Uber, and competitor Lyft, can seem ubiquitous at times, as these ride-hailing apps have quickly gone beyond a fun way to hitch a ride in big cities to being a predominant form of transportation for a lot of people around the world.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone has the app.
And referring new people to download Uber (and use it) can earn you cash toward free rides, as well as save them some money on their first ride, or get them a free first ride.
In this article, we’ll look at the Uber referral program, show how you can find your specially generated code to share with friends, discuss how you can refer someone to drive for Uber and earn that way…plus give you a referral code to get you started if you don’t have the app.
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What Is Uber’s Referral Program?
Uber’s referral program lets you to invite friends to use the app.
If they sign up using your invite code, they’ll get free ride credit good towards their first trip.
**Value amounts vary by location, but if it’s not too far, they should be able to get a free Uber ride…or close to it. Just make sure they don’t try to book a trip from Los Angeles to Boston and expect it for free.
As soon as they book a trip with your code, you’ll instantly get $5 Uber credits which you can use toward your next ride, whether it’s UberX, UberPOOL, UberXL, or a more high-end service like UberSELECT.
You can even use your referral code to sign people up for Uber Eats.
Uber’s driver referral program works in much the same way.
The code to refer riders is the exact same as the code to refer drivers.
That only changes if you become an Uber driver yourself, but we’ll get to that later in the article.
How Do I Generate My Own Uber Referral Code?
Finding your own Uber referral code is a little tricky.
Once you have the Uber app (available via the App Store or Google Play), you need to go to the Menu, which is located in the top left corner of the app.
It looks like this:
From there, you look down to find Free Rides in the menu:
Once you tap on it, you will be able to see your personalized code.
You will also see links to share that code via messages, by sending directly to your contacts (they have a list of your contacts organized by phone number), or by sharing on social media.
If your friend is a first-time Uber user, the first time they use Uber you’ll get that discount credited to you.
A nice part about Uber is that they simplified the referral program so that any one of their services you use will have the same personalized referral code.
For example, if you want to refer someone to use Uber Eats, their food delivery service, you just add “eats-” then insert your personal code after.
Speaking of which, if you’d like to get $5 off your first Uber Eats order, you can use the referral code “eats-REEAv” when downloading the app.
What Is an Uber Promo Code to Get Me Started?
If you are new to the app yourself, you can use an Uber invite code from below to get free ride credit.
Uber has a bunch of promo codes it’s currently offering to new riders where you can save even more by signing up.
These referral promotions change sometimes, and to see the latest promotions for new users, check out our Comprehensive Guide to Uber Promo Codes.
These codes will save you up to $25, depending on the number of trips you think you will take with the app.
The more you are willing to spread out the savings, the more you can save on Uber trips.
Again, this is only for people who have never signed up for the app.
- If you use the code NEWRIDER15, you’ll get $5 off each of your first 3 trips
- If you use the code NEWRIDER16, you’ll get $4 off each of your first 4 trips
- If you use the code NEWRIDER18, you’ll get $3 off each of your first 6 trips
- If you use the code NEWRIDER25, you’ll get $2.50 off each of your first 10 trips
If you follow any of the links above, it will allow you to create an Uber account and start saving immediately.
Can I Refer Someone to Drive for Uber?
If you have someone who you think would make an excellent Uber driver, you can refer them using the exact same code that you would use to refer a rider to the app.
If the driver uses your code and becomes a new driver for the company, you can save on future rides.
Drivers can earn big bonuses for referring other drivers, as well.
In fact, the only time your personalized referral code would ever change would be if you were to become a driver for the company.
If you did, then you would get a new personalized code that could be shared with other potential drivers personally, or via social media.
There are two ways to find your referral code if you are a driver.
The first is to look in the Uber driver app, where it will tell you your code and allow you to send a personalized message to anyone within your contact list, either by SMS or email.
Drivers can also find their code on their partner dashboard, available at partners.uber.com, where they can also track referrals and rewards for how many riders and drivers they sign up.
Drivers get different benefits for referrals, including cash bonuses, but some bonuses are dependent on how many trips a rider or driver takes.
According to Uber,
The required number of trips and referral reward amount vary by city. You can find referral details for each invitee on your Partner Dashboard once they sign up.
Much like the rider referral program, once you have a driver account, that new code will be your code to use across all their services, like Uber Freight, or any other way to ride with Uber, for riders or drivers.
How Do I Sign Up With a Referral Code?
To apply your referral code when signing up as a rider, you can follow any of the links above and it will be automatically applied to your registration.
If you don’t have access to the links and are signing up at uber.com or with the app, you can enter your referral code manually while registering.
Simply enter your referral code where it says “Add a promo code.”
On the sign-up page, it looks like this:
Once you click on “Add a promo code,” you’ll be able to enter your referral code. It’ll look like this:
Once you’ve entered a code, click “Sign Up” and you’ll be ready to ride.
If you want to apply a referral code when signing up to be a driver, you can either do so by following a link provided to you by another driver, or by contacting Uber support after you’ve already registered.
You have 15 days to do so after you’ve registered.
Sign Friends Up and Save
Referring people to use ride-hailing apps is a great way to spread the gospel and save yourself some money on future trips.
With Uber’s referral program, they’ve made it easy by giving you one personalized referral code to use across all their services, for sharing with both potential riders and drivers.
Whether you use the rider app or are a driver for the company, the referral program can earn you money, either in free trips or, in the case of drivers, with cash directly deposited into your account.
