Getting Started With Lyft I: Getting Your Lyft Sign Up Bonus

Getting Started With Lyft II: Lyft Vehicle Requirements And Driver Requirements

Getting Started With Lyft III: Passing Your Mentor Session and Lyft Welcome Ride

Getting Started With Lyft IV: Lyft Background Check and Preparing for Your First Ride

Getting Started With Lyft V: Your First Week of Lyft Driving

Passing Your Mentor Session and Lyft Welcome Ride

Lyft requires that each potential driver complete a welcome ride with a Lyft Mentor. Lyft’s Mentor system is in place to assure quality control over new drivers. Many have said that Lyft has generally better drivers because the mentor program provides extra screening against drivers who may make passengers feel unsafe or uncomfortable.

The mentor session has three parts: Car inspection, Driver Interview, and Test Drive.  And as an experienced mentor, I have some very valuable tips on how to make sure you pass the welcome ride and get approved to drive for Lyft.

Before Your Mentor Session

First, make sure to watch the welcome ride videos on Lyft’s site. Don’t skip any of them. The videos show you the basics of navigating the Lyft driver side of the app on your phone so you can properly operate as a Lyft driver. Of great importance is “Tap to Arrive” and “Tap to Drop Off” function within the app. These buttons act as your “meter” like in a traditional cab.

I also suggest taking a ride as a Lyft passenger before trying to give one. This way you can experience things from the customer side of the app. What was a pain point for you? How can you make the ride you took better?

You can request a mentor through the Lyft app whenever you’re ready or if you wait, you will eventually be contacted by a mentor and they will schedule a time and place for you to meet them. Be on time.

Mentors receive $15-$35 depending on the city for each session they complete and regardless of whether they pass or fail you.  And in some interviews, mentors no longer receive a cash payout.

So treat it like a casual job interview.

Wash your car. Clean out and vacuum the inside. Make sure there are no smells or strong odors. Remove all personal items from the trunk.

In other words, make your car a place that somebody would be willing to pay money to ride in. After all, passengers will be rating you once you are on the road so why not start now?

Bring Your Documents

You will want to make sure to bring a copy of all the required documents: insurance, registration, and your driver’s license. Your mentor will be taking photos of these documents and confirming that all of the details match what you entered on your application.

After they take a picture of your documents they will take a photo of you and your car. Make sure that you are comfortable with the photo that they take of you as it will be the photo that every passenger sees when they request a driver (Lyft will photoshop a green ivy background behind your face). Same goes with your car.

Prep Work

Your mentor probably won’t test your navigation skills but you will have to be able to navigate to your mentor’s location using the GPS/navigation options on your phone.  It’s a good idea to practice using Google Maps or Waze a few times before your mentor ride.  If you do this just a few times, it will make your mentor session much less stressful.

If you really want to impress your mentor, get a solid GPS mount and have your phone mounted so that you can quickly and safely access your navigation while driving.  It will also prevent you from running into things as you drive 🙂

During Your Mentor Session

After watching the training videos and taking a ride as a passenger, you should request a mentor by selecting the steering wheel within the Lyft app. Make sure you are ready before requesting a mentor session. Once you request a mentor, the mentor will submit a Lyft request and you must accept it and drive to the pin on the map just like a real Lyft ride request. This means that you must be in your car and ready to go. It is important to treat this like a mini job interview. The most common complaint mentors make about applicants is that they are not ready to go when they request a Welcome Ride.

Pro Tip: Do not ask your mentor to drive to you!  You need to drive to wherever they are!

Give the mentor a few minutes to inspect your documents. He or she will take pictures of your insurance to make sure that your drivers license number, VIN#, and insurance information match. You will need to bring insurance that shows that you are the person insured on the vehicle you intend to drive. Make sure to also bring the proper vehicle.

After taking a picture of your documents the mentor will take a picture of you and your car. From there, they should begin the inspection and they will check everything on the vehicle listed in the vehicle requirements section. You will need to turn on the lights, blinkers, windshield wipers, etc.

