Have you ever been charged a cancellation fee from Lyft?
It’s a frustrating charge, especially if you’re trying to figure out how the app works without spending much money on rides and fees.
Learn how cancellation fees work on Lyft and how you can dispute a fee and get a refund!
What you need to know
- You can cancel a Lyft ride by tapping Edit ride > Cancel ride
- You may be charged a fee if you wait too long to cancel
- There is also a no-show fee if your driver arrives and waits longer than 5 minutes
- To dispute a fee, find the ride in your Ride history and scroll to the Help section
How much is the Lyft cancellation fee?
The cost of the Lyft cancellation fee depends on the Lyft ride type you use and the city you’re in.
Generally, the cancellation fee is around $5 for regular Lyft rides and $10 for premium services like Lux or Black. Fees also may be higher if you cancel a scheduled ride.
| Lyft Ride Type | Cancellation Fee |
|---|---|
| Regular Lyft | $2–$5 |
| Lyft Lux, Black | $10 |
| Scheduled Ride | $10 |
How to cancel a Lyft ride
You can cancel a Lyft ride anytime: Before you are matched with a driver, while a driver is on the way to pick you up, or during an active ride.
Cancel before your driver arrives
You can cancel your ride before your driver picks you up by tapping Edit ride > Cancel ride.
You may be charged a fee if you cancel more than 30 seconds after being paired with a driver.
Cancel your ride before pickup, but be quick. You may be charged a fee
Cancel during a ride
During a Lyft ride, cancel by dragging up the ride info, then tap Edit ride > Cancel ride.
While you’re in a Lyft, you can edit or cancel the ride
But if you are inside a moving car, it’s better to ask your driver to pull over and end the ride. Cancelling during a ride won’t help you avoid paying for the ride unless a serious issue occurs.
You can also update your destination or add a stop with the Edit ride button.
You will be charged a cancellation fee in these situations
According to the Lyft cancellation policy, you may be charged a fee if you cancel:
- More than 30 seconds after a driver accepts your request
- When the driver is on-time to arrive within 5 minutes of the estimated arrival time
- More than 3 times in 15 minutes
You will also be charged a no-show fee if your driver arrives at your location and it takes you longer than 5 minutes to reach their car.
Fee for cancelling your ride after the cancellation window has passed
After a driver accepts your ride request, there is only a short period of time to cancel the ride without being charged a fee.
The cancellation window is only 30 seconds. If more than 30 seconds has gone by and you cancel the ride, you will be charged a fee. Typically the app will warn you that a fee may occur.
An important thing to note is that your driver must be on time, within 5 minutes of the original estimated time.
If your driver gets stuck in unexpected traffic and will be late for your pickup, you can cancel more than 30 seconds after being matched without being charged the fee.
No-show fee: When your driver arrives at your location and it takes you longer than ~5 minutes to reach the car
A driver can cancel your ride if they arrive at the pickup location and wait longer than the allotted wait time for the ride type, usually five minutes or longer.
Your driver must also attempt to contact you at least once before they can cancel and collect the no-show fee.
Premium ride types like Lux and Lux Black offer longer wait time, around 10 minutes.
Drivers call it ‘wait 5 and drive.’ Time is money for drivers, so they are happy to cancel on you as soon as the 5-minute timer is up.
How to dispute cancellation fees on Lyft
Don’t think your fee was fair? You can dispute the fee inside the app or at help.lyft.com.
Go to: Menu (☰) >’ Ride history’> Find the ride > Scroll to ‘Get help’> Select’ Dispute ride far or charge’> Select “cancellation fee is wrong”
Each ride receipt has a “Get help” link that leads to a dispute form
You can also dispute charges by going to help.Lyft.com. Log in and click the Riding with Lyft option.
You will see a large button that says Dispute ride fare or charges. Select the ride, then choose the cancellation fee option.
You can also dispute the fee at help.lyft.com
More help
How to avoid cancellation fees
There are two main ways to avoid cancellation fees: Only request a ride when you know you want it, and make sure to show up to the driver as soon as they arrive.
Also, make sure that your pickup location is accurate. Drivers go directly to the GPS location in the app and will cancel after 5 minutes if you’re not there.
Get flexible cancellations with Lyft Pink
Lyft Pink is a membership for $9.99 per month that offers several perks, including flexible cancellations.
Lyft Pink members get 3 free cancellations per month if you rebook the ride within 15 minutes.
Lyft Pink members get 3 flexible cancellations
How cancellation fees work for drivers
Drivers are paid cancellation fees to compensate for the time and miles they drive on a cancelled ride.
