What time is Uber cheapest? 6 tips to save money

Ordering an Uber is one of the most practical and comfortable things we have at our disposal today. But all this practicality weighs on your pocket, especially if you make several trips in the same month. The good news is that there are ways to make your Uber cheaper, and most of them also work for other transport apps, such as 99 and Cabify.

Before ordering your next ride, also compare our list of ride-hailing apps cheaper than Uber, the Ride-sharing apps that are cheaper than Uber and 99. and the Essential apps for Brazilians.

Below are six simple tips that (probably) will significantly reduce your travels in the app.

Do not use dynamic pricing

On normal days, every ride on Uber has a base price, which is calculated from the time and distance traveled. Until then, okay.

But when the demand for cars increases more than usual in the city — for example, when those storms that flood avenues and knock down trees, there are some demonstrations, strikes in public transport, or big events like concerts and football games — this base price flips dynamic price, which is always more expensive and varies as the availability of cars decreases. Depending on the route you want to take, you can pay double this dynamic fare.

The tip here is to run away from him. If you want to order an Uber, but there's an adverse situation happening in your city, consider waiting for the dust to settle. If it's urgent or very necessary and you still want to order Uber, know that the trip will be more expensive.

Avoid peak times

This is one of the golden rules to make your Uber cheaper. To give you an idea, I recently paid R$6 to go from my house to the center of my city at a quiet time and R$11,30 (that is, almost double) to return home during peak hours.

See below for the most common peak times:

• 1st Rush Hour: between 7 am and 9 am;
• 2st Rush Hour: between 17 am and 19 am;
• Saturday night: between 20 pm and 22 pm (in capital cities);
• Sunday morning: between 10 am and 12 pm (on the coast).

Now that you know the peak times, run away from them. Organize your daily appointments so that you only need to travel before or after these times. Your pocket will thank you.

Plan your departure and arrival point

This tip is one of those where you are like “how did I not think of that before?!”. It's like this: if you order an Uber at a point that will make the driver make a U-turn ahead of you to start the journey, you will pay more (because, in theory, the journey was longer) just for not having crossed the street. or walked a few meters.

This also applies to the point of arrival. If the address you want to go to is close to a corner and the “hands” of the street will force the driver to go around the block to stop in front of the number, put the destination on the main road. You'll save a lot and you'll only need to walk a little.

Add a waypoint to 'force' a route

An ingenious tip to make your Uber cheaper is to add a strategic stopping point to “force” a ride that you already know will be cheaper.

It's just that there are times when the application traces a route to your destination that takes unnecessary turns, which ends up making the trip more expensive. Add a stop "fake” (because you won't get off it or pick up someone to continue the trip with you) is a way for you to assemble a route that you consider to be more efficient and cheaper.

Use credit card benefits and points programs

Some credit cards and banks offer benefits that bring discounts or rewards programs to lower the value of Uber rides.

O Nubank have the Nubank Rewards. This is a credit card benefits program where you accumulate points. For every R$1 you spend, you earn one point. These points never expire and can be used to pay for travel on the Uber.

already the bank Next have the mimes, which are discounts and benefits for partner companies. In the case of the “Uber treat”, the bank app gives you discount codes that you can paste in the “Add promotional code” field under “Payment”.

Uber itself offers the Uber Rewards, a rewards program where you earn points for every trip made through the app or qualifying meal on Uber Eats. These points don't deduct trip values, but they do bring you some benefits, like free delivery on Uber Eats and “price consistency” on your favorite route.

Anyway, if you have your credit card registered with Uber, it's worth checking if your bank offers any type of benefit or reward program that is valid for the app.

Sign up for Uber Pass

If you do a lot of Uber trips a week (or month), it's worth signing up for Uberpass. It is a subscription service, which you pay R$24,99 per month and has a 10% discount on all UberX made in Brazil, wherever.

In addition, the service offers free delivery to Uber Eats (for orders over BRL 30) and in market purchases (for orders over BRL 100). If you're curious as to whether this service would really be a good fit for you, this matter of showmetech brings more details on how Uber Pass works.

Extra tip: Scheduling trips doesn't make Uber cheaper

You may see around that scheduling trips in the app is advantageous because you will pay the current price at the time of booking. But that not truth.

Uber's official blog reports that the fare charged is the one in force at the time of boarding, and not at the time of scheduling. In other words, scheduling trips can be a useful resource for you to organize yourself. But not to save money.

And a tip that has nothing to do with costs, but with your health: don't forget to use mask while in Uber and hand wash with alcohol gel (or soap) after getting out of the car, ok? Don't forget to tell us here in the comments what you think of these tips to make your Uber cheaper!