After the inspection the mentor will begin the welcome ride. You must hit “tap to arrive” on the Lyft application and use the application to look up where to drive. The mentor will give you the location in a similar manner as a typical passenger.

On Your Test Drive

While on your test drive feel free to ask your mentor questions about driving for Lyft. Find out what hours and areas are best to drive in. The key is to make conversation seem natural as you navigate through the city to your destination.

You will want to already have a GPS mount with your phone placed in the mount. Lyft is hands free and you will want to show that you can navigate safely and accurately while being friendly.

As long as you get to your destination without breaking any traffic laws, driving safely, and being somewhat sociable you should be able to pass the driver’s test.

How to Fail Your Mentor Session

Here are some common mistakes that people make during the mentor session. Most mentors will tell you that these things result in either an automatic fail or serious docking of points. Many of these seem obvious but they keep coming up, so here they are:

Bringing a Friend/Family Member/Dog: Do not bring a friend or second person. Many mentors will fail you for this. Although it may seem weird meeting with some random stranger, mentors are generally top tier Lyft drivers. If you are not comfortable with the location your mentor requests to meet you at, call them and ask if you can meet them in a more public place.

Mentor shopping: Unless your mentor is extremely far away, I suggest not canceling and requesting a mentor session if you don’t like your mentor. Often there will only be one mentor available and if you continue to request and cancel on them they will get annoyed and frustrated that you are wasting their time.

Dirty/Smelly Car: Your mentor should not be able to reconstruct your fast-food eating history for the last several weeks by sitting in your car.

Missing: drivers license, insurance, registration. Bring it because we can’t do anything until we see it.

Driving aggressively: It’s best not to burn yellow lights and to instead adopt a safer driving style. We aren’t interested in your Mad Drifting SkiLlz. We are interested in your ability to deliver your passengers from point A to B safely. Think of it as the time you drove the guy from the DMV.

Poor Hygiene:  Be clean. You don’t have to wear a suit by any means but just look respectable.

So avoiding all of the pitfalls listed above and following my guidelines will make the mentor session a breeze. Most of the time the mentor ride is simple and the mentor will be friendly. Use it as a chance to talk to an experienced Lyft driver in your area and learn the best places and times to drive. Every market has knowledge that only drivers in that market will have and now is your chance to get that info.

After The Mentor Session

Within 24 hours of completing your mentor session, you will get an email confirming whether or not you have passed your mentor session. Often there will be notes that the mentor took. Most of the notes are just pieces of advice and do not mean that you failed the mentor session.

Occasionally, documents don’t get photographed correctly or Lyft has follow-up questions.  In these cases, Lyft may follow up with you to address whatever issues arise. There will be a place to upload any photos of new tires, lights, etc. Once these requirements are satisfied you will move on to the background check. This may delay the approval process a few days but generally Lyft is interested in getting drivers on the road so they will be quick in processing documents.

If you follow our advice your mentor session should go smoothly, you will pass and be on your way to giving your first ride.

If you haven’t started your application yet, follow this link to receive a sign-up bonus from Lyft!

Have questions about the Lyft Mentor Session or Welcome Ride?  Ask us in the comments section!

PS – Next up!  Once the mentor completes the session, your background check will be submitted to a third party and you will await the results.  In the mean time, there’s lots that you need to do to prep for your first ride.  You can opt in below and you’ll get all that information and more!  Already subscribed?  Download the PDF here.

Getting Started With Lyft I: Getting Your Lyft Sign Up Bonus

Getting Started With Lyft II: Lyft Vehicle Requirements And Driver Requirements

Getting Started With Lyft III: Passing Your Mentor Session and Lyft Welcome Ride

Getting Started With Lyft IV: Lyft Background Check and Preparing for Your First Ride

Getting Started With Lyft V: Your First Week of Lyft Driving

Lyft Background Check and Preparing for Your First Ride

Once you’ve passed the welcome ride and your vehicle has been approved, you might think you’re ready to hit the road.  Not so fast though, now you’ll need to wait for your background check to process.

