Driving for Lyft Reviews by Drivers 2024

Are you thinking of becoming a Lyft driver and wondering how is the driving for Lyft experience like?

Lyft is one of the most successful rideshare car companies. Lyft drivers give over 1 million rides per day and earned $500 million dollars from rides and another $300 million dollars in tips. Lyft gives drivers tons of bonuses and income boosts every week. Driving for Lyft is a very appealing driving job.

But what are the Lyft drivers’ experiences? Do Lyft drivers make good money?
Do they enjoy their job or hate it? Is driving for Lyft safe?

Here are honest Lyft driver reviews and complaints.

Lyft Driver Reviews

Numerous magazines and blogs have run surveys and interviewed Lyft drivers about their experiences. On average, 80% of Lyft drivers are satisfied with their job driving for Lyft.

Scroll further down to read Lyft driver complaints.

“I earn $2,000 week, around $8000/mo. That’s WAY more than I ever made as a full-time employee at Coca Cola.” Lyft driver Kevin from NYC says.

“I make about $1,400 in a week” Lyft driver Billy Tilly says.

Jay Cradeur is a full-time Lyft driver and graduate of UC Berkley.
“I have earned an average of $2,300 per week, which included approximately $100 in weekly tips, $100 in weekly Prime Time earnings, and $500 in weekly bonuses.” he said.

 

Arturo Bryja earns $2,000 a week driving for Lyft in Las Vegas in suburbs and busy shopping areas. “I’ve done over 5,000 rides with Lyft. The thing with every job is there are people who are good at their job and there are people who suck at their job. The longer you do something the better you get at it.” he says.

“I really like being able to choose when I want to work and how long I want to be out!” Lyft driver Mino A. says. Like many Lyft drivers, Mino loves the freedom this driving job gives her. Having no boss is a great relief.

“Overall, this has been a great job, and I love the flexibility.” Lyft driver Tim Snyder says in his review of driving for Lyft.

“The good thing is you’re your own boss. If you need to take time off or adjust your schedule no one is going to say NO.” Full-time Lyft driver John Gardiner says.

“I’m in the San Diego market.” John adds, “I tested the water so to speak. I rented my first vehicle from Lyft.” John says, “After several weeks the profitability was sound. If you are currently employed don’t leave you job… Take some time off if possible and test the market. Work your off hours.”

Being a Lyft driver has the benefit of not having to log into work at a certain time. Unlike other full-time driving jobs, you can set your own hours and drive for Lyft whenever you want. There are no minimum required hours to drive for Lyft.

“Driving with Lyft gives me freedom – I can drive when I want and as I don’t have a fixed hrs job I can easily earn more cash in night hrs. Provided I’m a good old “owl” and had hard times getting to the office in the mornings, being a Lyft driver means a lot to my quality of life.” Ross Chapmann says.

Do you like meeting new people and talking to people?
Many people chat with their Lyft driver.
Women often treat a Lyft driver as a therapist and tell the driver all their relationship issues.
If you’re a good listener, you’re sure to get a nice tip in the end.

“I met a lot of new people working for lyft… the ability to make my own schedule was the best part.” says Juanita, a Lyft driver from Tucson, AZ.

Here are some more driving for Lyft reviews about driver’s experiences with passengers:

Paul Pruce started driving for Lyft when he was notified he’d lose his job in a month’s time.

“I never minded driving… what made me a good fit was I enjoy talking with people,” Paul says. “I enjoy getting their stories, hearing what they’re doing, where they’re going. I’ve had some really fascinating people, which is amazing. The conversations are a great perk.”

Dan Albertson enjoys driving for Lyft. In his working for Lyft review he says “Lyft riders are awesome… Lyft is safer because you meet with a mentor before you can drive. I did 800 Uber rides before switching to Lyft and now I make much better money and pay Lyft as little as 5%, yes 5%, if I do 60 rides a week.”

Matt & Amy Greenwatters are a young, newly wed couple who both work for Lyft. “We have 1 car for 2 of us – and we do shifts! This makes our car work like crazy but we feel much happier sharing the same work attitude” Amy said.

“I’m surprised to see how nice it is. How nice people treat you. And I’ve never had a problem. I’ve never felt insecure. Never.” female Lyft driver Beatriz said in an interview.

