Definitive Proof That Traveling Internationally Can Destroy Your Uber Passenger Rating

Why do I have such a low Uber passenger rating? This is a common question users of the rideshare service have.

I asked that question myself, when I discovered that my Uber passenger rating was 4.61 on the five-point scale. A rating of 4.61 is considered terrible. It means that drivers have consistently and repeatedly given me subpar ratings after I complete rides with them.

As a former Uber driver myself, who always tries to be the most considerate passenger possible, I couldn’t figure out why my rating was so bad. Surely this must be a bug in the app, right?

Then I saw some anecdotal reports that taking Ubers in foreign countries can hurt your passenger rating. For whatever reason, drivers in many countries seem to give low ratings. Bingo! That must be it!

I’ve taken dozens of Uber rides in more than 10 foreign countries, but mostly in Mexico, which is known for having drivers who give especially low ratings to passengers.

After analyzing the data, and comparing my Uber passenger rating with my Lyft passenger rating (4.9), I can now conclude beyond a shadow of a doubt that taking Ubers during international trips is what wrecked my passenger rating.

Why Does a Low Uber Passenger Rating Matter?

Having a low rating is a significant inconvenience, because many drivers say they won’t accept passengers with ratings below 4.7 (or even 4.8). They assume that those passengers must be troublemakers, or bad tippers, or inconsiderate, or dirty. I am none of those things. I’m just an international traveler who uses Uber abroad!

When drivers refuse to accept my ride requests, because of my low rating, I end up waiting a lot longer to get rides. It has a direct, tangible impact on my life and my travels.

Also, I suspect that some drivers view me more suspiciously because of the low rating, thus making them more likely to interpret the slightest perceived misstep (such as closing a door a little too hard) in a negative light and give me another bad rating. It’s a self-perpetuating cycle.

Another reason to care: Many credit cards (like Chase Sapphire) offer monthly Uber credits to cardholders. If I’m getting a $10 monthly Uber credit, I want to use it rather than see it wasted. But it can be difficult to use it, since my rating is so low and rides are harder to come by.

Worse yet is that the fact that I will never be able to significantly raise my Uber passenger rating, because of the way Uber calculates its ratings (more on that later.)

So I’m not going to bother trying. I mostly take Lyft in the U.S. now, and I take DiDi when it’s available internationally, in countries like Mexico and Japan. Uber is losing out on my business.

Why is My Uber Passenger Rating So Low? Examining the Data

I’m sure some drivers will read this article and assume that I must be doing something wrong to get these low ratings.

But… no. I’m a former rideshare driver myself, with more than 3000 rides completed. I know exactly how to be a good passenger. I tip well, I’m always waiting on the sidewalk before you arrive. I’m the least problematic passenger you could ever have.

Also, as noted, my Lyft passenger rating is 4.9. I’ve used both services almost equally, which makes me a perfect test subject. According to the apps, I’ve taken 262 Ubers and 227 Lyfts in my life, so the sample sizes match pretty closely. I’m the exact same person, taking the exact same kinds of rides, tipping the exact same amounts.

Literally the only difference is that 100% of my Lyft rides were in the USA, while just 38% of my Ubers have been in the USA. The other 62% of my Ubers took place in nine other countries, plus Puerto Rico.* That’s the only reason why there could be such a drastic difference between the 4.9 Lyft rating and the 4.61 Uber passenger rating.

*NOTE: I verified the exact locations of all of my past Uber rides by requesting my data from Uber. This allows you to see a spreadsheet of every ride you’ve ever taken, including the location and date. You won’t see the specific ratings that drivers gave you for each ride, however. To see an overview of how many 1-star ratings you’ve received, check the Privacy Center of your Uber app.

My personal rideshare data:

What’s really annoying is that most of those international trips were 7-8 years ago, and yet they are still destroying my Uber rating.

It’s insane that Uber uses the last 500 rides to determine the pax rating. That’s a preposterously large sample size. One hundred rides should be more than enough for that purpose. Why should bad rides from 10 years ago still be affecting a person’s rating? Especially if they’ve gotten mostly 4 and 5 stars since then?

That’s why I’ll never be able to raise my Uber rating. Unless I take 300+ more trips, the thirteen one-star ratings I accumulated will always be factored into my rating.

Which Countries Are Known For Giving Low Passenger Ratings?

As noted, the damage that international travel can do to Uber passenger ratings has been a discussion point for quite awhile now. See this thread on Reddit, for instance:

These discussions usually involve anecdotal proof. That’s why I felt it was important to present some cold, hard data to illustrate the point.

My Uber passenger rating is 4.61. I can never get it back up, because I have thirteen one-star ratings. I believe most of these were accumulated in 2017-2018, when I spent several months traveling internationally.