Sterling BackCheck

Lyft uses a company called Sterling BackCheck to conduct their background checks. After the mentor session you can check the status of your background check through Sterling’s website or by contacting their customer service line (1-800-899-2272). Once they’ve processed your information, you can also request a copy of your background check.

It is important to note that even though Sterling may verify that your background check has been completed and sent to Lyft, Lyft may still take a few days to process everything on their end before you are activated.

In the mean time, I always recommend getting a copy of your background check to see what is being said about you. You may be surprised.

If you don’t hear back from Lyft within 3-5 days, you should contact Lyft’s support team to see what the status of your application is. This becomes especially important if there are any snags in your application.  It’s best to take a proactive approach with Lyft, especially if you need to get on the road ASAP.  If you’re not in a rush, wait a week or two before you reach out to them for an update.

Livery and Regulations

Every market has a different set of regulations to follow and Lyft is very good about informing you of what regulations you have to follow. Make sure to keep up to date with emails that you receive from them on what you need to do. Your mentor should also give you some insight on this subject too.

In California you will need to at least print the Lyft Trade Dress and display it in the lower right hand corner of your windshield. Failure to do so may result in a $1,000 CPUC fine. After a few rides Lyft will send out a welcome kit with a fancier looking decal. In the meantime make sure to print it out and tape it to your lower right hand side of your windshield.

On the more obscure side, Portland Oregon requires a fire extinguisher in your vehicle.

Ultimately it is your responsibility to follow regulations. Whether Lyft tells you how to or not.

Maximum Ride Distance and Amount

There is a maximum cost and distance of a Lyft ride. Lyft’s insurance mandates that the maximum trip distance is 100 miles, originating from the passenger’s pickup location. Furthermore, the maximum amount that can be charged to a passenger is $200. So be sure that in the unlikely event that you receive a massive ride request that you drive through Lyft markets and restart every 100 miles.

This is incredibly rare but its not impossible. My record for a Lyft ride is only about $150 so if you beat me on your first day out of the gate make sure to let me know!

Quick Note on Airports

Airports have weird and unique regulations that vary by airport, state, county, what time of the day it is, whether or not you are dropping off or picking up, etc.  But the good news is that airports are loosening up their rideshare restrictions every day.  Lyft should send out regular updates on whether you’re allowed to pick-up/drop-off at airports but if they don’t, a quick e-mail to support should help clarify things.

You can also ask your mentor about the current airport regulations. If you live in CA you can check out the complicated matrix of airport rules here.

Take a Ride as a Passenger

If you have not yet taken a ride as a Lyft passenger I recommend doing so before you give one. Here is some free credit for your first ride. While taking your first ride, try to scope out how your driver gets to you, how they have their GPS mounted, what routes they take, etc.

This may also be a good time to ask those questions that you forgot to ask your mentor during your mentor session. You may even make a new friend and get some intel on where other Lyft drivers are meeting up.  Make sure that you take extra care to see how the app works from the passenger side, what notifications you get and how to tip.  If a passenger ever has a question about the app, you want to be able to answer with confidence.

Pay

Lyft drivers get paid every Wednesday morning. The pay period begins Monday at 5AM and goes until the Monday of 4:59AM of the next week. All of your fares, bonus, fees, and tips are added up into a summary that you receive on a Tuesday evening in your email. Further, you will receive a daily summary of your rides every morning via e-mail.

You can setup direct deposit by logging in here and looking for the “banking” Tab.

Lyft typically takes 20% of fares and lets you keep 100% of tips and cancellation fees. One of the things that makes Lyft a little bit better than Uber though is the Power Driver Bonus. Basically if you driver a certain number of hours and meet 10 “Peak” hours, the commission that Lyft takes from you gets reduced from 20% to 10% to 0%. Basically, the more you drive, the less Lyft’s commission will be.

