The standard pay on Uber isn’t always enough to motivate you to go out and drive, but a good bonus promotion can help you get the maximum value out of your time on the road.
The most common bonuses are Surge, Quest, and Boost. For this article, let’s focus on the Quest promotion.
Quests are a bonus for achieving a goal. The goal could be completing a number of rides or deliveries, or reaching an earnings goal. For example, “Complete 60 trips for an extra $160,” or “Earn $210 and get an extra $10 bonus.”
Quests are one of the most popular bonuses because they are frequently available and can help make your weekly pay more predictable by giving you a concrete goal to work towards.
Read on for a complete guide to Quests!
What you need to know
- Quests are a bonus for reaching goals for rides, deliveries, or earnings
- Look for Quests in the Opportunities section of the driver app
- Complete the Quest goal within the stated time period to earn the bonus
- Is there a way to get more Quests? Unfortunately, there is no way to directly control the promotion offers you receive
Become a driver! Apply to drive for Uber
The basics of the Quest bonus
Quest is a bonus for reaching ride & delivery goals during a period of time. An example of a Quest: “Earn $8 extra by completing 4 deliveries between 5 and 9 PM.”
Some Quests give you a bonus for completing a certain number of trips, and others give you a bonus for reaching an earnings goal.
Uber adds the bonus to your earnings if you reach the goal within the time period.
Two types of Quests: Bonus for reach a trip goal and bonus for hitting an earnings goal
The bonus will appear in your earnings as soon as you meet the qualifications.
Other features
- Trips do not have to be consecutive to count toward a Quest. You can decline or cancel rides and still complete a Quest
- Some Quests have two bonus amounts and two goals. After you reach the first goal, do the additional trips to unlock the second goal
- Go to the Opportunities area of the driver app to see available Quests and track the progress of your existing Quests
How Quests work on Uber Eats
Quests are also available to Uber Eats delivery couriers, and they work in the same way: Complete the required number of deliveries within the stated time period to earn a bonus.
If you are eligible for both rides and deliveries, you may receive Quests for completing rides and deliveries, rides only, or deliveries only.
Always make sure to check each Quest closely to see if it’s for rides, deliveries, or both.
Both rides and deliveries can count toward some Quests
How to see if Quests are available
There are several ways to find Quests and other promotions in the Uber driver app: In the Opportunities menu, the Earnings area, the home screen of the app, and your messages inbox.
Find available Quests and promotions: Tap Menu (☰) > Opportunities, then tap different days of the week to see promotions available on future days.
Check Opportunities or your Inbox for promotions
More Quest examples
In the example below, Uber offers two large Quest options to choose between.
Sometimes you can choose between Quests
Here’s another example of a lucrative Quest. $30 for completing 13 trips is a $10 bonus per ride. These are rare!
$10 per ride is about as good as it gets
Here’s another unusually generous Quest. $100 for 5 rides, and $150 for 10. That’s more than a $16 bonus for each ride.
Over $16 bonus for each ride. As good as it gets.
Low-paying Quests?
But not all Quests are worth taking. The Quest below is an example of a bad Quest—a $10 bonus for 50 trips. That’s only $0.20 extra per trip! Most drivers will not go out of their way to do this.
Only $10 for 50 trips? That’s only 20 cents per ride
Some Quests can look impossible to complete. Quests are generated algorithmically, and sometimes the system makes mistakes.
In the Quest below, Uber offers $64 extra for completing 16 trips in 3 hours. Experienced drivers know that doing 16 trips in 3 hours is nearly impossible.
Read closely to make sure that a Quest is actually doable!
16 trips in 3 hours? Not possible!
Does Uber reduce trip requests when you’re close to finishing a promotion?
Drivers sometimes say that when you get close to completing a Quest, new trip requests stop coming in and it becomes impossible to complete the Quest.
“I’ve been waiting 2 hours to get 2 rides and I can’t complete my Quest!”
Will Uber stop sending you rides when you’re close to a bonus?
Is Uber doing something sinister to prevent you from getting your bonus?
There is no conclusive proof that Uber reduces the volume of trip requests when you’re getting close to earning a Quest.
One explanation is that many different drivers can be working on Quests that end at the same time. It’s harder to get a trip when too many drivers are online at the same time.
Try to complete Quests before the last day to avoid the last-minute rush to complete the final rides.
Driver secret: You can still get a Quest bonus if you finish 95% of it
There is some flexibility to finishing Quests: If you don’t do every ride in a Quest, you can still earn the bonus if you finish at least 95% of the rides.
So if you were a few rides short, contact Uber driver support and ask if you can still earn the bonus.
Many drivers report that this method works, but Uber might decline your request if you’ve asked too many times in the past.
Is there a way to get more Quest offers?
Currently, there is no reliable way to guarantee that you will get more Quest offers. Quests and other promotions are offered dynamically, and it’s impossible to predict when you’ll receive a Quest offer.
And to complicate things, different drivers receive different promo offers. Here’s what Uber says about Quest availability: “Quest offers are not guaranteed every week; they depend on rider trends and app usage in your area.”
Uber doesn’t offer Quests so that you can earn more. Uber offers Quests when they need drivers to get out on the road or when they want to get drivers into the habit of driving.
Many drivers have noticed that newer drivers tend to get more promotions. The theory is that Uber wants to give newer drivers the best experience possible to keep them engaged with their new gig.
Uber also offers promotions to drivers who take a long break from the app. I noticed that when I take a long break from driving, it can prompt the app to send more promos.
But taking a break isn’t a good option if you can’t afford the break. To make sure you don’t miss any opportunities, check the app regularly and turn on all notifications so you don’t miss any bonuses.
Quest strategies
Always do the math and see how much of a bonus a Quest offers per trip. If the Quest only offers an extra dollar for each trip, it might not be worth going out of your way to do it. A good Quest will add $5+ dollars for every trip you complete.
For Quests that require an earnings goal, calculate how much of a bonus the Quest will be. For example, a $10 for $210 earnings is less than a 5% bonus. That’s not a great Quest.
The best strategy for Quests that require you to complete rides is to target short trips to complete the Quest as quickly as possible. You want to maximize the bonus amount per mile and hour.
Always check the dates and times of the Quest. Many Quests want you to drive during an inconvenient time, or the Quest will want you to drive nearly nonstop all weekend.
Remember that you can decline or cancel trips during a Quest, so you don’t have to adjust your normal criteria to complete most Quests.
More reading for Uber drivers
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