“Working for Lyft was a breeze.” a former Lyft driver from Las Vegas wrote in her Lyft driving review, “As a parent, balancing my time can be a big hassle some days, and Lyft provided me that flexibility. Heck, there were some days where I would flip on the app and just go about my day, cleaning the house, caring for the kids, all the while ready to pass the baton and run out for a call at a moment’s notice.”

Driving for Lyft Driver Income Reviews

What do Lyft drivers earn? In every Lyft driver’s review you’ll see different income screenshots.
Some Lyft drivers make $20/h while others regularly earn $30/h or even $40/h every day for months.

The more you drive, the less you pay Lyft in commissions. Lyft starts by charging a 20% commission but that commission can go down to 5% like Dan Albertson said.

Asides from giving Lyft drivers 100% of tips, Lyft also gives drivers many great weekly cash bonuses, and savings on gas and car repairs.

“You can net $1,000 weekly in San Francisco area without difficulty…making money inside the city is not hard at all regardless of time of day.” Part-time Lyft driver Leonid S. Knyshov says.

Lyft driver Joseph Atkins regularly makes $40/h driving for Lyft because he accepts every ride request during his work time. In his working for Lyft review he says this is the best way to earn the most money.

Stan Campbell made $399 in 10 hours of driving for Lyft, giving 44 rides to people.

Full-time San Francisco Lyft driver Jack Yee makes $23-$26/hour on average.

In some Lyft driver reviews, you’ll see drivers earn $50 to $100 per hour!
This is usually during rush hours, for long trips (usually over 50 minutes), on weekends, Friday nights, holidays, and on special events.

Here are some more driving for Lyft income examples:

Jay Cradeur, a full-time Lyft driver and UC Berkley graduate, makes over $2,000 per week by working 40-60 hours.

Lyft driver Leonid made $1,287 in one week, while only driving 10 hours for Lyft. He earned this much money by getting numerous generous Lyft bonuses.

Driving for Lyft “can make a good safety net if you’re between jobs or a way to supplement income from a job that isn’t paying the bills.” Lyft driver Paul Pruce says.

“Lyft is going to make you decent money but not great” Full-time driver Jack Wang says, “If you’re living in major cities, you’re going to be earning roughly ~$20/hour. There are certain cities like New York and San Francisco where you will earn more than that.”

“For me, as an immigrant, it’s a wonderful opportunity that I’m having to make the money that I need and send money to my son in college in Brazil. I’m making much more than I used to make in Brazil.” Female Lyft driver Beatriz says.

Lyft driver Marcus Henry says working for Lyft “in the morning till 1:30 pm will get you plenty money. Here’s what you have to do… you start early and get the airport runs. 1 to possibly 3 per morning (in some cases), then you work the big College campuses. I find Thursdays and Fridays to be very lucrative. Never ride around wasting gas searching for rides. Also, sign up for Uber and work both applications. 2 is better than 1 always.”

How much can you make working for Lyft?

How much you’ll make driving for Lyft depends on what areas you’ll work in, what hours you’ll work (if you can work during morning and evening rush hours or not), and your personality.

If you are friendly to passengers and get great Lyft driver ratings in the app, you’ll get more jobs. People don’t want to hire a driver who has terrible ratings.

Many new Lyft drivers just sit around at home with the app on watching TV and waiting for jobs to roll in and don’t get any jobs because there are no passengers in their area who need a ride.
While others are busy driving for Lyft all day long because they wait in busy parts of town for ride requests instead of far off in some suburb.

Adam Affronti is a Lyft driver in NYC. “I get ride requests one after another it’s crazy,” he says.

How much do new Lyft drivers make?

In various Lyft drivers reviews you’ll see different amounts.

Trina Marie is a new Lyft driver who says, “I made $500 last week! I’m in my second week of driving.”

Lyft Driver Mihaly Freeman says almost every Lyft passenger tips. Hardly any Uber passengers tip.
Tips add significant extra earnings.

This is a common complaint in Uber driver reviews. For years, Uber did not have tipping feature in their app which trained their passengers not to tip. Lyft app strongly encourages people to tip their driver which is why almost all Lyft passengers tip their drivers.