Logging Into Driver Mode

You should get an e-mail from Lyft once you’re ready to hit the road.  Then you’ll get a text.  Then they’ll email you again. And then they will then text you continuously until you give your first ride.

If you haven’t’ figured it out, they want you to get on the road!

If you haven’t started your application yet, follow this link to receive a sign-up bonus from Lyft!

Now that you are a road pirate, congratulations!  If you have any questions about the background check process or getting ready for your first ride, ask us in the comments.

PS – Next up!  Now that you’re ready to drive, our next article will cover everything you need to know about your first week of driving!  You can opt in below and you’ll get all that information and more!  Already subscribed?  Download the PDF here.

Getting Started With Lyft I: Getting Your Lyft Sign Up Bonus

Getting Started With Lyft II: Lyft Vehicle Requirements And Driver Requirements

Getting Started With Lyft III: Passing Your Mentor Session and Lyft Welcome Ride

Getting Started With Lyft IV: Background Check and Preparing for Your First Ride

Getting Started With Lyft V: Your First Week of Lyft Driving

Your First Week of Lyft Driving

Before you hit the road, let’s go over some common concerns.

• You do not have to schedule hours.
• You do not have to have anybody’s OK to log in to driver mode.  You can literally log in and log out whenever you want.
• Once you select the Pink Steering wheel icon, you are in driver mode. You are live to receive calls.

A lot of drivers like to jump the gun and head out on a busy Saturday night in downtown but I recommend a more mellow approach.  You should begin in an area where you will receive calls yet be able to pull over and stop easily. This will allow you to switch between the Lyft app and your GPS app with less stress and get you into the muscle and mental memory of inputting addresses and searching for where to drive.

The first few rides I gave were a little stressful. Although I had used GPS applications before, I had not used them to such a degree and could have used some time to figure out how to operate either G-maps or Waze. As you use them more often, you learn when and how to interpret the data that they give you.

Start in the Suburbs: I suggest starting in the suburbs where it is going to be a little slower and easier to pick up passengers. The pickup is the hardest part of the ride and making it easier will help you get in the groove.

Navigation: Navigation is the number one reason for low ratings for drivers so take your time navigating and focus on doing it right. Think ahead about where it is telling you to go. If you know your area and your navigation app is telling you to take a route which will have a lot of traffic, trust your instinct.

Pickup: I recommend checking the actual address that is inputted into the Lyft App. Park outside of that address in a safe area. If you are unable to find a safe area to pullover, go to the nearest safe spot and call your passenger to coordinate.

Be Honest: Let your passengers know that it is your first ride and first day. Most are pretty receptive. When I came to SF I told everyone I was new and they appreciated the honesty. My ratings didn’t even suffer because I was upfront with all of my passengers.

Communicate: Let the passenger know which route your GPS is taking you. See if they agree on its efficiency. In the event that they do not, follow the route that they give you.

Act Natural: It may feel a little strange driving people for money at first. Some people get nervous. Act natural and pretend you are driving a friend or family member. Believe it or not, in addition to making some money for yourself, you are actually helping people remain safe when they party or saving them a ton of money from a standard cab fare. No need to be nervous.

Ratings: You will be given a little bit of leeway for the first few rides that you do. Some people may be brutal with their ratings on you but Lyft takes this into account. Around 30 rides, you will see your rating displayed for the first time. If it is not a 5.0, don’t worry or feel bad. Just keep being a good, safe, and friendly driver.

Candy/Water/Chargers: You can use Candy/Water/Chargers to help with your ratings. Not many drivers (myself especially) carry these items anymore though. You can use these to hedge your ratings against the fact that you are new and inevitably will make mistakes on the road.  Once you gain some experience though, it will be time to ditch the extras.

Act Natural and Keep Calm

I put this here again because it is important. Passengers prefer a genuine driver. Don’t try to fake it until you make it. Don’t act like you know about whatever sports or technical programming language they may rant to you about. Don’t act like you are supposed to have the knowledge of a professional chauffeur or feel pressured to do something you do not feel comfortable doing. Just do you.

