for "safety" initiatives.  That is the cost of doing business and should be included in the base fare. It looks like they are taking a page out of the hotel sneaky fee of "resort fees".