Lyft drivers make $80-$300 per week in tips.
Jean M. earns on average an extra 50%-80% on rides she gives.

Here is an example of driving for Lyft income + tips:

 

Becoming a Lyft driver reviews

Should you become a Lyft driver or not?

“My biggest advice would be if they have any interest at all, do it,” Paul Pruce says, “Not necessarily just go cold turkey and quit your day job, but I would say if you have any interest at all, at least go through the application process, get everything approved… ”

Reviews of Lyft Bonus for Drivers

Lyft currently gives Lyft drivers 12 cash bonuses asides from the new driver sign-on bonus!
Go here to read about all the awesome bonuses drivers get.

There are so many Lyft bonuses it’s overwhelming.
In short, the more you drive, the more money you’ll make with Lyft.
At certain hours of the day/night and during rush hours, Lyft gives you extra cash for every ride you give. Lyft gives cash bonuses when you give a certain amount of rides. You’ll get extra cash for getting good ratings, as well as weekly cash bonuses, and surprise Lyft driver bonuses.

Here’s an example of Lyft driver bonuses Leonid S. Knyshov got one week:

• $87 bonus from Lyft for driving during Prime Time.
• $250 bonus for completing a goal of 70 rides that week.
• $750 bonus for referring another driver to Lyft.
• + tons more hourly bonuses and extra cash to bring his income up to the $35/h Lyft which guaranteed him after he joined Lyft.

Other benefits of driving for Lyft include savings on gas and car repairs.

If you drive for Lyft during rush hours, you can earn up to 8x more for each ride!

“There are times the demand in certain areas is high. The fees are escalated. I’ve seen some rates go as high as 800%. That’s $24 for a $4 ride. Sweet! These are available to ALL drivers.” John Gardiner said.

Asides from the bonuses, you’ll also get money when you return people their lost belongings.
If you drive during late hours when people return drunk from bars you have a high chance people will forget their belongings in your car.

When passengers forget some stuff in your car (like their iPhone they were charging, keys, a handbag etc.) they’ll pay you a generous bonus to bring them back their belongings.

One Lyft driver earned an extra $250 in one day by simply returning lost items to their owners. He got $200 when he returned an iPhone to a woman who’d forgotten it, and $50 to return another woman her keys.

You can bring back people’s belongings during your work hours or wait until after rush hours when you anyway wouldn’t have much work. Asides from a bonus they’ll give you when you return their items, you’ll also charge them for the ride to and from wherever they are.

Reviews of Lyft Driver Complaints

Lyft has a driver-first approach. Whenever there’s a dispute between a driver and a passenger, Lyft sides with the driver.

There are many Lyft passenger complaints online about rude drivers, drivers ripping them off or not returning their lost belongings, overcharging them, or of the driver cancelling a ride and billing the passenger $10 for the cancellation.
If you read the Lyft passenger complaints, in every case Lyft sided with the driver and either ignored the passenger’s complaint, hung up on them, or did nothing about the issue.

According to passenger complaints, even in cases where a driver stole a passenger’s phone, Lyft did nothing about it.

“They has a wonderful support team. I did have an issue with a rider, and it was resolved within 48 hours.” wrote a Lyft driver from Daytona Beach, FL in her Lyft review on Glassdoor.

What are common driving for Lyft complaints?

There are Lyft drivers who complain in Reddit forums and other groups that they don’t earn enough in their area or post a Lyft complaint whenever they had a rude or smelly passenger.

Here is an example Lyft driver earnings complaint:

Wallace Bodden earned $56 for a one hour ride but was unhappy because Lyft took it’s 20% share ($14) out of his earnings leaving him with an hourly income of $42/h.

Some Lyft drivers complain about the wear and tear and expense of having to buy gas.

Lyft driver Tim Snyder says “I drive a Nissan Leaf. When I charge at home it’s costing me about $2.50 for 100 miles of driving… Very little of my money has to go to pay to drive the car… Most rides are under 5 miles, and at the most 10 miles… Overall, this has been a great job, and I love the flexibility.”