You Will Make a Mistake

You are probably going to mess something up at some point. You will miss an exit, forget to start the ride (or end the ride), accidentally drive into Mexico, etc. When this happens remain calm and focus on the road. Make sure to pull over when it is safe and you feel comfortable if you need to. Don’t jerk the wheel in a last minute attempt to change course.

If it is a technical issue, make sure to message Lyft through the help center. You aren’t the first to make this mistake. I promise.

To be honest, a lot of the learning experience is trial by fire. The more you drive, the better driver you’ll become.

When And Where To Drive

Everyone has different preferences on the hours and places they like to drive. I am going to highlight some generalizations on when and where to drive once you start to get the hang of things. I suggest trying all of the hours at least once. Of course, you can drive whenever you want to so don’t feel pressured to drive any hours you don’t want to.

Weekday Nights: Evenings have good volume. You will often experience less traffic and this will make it easier to drive. Where you get better traffic conditions though, you generally get drunker passengers. If you are worried about your passengers being wild I would suggest logging off by 11PM.

Weekday Mornings: These hours will generally have a lot of commuter passengers. These are people who commute using Lyft. Often you will get passengers who missed their train/bus or passengers who are going to an interview. These passengers tend to be quiet and more logical/reserved. Traffic tends to start off ok and turn into a nightmare as the morning churns on. Keep in mind less drivers are out in the morning so you may find more success before rush hor. The earlybird gets the worm as they say.

Weekends: Your weekend passengers will generally be more social and in a better mood. After all, it is the weekend. If you drive during a Sat/Sun morning you will get a lot of hungover people going home after a night out. Often these can be great times for Primetime as less drivers are out in the morning.

As the afternoon comes around you will get requests from a lot of places for people who are going out to enjoy the weekend. Many of these destinations will be in the bar and entertainment area of your city. The places that these rides end will be the places that become busy as Saturday night comes around.

One thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of drivers on the road during the weekends. Drivers with full-time jobs will be on the road when they otherwise would not be.

Saturday Evening: This time will get pretty busy as people continue to go out, begin their night, end their night, etc. It’s the highest volume part of the weekend. However, it is also the time that the most drivers are on the road. As the night comes to a close, you will get a lot of business around bars, events, conventions and concerts.  Prime Time pricing tends to peak on Saturday nights whenever the bars let out.  This is when the most number of passengers often need a ride all at the same time and there is rarely enough driver supply so prices go up.

Sundays: Mornings begin decently as people return home after crashing wherever they crashed the night before. Expect a lot of quiet rides with disheveled passengers. As the morning progresses people will begin to go out for brunch and other Sunday daytime activities. As Sunday night comes around, business generally drops as people prepare for the work week.

Beaches: If your market has a beach scene, there is usually a spike in business as the sun sets on the weekends. You may get some Primetime rides from the beach. However, you may also get a lot of sand in your car. So bring a towel.

Have Fun

After a few days you will get the groove of where and when to drive and how to operate the Lyft app. Hopefully you will have made a few hundred dollars when all is said and done too. So now that you have jumped through all of the hoops of becoming a Lyft driver, you can begin meandering the streets to earn money as a driver.

If you’re on the fence about signing up, I say just go for it.  There isn’t a whole lot of risk to trying it out and in a best case scenario, you could be out on the road giving your first ride in as little as 3-5 days after submitting your application.  You’ll probably end up liking it and at least doing it here and there when you need some extra cash.  And if you don’t, you’re always free to quit 🙂

If you haven’t started your application yet, follow this link to receive a sign-up bonus from Lyft!

If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.  We promise to respond to each and every single one of your comments!

PS – If you opt in to our e-mail list below, we’ll give you access to our free PDF, Getting Started With Lyft, that will cover everything you need to know from signing up to your first week of driving!  Already subscribed?  Download the PDF here.