Recently i came across to a post where I personally feel that it would really help to increase your star rating as Grab or Uber driver. This post was actually being shared by Kelvin Weng and I would like to share it here so that we as driver can bring up the hospitality and services value for our valuable passengers. Of course, this is important for those Grab drivers whom work for their incentive where you need to maintain at least 4.7 star rating and above weekly. Content below would be the original post by the author.
Firstly thanks bro Arif Asyraf Ali for accepting my request to join this group. And Bro Hafiz for for teaching and helping me out with the registration. Enlight of the recent increase rating requirement for incentive players, i would like add some tips on how to increase your rating. note that i did not say maintain , as its impossible to get 5 star rating from everybody as human nature and everybody state of mind if different. Myself achieve 1st tier platinum driver twice.My ratings are usually 4.95-5.00 for the past 5 mths. 700+ passengers rated. Hope this helps to increase your ratings.
1. Navigation Skills- I always hear customers complain this the most. sometimes waze does not always show u the fastest way as they are very compliant towards traffic rules. Drive smart. knowing the area well does helps. If you are using waze, off the GPS Voice and leave the sound for alerts only. It can be irritating with voice talking when u make every turn.
2. Driving- always drive safe by anticipating whats ahead 100m ahead. so don’t always do sudden breaking and sudden acceleration. Don’t tailgate, give way to passerby and keep your cool at all times. Obey traffic rules.
3. Use a good phone holder that does not shakes and block your vision.keep your hands free during driving ,i don’t even answer calls or reply sms when customer is in the car.
4. Keep your car in clean and immaculate condition. I usually wash/ clay and polish and apply sealant once a month myself. the rest of the time il send it to cheap car wash once a week and il ask them to apply my Sealant that i bring along. It helps by repelling water away and keeping the car much clean and doesnt cost much. might defer if your car is black or other hard to maintain colours.
5. Try avoid fragrance thats too strong.Sorry grab but I personally feel ambipure is too strong and pungent. I use nanoblock and some pandan leaves that helps keep air clean and neutral.only cost me rm 40 and can last more than 2 years. only use fragrance if their odour left by previous passenger. Please dont smoke in car!! a non smoker can surely smell it no matter how u cover it.
6. Calling your customers beforehand, especially those that takes more than 5 min to reach. my call goes like this- Good morning Linda, im your grabcar driver Kelvin, Il be reaching approximately 7 minutes and im driving a silver colour toyota vios. thanks. If customer no answer i wont call again but il just message using the grab app with the same answer.
7. When pick up, Greet them with their name with a big smile. to break the ice I prefer to greet in their language. Its pretty hard at first to know what nationalities are they but after a few mths driving can eyeball them already, lolz i learn to greet and say thank you in bengali language,tagalog and visayan language, Myammar language, arabic, Tamil, Bahasa indonesia, thai, korean , japanese and Hausa for the nigerians etc.
8. before start trip il ask them is it ok if use toll and amount of time saved, Il also ask is the air con temp is ok
9. Dont talk too much, i usually know whether they want to talk in the first 30 seconds by their response.i realise those siting infront are usually more opened to a conversation.
10. In regards to conversation try to at least pretend you care about what they have to say, be agreeable make them feel smart, people love to talk. Let them and agree no matter how stupid it may be. (Just keep your opinions to yourself). At least pretend to care. They love to think you think what they have to say is interesting. Talk UBER,grab ask them about their line of work, talk sports.
Avoid talking Religion/Politics or about your own life’s problems or opinions. If they happen to disagree with your opinion IT WILL cause friction, and result in a lower rating for you.
11. Customer like to ask me are you part time or full time. My answer is “im not part time driver or full time driver, Im lifetime driver. that usually makes passenger and me laugh together and release the tension in the car.
12. Buy some mints, mineral water and prepare a spare powerbank with multiple adapters. I personally dont think this is important, as i have seen a high rated driver who dont have this. but i feel being different than others gives you the edge. and it doesnt cost much if you get tips everyday.
13. Get some signs done with your service provided and put on your car with velcro. you can find some samples online
14 Even though grab pay sucks for some people, never complain to customers about it. I know it sucks at times but you should never talk about it to a customer. Always say how great you think grab is even if you do not. UNTIL YOU FIND SOMETHING BETTER SUCK IT UP!!! People hate hearing others’ problems. They want you to listen to theirs!
15 Have non-offensive music playing, never too loud, just good background. As much as I would love to turn up some 2pac and metallica it’s just not good to have on. Light rock, 80′s music, Jazz etc. as much as we would all love to bump 2pac or Heavy metal this is not the place to do it. It’s not good background music. Keep it on easy listening stations, like light and easy and mix fm. keep the volume minimal unless requested by customer.
16. if they are dropping off in the condo, ask them would they like to drop off inside. and prepare a umbrella especially when it rains.
17. Help with bags during pick up and drop off.
18. Dress appropriately, Short pants and slippers is a absolute NO.NO. I usually wear long sleeves during week days as im working and Polo T and jeans during weekends. You might pick up some hot girls or guys in the process, so dress smart.
19. Never ever demand for a 5 star its makes you looks really desperate. Put some signs instead.
20. If you have a good stereo offer them your aux cable and let them play their own music. especially when u notice them listening to music with their cheap earphones lolz. Ma prens, banglas and foreign students likes this the most.
21. Saying sorry if you made a wrong turn or went through a bump.
22. Ask whether you need to adjust the front passenger sit so that rider have enough leg room at the back and front.
23. Right mental state helps. If you think you are just a cheap ride hailing driver, You are right.If you think you are a awesome and part of somethin great, you are also right. If you think the particular race of passenger is really troublesome to be fetch, you are also right. AT the end of the day, its your mental state that will influence your behavior towards certain passenger. Imho driving long hours is already tiring enough, having a negative state of mind does not help much.
last but not least i personally don’t feel type of car makes a major difference unless its really in bad condition. i have seated in Alza and myvi who are platinum drivers and highly rated. Being fun with a great attitude makes the most difference!! those high rated drivers seem to like their job or pretend to do so well. hahaha. Its was makes uber and grab drivers special in the first place compared to normal taxi drivers around the world
Thank you for reading this impromptu long post and sorry for the half baked english. Hope my post does not offend anyone. Just trying to help. Good luck!!
If others got things to add please do so.
Kindly leave your comments below if you would like to add on or sharing your experience with everyone here.