“drivers can be like old wash women.” full-time Lyft driver John Gardiner says, “They bitch about the $30 ride they got because the didn’t get a ride home. They bitch about the short rides they don’t pay enough. They bitch because they sat on their couch for 2 days with their app on and didn’t get a ride (true). They just like to bitch… Don’t be heavily swayed by the good or the bad… We all get that ride we just can’t wait to bitch to high heaven about.”

Reviews of Lyft Driver Support

According to Lyft drivers, Lyft has fast, helpful 24/7 phone support.

Lyft also does their best to help drivers make more money and get started easily.

“They were great with providing instructional videos and tests prior to driving for them the first time.” a Lyft driver said.

Getting paid for Lyft rides you lost

Lyft support is super helpful. If you forgot to start your trip in the Lyft driver app or lost connectivity along the way, instead of not getting paid for the entire trip like with other ride share driver apps, all you need to do is  “call Lyft and they’ll pay you for the whole ride you lost.” Jessie R. from Michigan says.

Lyft driver Steven Huynh says “I drive for Lyft also. U know u can call support team any time and fix your issue with a ride that lost internet connection after the ride. Then u can get paid for whole trip that u lost. It happened to me before. I got the full payment for that issue.”

“I have only had a few problems in all my time with Lyft, and customer support has done a great job of helping me through them.” a Lyft driver interviewed by RSA said, “The app is reliable for the most part, but is slow or buggy once in a while. The Lyft team is great about updating it though to give the drivers the best experience possible.
I admit it, I occasionally forget to begin the trip or forget to log out and miss a bunch of requests. I simply email the Lyft team and they always fix my issues right away.”

“In addition, if you get in an accident or a passenger throws up in your car (this hasn’t happened to me yet.. knock on wood) you simply call Lyft’s emergency number and they will immediately begin fixing the situation. It is nice to know that I have them there whenever I need them.” The Lyft driver said.

Lyft Express Drive Reviews

What do Lyft drivers think of Lyft Express car rental program?

Lyft Express Drive car lease is a great way to get a car to test being a rideshare driver or to get a car in general without a big financial commitment. You pay for your car on a week by week basis and can cancel it at any time without any extra fees or loosing your safety deposit (like with Uber).

The more you drive for Lyft, the less you pay for your Lyft rental car until it’s free!

Lyft driver Paul Burke says in his Lyft review: “Doing Lyft Express, I can make around $1,185 in a week without owning a car or being responsible for insurance.”

Lyft driver Jack Yee rented a $209/week Lyft rental car, however, he often doesn’t have to pay for his car at all because he drives full-time for Lyft.
“If you hit the weekly goal lyft sets you, you don’t have to pay for the car at all. But the weekly goals change. Sometimes the goal is 70 rides, sometimes 120 rides.”

In his review of Lyft express car rental, Jack says if you rent a car from Lyft, you won’t be able to use Express Pay.

Express Pay enables you to withdraw your money whenever you want from Lyft.
Without Lyft Express Pay, you’ll have to wait for Lyft to pay you out every Tuesday.
Lyft Express Pay is disabled for drivers who rent a car from Lyft because Lyft wants to make sure you pay for the rental car.

Other Lyft express drive cons are that if you get a free car with Lyft, you won’t be eligible to get a weekend power bonus which is around $80. “I guess this makes sense because Lyft had to come up with a way to pay for your car. However, it can be a bit misleading for many people” Jack says.

In Jack’s review of Lyft car rental program he says Lyft Express drive is most suitable to “Anyone who simply cannot get access to a vehicle.” or “Anyone who want to give Lyft a try.”

Driving for Uber vs Lyft reviews

The common question every new rideshare driver asks is “Should I work for Lyft or Uber or both at the same time?”
Most experienced rideshare drivers who earn a nice full-time income driving recommend in their Lyft reviews to drive for both Lyft and Uber.

“I prefer to drive for both. 1st you will not be dependent on one company.2nd you maximize your earning by wanting from two source instead of one.” rideshare driver Tesfa Seyoum says.

Some rideshare drivers who were declined by Uber due to a credit report or reckless driving stain on their driving record, get accepted by Lyft. So even if your Uber driver application was declined, you may still get your driver application accepted by Lyft!

