How to become an Uber Eats driver in London

You’ve probably had the experience of having food delivered straight to your doorstep, with just a few clicks. But have you ever wondered what it’s like to be the one delivering with one of the driver delivery apps? When it comes to requirements for delivering food using a car, Uber is not very strict. If you meet the Uber driver requirements, you're more than likely ready to join Uber Eats as well.

Whether you’re already an Uber driver looking to make extra money or you’re new to food delivery altogether, here’s what you need to know about how to become an Uber Eats driver in London.

What is Uber Eats?

Uber Eats is Uber's food delivery service. Simply put – you deliver food directly from restaurants to people's doorstep, using your car, bike, or scooter. It's a great way to make extra money while doing ridesharing, as a side-hustle for a few hours or a couple days a week. You can deliver when you want, and you get paid directly in your bank account.

How to sign up with Uber Eats

1. Download the Uber app

In order to become an Uber Eats driver in London, you'll need to download the Uber Driver app and create an account.

You can also create a new account on the Uber website, but you will still need the app for the rest of the sign-up process.

Fill in the registration form with your name, email address, phone number, and choose London as the city you want to deliver in. Next, when asked about the type of licence you have, select the option to deliver for Uber Eats with a car.

2. Upload the required documents

The next step is to upload all the required documents for both you and your car. The app describes exactly what paperwork you need and how to upload it correctly. Here’s what you need to upload:

• A profile photo

• Your driver's licence

• A bank statement from the account where you want to receive payments

• The Certificate of Motor Insurance

The Certificate of Motor Insurance must cover you for food delivery and it should not exclude commercial hire and reward or delivery activity. Keep in mind that Uber doesn’t accept a Schedule of Motor Insurance or Policy Schedule.

TIP: You’re free to choose any insurance company, but Uber has a list of recommended providers. These will upload your insurance certificate directly to your Uber account, so you don’t have to add the insurance documents manually.

3. Complete a background check

Once you’ve signed up with a courier account, you’ll receive an email asking you to complete a background check. It covers confirmation of identity, basic criminal record, driving record, and it also checks that you have a legal right to live and work in the UK.

NOTE: It can take up to a few weeks to get your background check.

Once you’ve completed all the steps, Uber will activate your account and you’ll be ready to start delivering as an Uber Eats driver in London. Account activation may also take a few weeks.

Uber Eats FAQ

How much can I make as an Uber Eats driver?

Estimating the Uber Eats driver pay is more complex than estimating how much Uber drivers earn due to the numerous factors determining the final price for an Uber Eats delivery. Research indicates that Uber Eats drivers can make between £7 - £14 per hour in the UK, making it one of the more competitive delivery apps. Another incentive from Uber Eats is “instant cash out”, allowing you to receive pay for your completed work in a matter of minutes.

If you’re worried about the costs as a delivery driver in London, a good idea is to drive an electric car and avoid paying the Congestion Charge, and the ULEZ charge. You can also drive outside the Congestion charge hours to avoid paying the charge, but ride demands can be low since Uber Eats' peak hours are covered within the Congestion charge times.

TIP: Top up your earnings in “Boost Zones”, marked in the Uber Eats driver app.

What is the best time to deliver with Uber Eats?

Typically, the best times are:

• Weekdays – lunch (11:00 AM to 2:00 PM) and dinner or late-night orders (5:00 PM to 11:00 PM)

• Weekends – pretty much all day

TIP: Weekend deliveries (Friday till Sunday) could give you 44% more earnings than driving during weekdays.

You can also count on the cold and rainy weather for more deliveries, since people don’t want to leave their homes.

What are the busiest areas in London for Uber Eats?

Areas that are busy during the weekdays, especially during 5 PM- 9 PM are Liverpool Street, City Road, Victoria Station, King’s Cross, and London Bridge Station. The lowest demand seems to be in Moorgate, Blackfriars, and City of London. For weekend deliveries, during 9 PM – 2 AM, a few of the best places are:

• Soho and the Strand

• Barbican

• Brixton Road, Brixton

• Marylebone

• Notting Hill Gate

• Waterloo

• Old Street

TIP: It’s more likely to receive more requests in areas that have more Uber Eats restaurants, mostly in downtown regions. These spots are marked in the Uber app with higher boosts, which can also earn you extra money.