The cancellation fee for drivers is the greater of these two numbers: The minimum cancellation fee, or the mileage + time that they drove to the passenger, calculated according to the local rate card.
- Regular cancellations: $2 minimum, $15 maximum
- Scheduled ride cancels: $5 minimum, $15 maximum
When passengers cancel, drivers get paid a fee if the passenger cancellation window has passed (around 2 minutes), if the driver is on the way to the passenger, and if the driver is on track to arrive by the stated ETA.
For passenger no shows, drivers must arrive at the passenger location, wait for the countdown to end, and attempt to contact the passenger at least once.
More reading on Lyft
Cynthia Prinzing says
I was in New York a month ago, December 2022 and I ordered a Lyft for 3:00 p.m. I did not notice until 3:05 that there was a text saying what kind of a vehicle it was. I texted that we would be out in 2 minutes. (Not that the driver knew this but I had a broken femur that had happened the night before and I had spent the night at the hospital but was not going to have surgery at either of the TWO hospitals I was at in Brooklyn and instead was heading out to JFK to rent a car to drive home to Minneapolis.. well my 22-year-old son was going to drive)
So I texted the driver and said we would be out in 2 minutes and then he called me immediately. I could not understand him because I don’t think he spoke English. All I could understand was he was saying “10 minutes”. I said 10 minutes…? what do you mean 10 minutes? Are you saying you’re not going to be here for 10 minutes? And he mumbled something again in a language I did not understand and said “10 minutes!” and I asked him specifically …… Are you here?….Can you let me know when you are here? Can you text me when you are here? And he HUNG UP ON ME. I was very confused because I did not understand that he WAS there. And why didn’t he just SAY he was there and by the time we went outside, I had gotten a cancellation notice because I was a “no-show”…. I tried to text him AND call, but it was blocked……AND I was charged for it. I had been using Uber for the few times we needed a car while we were in New York City, but just the day before, my cousin’s wife had said “oh, you should use Lyft because it’s a better deal than Uber”. So that was my first time using it on our trip. But I was upset at being charged as a no-show when I was actually speaking to the driver and all he would have had to say to me was, “I AM HERE”, which I obviously didn’t understand. Or why didn’t he text me back just saying “ok” when I texted that we would be out in 2 min.
I have mostly used Uber (and even that not much) and I believe there is a 10 minute grace period so I assumed that it was a 10 minute grace. So coming out at 3:07 would have been within that range. I have gone back and forth via email with Lyft, but they keep insisting that I was a no-show. I think that the communication with their contract employee was unacceptable and that all he needed to do was tell me he was there or say “okay” when I texted will be out in 2 minutes.
At this point it’s not so much about the $6 as the fact that I feel I was treated very badly and it was just a simple matter of that driver making an effort to communicate, which he did NOT. Just today I called my credit card to dispute the charge and it’s more about the principle than the money.
Miss D says
While you may not like the policy, the simple fact is – on Lyft, the minute the driver arrives at the gps locator, the driver must “tap” the “ARRIVED”. That automatically generates a TEXT TO RIDER that your Driver is waiting for you. Do Riders believe that they are entitled to waste a drivers time, money & gas? The cancellation fee should be a minimum of $10 & max of $30 to stop these rude riders
reliablerider says
Thanks for sharing this blog. There is no built-in function in the Lyft app to show you your refund’s status. You will be notified via email if you win your dispute and Lyft decides to return your funds. It can take several days for the service to respond.
Sara smith says
People are so cheap. If you ask for something that requires pay like a service you should be required to pay its not rocket science. The drivers are driving their car on their gas. When you try to get out of paying them you are really ripping off the drivers by wasting the ware and tear on their car and gas it over three dollars a gallon. That means their wasting at least a gallon of gas going to get you. All you are doing is reimbursing the driver their gas by your cancelation fee. Lyft only pays them a percentage of your ride if it is taken. Otherwise they are literally wasting time and money since they furnish everything again lyft pays drivers a small percentage of what you pay when you pay for ride. People just always want stuff for free but uts not ok when you are taking it from someone’s kids mouth. If you could take something from someone’s kid than its ok for you to rip off the driver.
Kevin says
Yes some of the Lyft riders are so cheap. Expect too much for a cheap fare. How can they request a Lyft ride and expect the driver to show up and help them move their couch, sofa or even hail a Christmas tree or move their furniture or mattress by using the drivers. Come on people, be respectful and don’t treat drivers like sh*t as your moving man or slave.