“I tried to drive for Uber when I found out about it.” Lyft driver Mino A. says, “My application was rejected, because of my credit report. I did a credit check and everything looked good. Then my husband found out about Lyft. He also found out that Über is 90% male drivers and Lyft had more female drivers. I was accepted and started this week.
I really like being able to choose when I want to work and how long I want to be out!”

Allison Benton is another female Lyft driver who was declined by Uber. “Unfortunately Uber denied me due to one reckless driving stain on my driving record 9 years ago where I spun out in the rain and took out a stop sign. One blemish on my 31-year record. I really wanted to be an Uber Driver. However I’m thankful that Lyft has given me this golden opportunity to turn my negative bank balance into a positive.”

Working for both Lyft and Uber at the same time is the best way to make the most money during work hours.

Rideshare driver Yan Brison says: “As an Uber and Lyft driver i think it is better to work for both, in some areas people use Lyft more than Uber, there are times when you don’t get rides with Uber but you get busy with Lyft and likewise… Uber customers almost never tip.”

Lyft & Uber driver Fetdeh offers advice to new drivers: “If you were to ask 10 drivers who use both platforms which one they prefer including myself. eight of them would say Lyft, and there is a reason for that. I’ve been doing this for over a year I’ve got over 3,000 people walk in and out of my car half of them Lyft customers and the other half on Uber… I don’t know about other markets but I can tell you here in Atlanta Lyft is very popular in areas like Kennesaw, Marietta, Norcross, Johns Creek, Vinings all those areas I get tons of requests.”

Rideshare driver Fetdeh thinks driving for Uber and Lyft is the best way to make more money.
In this Uber vs. Lyft review he says: “when you have both apps on at the same time you’re not wasting time you’re accepting the first request that comes on which means you’re working efficiently and you have no down time. In this game your time is very valuable.”

Many Lyft drivers reviews also appreciate the amount of tips they receive from passengers.

“Lyft passengers tip a lot more… for 18 Lyfts I got 8 passengers tipping me while for 19 Ubers he got 0 tips.” driver H. Arepy said.

Female Lyft driver reviews

A survey preformed on San Francisco female Lyft drivers, revealed that most female Lyft drivers earn more in tips than male drivers.

Jessica McMahon is a reality TV show casting manager who drives for Lyft to earn extra money.
She spoke with many male Lyft drivers in Los Angeles and says “it seems that I am actually tipped more regularly and more than they are.”

Another female Lyft driver, Megan Marshall agrees. “I also get a good amount of tips—like very large amounts, sometimes. I don’t know if that has a direct relation to being a woman or not, but it feels like it sometimes.” Megan said.

Megan Marshall has been driving for Lyft for over 7 months. She hasn’t had any bad Lyft driving experiences or sexual assaults. Megan has no complaints. Most of her passengers are friendly and like to chat with her.

Some female Lyft drivers complain that male passengers can be bossy, telling them which route they should take and how to drive.

“I had one older gentleman heavily insinuate that I didn’t know how to read the map because I was a woman. Which, talk about blast from the past sexism. I honestly didn’t even realize that people thought women have no sense of direction.” said Ashley Moon, a Los Angeles Lyft driver and screenwriter.

Do female Lyft drivers get assaulted by passengers?

There have been no cases of female Lyft drivers being assaulted by passengers.
Most female Lyft drivers have a pleasant experience driving for Lyft.

Because Lyft drivers have a dash cam in their car which films the passengers, and because Lyft knows the passenger’s identity,and the driver’s GPS location, passengers are careful not to do anything stupid which could get them into trouble.

Some female Lyft drivers complain that if they drive late at night, now and then there are some drunk guys who try to pick them up or compliment them.

“I have had passengers make comments on my appearance or gender, such as, ‘Oh, wow, you’re cute. Most of my drivers are old men.’ or ‘Oh, wow, a girl!'” Lyft driver and hair stylist Caitlin Mae said. None of Caitlin’s passengers have made her feel unsafe or have been rude.

One female Lyft driver was picked up by a male passenger and decided to go up to the guy’s room for drinks. After chatting and getting drunk together, he tried to get physical with her. “I ran out the door and managed to escape. I did not expect him to try to touch me!” she complained.

Go here to read more about driving for Lyft.

What is your Lyft driving experience like? Do you know a driver who wants to share his driving for Lyft review? Comment below!