Can I make food deliveries if I’m an Uber Driver?

Of course. In fact, all Uber drivers can transport passengers and deliver food during the same shift, using the same app. Uber carefully schedules everything so that you don’t have to worry about a food delivery conflicting with a passenger pick-up.

Do I need an Uber Eats bag to deliver?

No, it’s not mandatory. But for food safety reasons, Uber Eats recommends that you use an insulated bag specially designed for food delivery. There are also restaurants that require you to have one. You can either use your own bag or you can buy one from the Uber Eats online shop.

We recommend picking one that’s big enough to carry at least an 18-inch pizza box.

Make sure that the food you deliver is kept as fresh as possible. After all, good deliveries mean good Uber ratings for you, from both your customers and the restaurants.

What kind of insurance do I need to deliver with Uber Eats?

Getting the right insurance for food delivery is very important, so you're properly covered in case of an incident. Standard car insurance policies don't cover you if you use the car for food delivery, therefore you need a special insurance policy. The dedicated food delivery insurance can come across different names depending on the insurance company. Mostly, this type of insurance is classed as business use. Look out for hire and reward car or specialist for hot food delivery policy.

Although this type of special insurance policy might be pricy, that doesn't mean you can't find a deal that provides great value. It's essential to be covered for any circumstance and accident, so when you put in balance the cost of the correct policy with the risk of losing your vehicle, it's probably an easy decision.

What are Some Tips & Tricks to Make More Money as an Uber Eats Driver?

As with any rideshare or delivery platform, the more you drive, the more experience and insight you gain about how to optimize your work, when it's the best time to drive or deliver, or what you can do to maximise your earnings. Here a few:

1. Drive at the Right Times: Time is important when you're trying to make as many deliveries as you can in a day. As we said before, make sure you take advantage of the busiest times to deliver for Uber Eats during weekdays, weekends, public holidays, or public events. Plus, take into account the weather or anything else that might influence delivery requests and go home when it's clear that it's no longer worth it to wait hopelessly for an Uber Eats order.

2. Be at the Right Places: Apart from focusing on the busiest areas in London to pick up deliveries, filter out the most profitable restaurants. Avoid restaurants with long wait times, as they might start preparing your order after you arrive, causing you to miss out on faster deliveries. Once you've been delivering for a while, you'll learn which work in your favour and which take forever to prepare and package the food.

3. Learn Which Deliveries are Worth it: Not all deliveries bring you money, if you take a closer look at the time you spend completing them. In fact, when delivering an order, you should consider several things, like how big is the order, the distance you need to drive to pick it up, traffic, time to deliver, but also how long it takes for you to get back to a restaurant hot-zone. You may also want to consider doing more short deliveries than fewer longer deliveries. If the customer gets his food fresh and warm they're more likely to tip you better. Using this logic, you can make good extra money just from tips, not just from what Uber pays. At the same time, more deliveries mean more money, especially if you're hanging around busy areas with lots of restaurants.

4. Improve your Customer Service: One of the most efficient ways to make more is through tips. One way to do that is going the extra mile for your customers, which are most likely going to pay extra for your good service. For example – let the customer know if there's traffic and their order is delayed, be friendly and welcoming when dropping off food, and be patient when there's a problem with the drop off. Another small, but extremely nice thing do to for your customer is get extras for their order, like paper napkins, sauces, straws – anything that would improve their order and make them more inclined to tip you.

How can Splend help me become an Uber Eats Driver?

Splend is more than a car PCO company. We provide you with a safe and reliable new-model car for PCO or food delivery, but that’s just part of the story. As a customer, you get the full service from day 1, meaning that besides the car, we provide:

• Car insurance

• Car inspection

• Dedicated support

• 24/7 roadside assistance

• Maintenance

• Additional customer benefits

About Splend

At Splend, we believe in drivers. We know their vehicles need to work harder than most; that they drive more miles than most; that their insurance is hefty; their maintenance costs high and that they can face unreasonable finance rates – which is a heavy load to carry on their own.

That’s why at Splend, we exist to support rideshare drivers with a new model, that takes all those car ownership costs, and provides them for less, with lower purchase prices, better rates, lower servicing and insurance costs – all for one weekly repayment, all in one place.