Have you been unfairly deactivated by Uber or Lyft? This is the article for you! We will break down step by step what to do to make sure you're back on the road earning again as soon as possible.
Being deactivated by either the Uber and Lyft platform is one of the worst things that can happen to a rideshare driver. It could potentially mean your main form of making a living has vanished. And even worse, is when it's over a false report from a passenger, or simply a mistake in the app! No worries, we are going to discuss how to get your account restored and reactivated in perfect standing so you never have to worry again.
Firstly, we should let you know that we here at Driverly helps gig workers who have been deactivated. If you drive for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, Amazon Flex, or any of the major gig apps and you've been deactivated, Driverly can help you. With a Driverly Premium membership, drivers get access to driver education, exclusive content, tips for tax preparation, and reactivation services. While this isn't 100% guaranteed, Driverly will contact the company on your behalf and try to do everything to get your account restored. Many times it just takes a professional communication from a third party to help you get back up and running. This method has worked for many gig workers and is a great option if you need help!
So now, let's get started with the guide to reactivation for Uber and Lyft drivers.
A Guide To Reactivation For Uber & Lyft Drivers: Unfair Driver Deactivations
To know the origins of Lyft, you’d first have to be introduced to Zimride. Zimride was founded in 2007 as a carpooling company for long distances and intercity travels. In mid-2012 Lyft was introduced as a service included in and as a part of Zimride. However, in 2013, the founders made Lyft separate and sold the original Zimride Company to a different company in order to focus entirely on Lyft.
Fast-forward to 2022, Lyft has operations in every major city in the United States as well as Canada and have massively expanded the horizons of the services that they provide. They now offer a bicycle-sharing system as well, along with ride-hailing, motor scooters and cars for hire and rent as well as food delivery in select areas.
How To Start Earning On Lyft
If you want to earn on Lyft as a driver you will have to sign up here. The sign-up procedure is simple where you have to fill out a form asking for some basic information about you like your cell number, driver’s license as well as some other necessary documents. Once submitted Lyft will run a background check on you and your driving history as part of its measures to ensure passenger safety which might take a couple of days. If you are using your own vehicle it will have to pass the Lyft inspection to make sure it is up to safety standards and road-ready. Once this process is complete all you need to is open the app, turn on driver mode, accept a ride, pick up your passenger and drop them to their marked location after which the fare calculated would be transferred from their account to yours (excluding Lyft’s cut for platform charges) which you can cash out at any time.
Driverly is a great site that helps Lyft drivers succeed. There are so many reasons a Lyft driver should sign up to become a Driverly Premium Membership, including their Reactivation Services. Whether you need help getting your account back, driver education, or have specific questions, Driverly's got you covered, so sign up now!
Why Drivers Get Deactivated From Lyft
Now whilst you are working with Lyft as a driver, they reserve the rights to deactivate your account at any given time so in order to make sure that doesn’t happen there are some practices you should avoid at all costs. This article will mention almost everything that can get your account deactivated, how you may avoid that and what you can do in order to try and reactivate your account if it’s been deactivated.
Documents: Your account may be deactivated when any of the documents you submitted to Lyft when signing up such as your driver’s license, vehicle registration or insurance expire. Luckily this is the easiest deactivation to deal with and all you will have to do is renew the documents and re-upload them on Lyft and your account will be back up again. However if the documents you submitted turn out to be fake or inaccurate it will result in a permanent deactivation and Lyft may even choose to report you law enforcement authorities. You will also get a permanent deactivation if after passing your initial background check, later on your driver or criminal record changes with the inclusion of an offense that Lyft believes is against their passenger safety protocol.
Vehicle: It is possible that your vehicle is the reason your Lyft account got deactivated. One of the main reasons an account gets deactivated because of the car is because it got too old according to Lyft standards. They differ state-to-state but the oldest a car can be to be driven in Lyft is 15 years, once the manufacture date of the car model you are driving becomes older than that, there is a guaranteed account deactivation. The only solution to this is getting a newer model vehicle. Your account can also get deactivated if the vehicle you are driving is reported by passengers for being broken, unsafe or unhygienic so it’s best to keep your vehicle tidy, serviced and mechanically faultless in order to avoid this
Driving Behavior: Breaking a traffic law while driving for Lyft from acts such as over-speeding or running a red light to more serious offences such as a hit-and-run will get your account deactivated without any questions. It goes without saying, similar consequences will occur if you are reported to be driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. According to Lyft policies you are also not allowed to smoke tobacco or vape while working for Lyft even though there is no legal state law against this, this may be unpleasant for the customer. The blame will fall on you even if a passenger is drinking alcohol in the ride. Even though it may be legal and will most probably not be a problem if it’s just one passenger but if however, there are multiple passengers ride-sharing and one passenger reports that another passenger was consuming alcohol in your vehicle you are the one who will suffer the consequences so it’s just better to not allow any alcohol in your car at all. Lyft will also deactivate your account for giving a ride to an unaccompanied minor, denying entry in the vehicle to a service animal (even if you are allergic), giving rides to random people on the street like a taxi, and carrying a weapon (such as a knife or a gun) while working for Lyft
Passengers: Lyft takes passengers complaints very seriously. There are certain things for which a passenger can report you and your account will get deactivated. These include acts of discrimination against a customer on the basis of race, gender, religious beliefs, skin tone, sexual preference, or anything similar. Lyft will also deactivate your account if you’re reported for assault or any sort of sexual harassment while working for them. The policies also strictly forbid you from letting someone else drive on your Lyft account or bringing a friend or family member along with you while you are working. Like every other similar service, your account is also at risk of deactivation for getting too many below-than-average ride ratings from customers.
Once your account is suspended Lyft will take a decision to whether give you your account back or permanently deactivate it. This process may take anywhere from a couple of hours to a week depending on the issue. During this, you are advised to appeal the suspension as soon as possible before the damage is permanent. In certain cases such as those where there is clear evidence of serious misconduct it will useless to appeal but in cases where you believe you may have been wrongly accused or feel that it is necessary to appeal you should do so either by contacting Lyft support or by visiting the Lyft Hub nearest to you and speaking to a representative. It will really help your case if you have a maintained positive driving rating to show, evidence present in the form of witnesses, screenshots, or dash-cam/cellphone/CCTV footage to support your cause. In general, however, it would be best to avoid the above-mentioned practices to make sure you don’t ever have to go through this hassle.
Luckily, Uber has in person support centers called Uber Greenlight Hubs. We highly recommend that you dress up nice in formal attire (collared shirt and nice pants for men, nice dress or formal wear for women) and go visit an Uber Greenlight Hub with a binder with any information about yourself that might help. Just go in and be nice. Talk with someone and tell them you believe you were unfairly deactivated.
If you don't want to deal with the hassle of doing all this yourself, Driverly can help you! When you sign up for a Driverly Premium Membership, they will help you get your account back with their Reactivation Services. They'll handle the appeal process for you and make sure you have the best appeal letter to higher your chances of getting reactivated. Sign up now so you can get access!
If you'd like more information about tips for getting reactivated, feel free to head to our Blog section where we go into more depth on different topics!
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