I once had a driver in Kenya tell me that it was his first day on the job and he desperately needed money today to feed his family. I checked the app, and it said that he’d given more than 5000 rides. I suspect one of the one-star ratings came from him, since I didn’t buy the sob story.

This type of thing happens a lot in international travel. Some countries have local etiquette (cash tips paid upfront) and they will give you a low rating if you don’t follow. Sometimes they just don’t like Americans. Or they may dislike tourists (Barcelona drivers), or resent the fact that you don’t speak the local language (Paris drivers.) One Reddit commenter noted, “Europe rating culture just skews lower.”

Certain countries are especially known for giving pax low ratings, and I just happened to travel to a few of them (Mexico, South Africa, France.) My rating saw the biggest drop after 50+ rides in Mexico in 2017, right after Trump took office, and anti-American sentiment was (understandably) peaking in Mexico.

Unfortunately, Lyft doesn’t operate in most foreign countries, so it’s not an option there.

I’ve gotten so many low ratings in Mexico that I’ve started using Didi there. Didi is a Chinese rideshare app that started in Asia but has been expanding to other countries. I now try to exclusively use Didi for international trips, so that my Uber passenger rating won’t be damaged any more than it already has been.

Why Haven’t I Been Able to Raise My Uber Rating Since I Cut Back on International Travel?

Skeptics may ask: If I’m such an ideal passenger, why haven’t I been able to raise my passenger rating since I stopped traveling internationally?

-First, I actually have raised my rating slightly. I think it was 4.55 when I got back from Mexico, and now it’s up to 4.61 after taking more rides in the U.S. But I can never get it too much higher, because those 13 one-star ratings are still weighing me down.

As noted, Uber now uses a rider’s last 500 rides to calculate their rating. I only take about 10 Uber rides per year. I will simply never use the service enough to be able to get enough five-star ratings to significantly raise my rating. At my current rate of Uber usage, it would take literally 20-30 years before all the 1-star ratings I accumulated during my travels get removed from the system.

-Second, I haven’t totally stopped traveling internationally. I still take occasional overseas trips, and since Lyft isn’t available abroad, I’m often stuck with Uber. So I’m still adding new international trip ratings to my tally, which continue to damage me.

Yes, I could avoid Uber and take local taxis in foreign countries. But those are riskier, because they can be havens for scams in some countries. Uber is more secure since every ride is documented, and you can easily summon a driver by phone.

Because of how infrequently I use the service, I’ll probably still have a low Uber passenger rating 10 years from now, unless Uber comes to its senses and begins removing ratings that are too many years old.

What Should You Do if Your Uber Passenger Rating is Low?

First, it is necessary to examine whether you are the problem. Drivers tend to give lower ratings to pax who are rude, late, inconsiderate, demanding, talking loudly on their phones, eating in the vehicle, etc. If you are always waiting by the sidewalk when the ride pulls up, you are probably doing fine.

Second, realize that sometimes you get a bad rating through no fault of your own. Maybe the driver just didn’t like the heavy traffic in your neighborhood. Or he didn’t like the fact that you took a short ride, because he was hoping for a big fare with a longer drive to the airport. Or he didn’t like that you were just staring out the window being quiet, instead of enthusiastically engaging in his conversation about stock flipping (this happened to me recently.) Who knows?

You can never please everyone, so don’t stress too much about an occasional bad rating.

Alternately, you can try contacting Uber and seeing if they will help you. But good luck with that. It’s hard to get a human on the phone at any big corporation these days, and even if you do, they won’t have any incentive to help you.

The best option is simply to use alternate rideshare services instead. Lyft is every bit as good as Uber, and it operates in most of the United States. DiDi has been expanding to a growing number of countries (and it’s usually cheaper than Uber!)

Why am I posting this?

-To provide definitive proof that international travel can damage your Uber passenger rating.

-To warn passengers who are traveling overseas. Consider not using Uber abroad. Someone suggested creating a second account with a foreign SIM card so your main Uber rating doesn’t get affected. But I haven’t tried this, and don’t know whether it may violate the terms of service.

What Can Uber Do to Fix This Problem?

Uber has to be aware that it’s losing business from folks like me, who are tired of seeing our passenger rating plummet after international rides.

Any easy fix for them would be to analyze which countries tend to give lower ratings, and equalize the ratings accordingly. That way, someone who has taken a large percentage of their Uber rides in a country or region that tends to give lower ratings won’t be unjustly punished.

Alternately, Uber could remove all ratings that are more than 5 years old. Or, Uber could go back to basing a passenger’s rating on their previous 100 rides, rather than their last 500 rides, which is a sample size that is just pointlessly large.

Any of these would be a simple solution. But does Uber care enough about its passengers to spend valuable time and resources on this issue? So far, there’s no evidence that the answer is yes.

I would love to hear whether others have had the same experience of seeing their Uber passenger rating drop after an international trip. Leave a comment with your experience!