How to Sign Up for Lyft GM Express Drive Rental Program
Last year, Lyft announced that they would be offering Hertz rental car options for their drivers. This will allow drivers to drive with a rental car on Lyft’s platform. They also announced a separate program called Express Drive (partnering with GM) where the rental fee may be discounted depending on how many trips you take per week.
This program is great if you want to drive for a few weeks or a few months before you get your own car or while you are looking for work. This isn’t great long term solution to owning your own car.
Here is a quick breakdown of the details of the program:
- When using a rental, Lyft’s Rental Rewards Program can help reduce your weekly costs. This program includes mileage and rental reimbursement rewards. Drivers would not be eligible for Power Driver Bonus or any kind of average hourly guarantees.
- Express Pay is not available when driving a rental car.
- Lyft now allows for multiple cars on the platform so you can switch cars when you like. However, when you do so, you will still not be eligible for Power Drivers Bonus or average hourly guarantees.
- $0/week* – Give 65+ rides a week
- $99/week – Give 40 rides a week
- $99/week + 20¢/mile – Give less than 40 rides a week
- *The cost when driving for personal use is 20¢/mile
- Above rates are subject to the terms and conditions of your rental agreement and applicable taxes and fees.
- To sweeten the deal, insurance and maintenance are always included. Plus, for 20¢/mile, you can use the car for personal use during your rental period.
Where is Express Drive available?
The program is currently live in Chicago and Boston, and will be launching soon in Washington D.C. and Baltimore. Stay tuned for additional updates as Express Drive rolls out into more cities!
How much does driving with a rental car cost?
Once you’re on the road, your weekly rental rate goes down as you give more rides. To learn more about your city’s rental rates, visit the ‘Vehicles’ section of the Driver Dashboard. New drivers in markets with Express Drive can start an application to see the rental rates.
I heard about Express Pay but couldn’t find it. What’s going on?
Express Pay is not available when driving a rental car.
Do I need to make a deposit to use Express Drive?
Yes. When you apply to the program, Lyft will apply a refundable deposit to a card of your choosing. This will be refunded to you if you don’t pass your background or DMV check, or when you join the program and complete your first ride.
You can see more information about Lyft’s Express Drive Program on my post two months ago.
Here are some additional details not covered in my last post on the Express Drive Program:
- Miles cost $0.25 and are tracked through the vehicle’s OnStar system and the Lyft system. Note: miles while using Destination Filter are allocated as personal since you’re not available for all requests.
- For rental bonus, 90% acceptance is required. 45 rides waives the mileage charge for your on-app miles, you’ll still be charged for personal miles. 75 rides waives the mileage charge for on-app miles AND the rental fee.
- Includes EZPass (in Boston, may include electronic toll tag in your city). Lyft will continue to reimburse driver, Maven (the rental agency) will charge driver.
- System is set for a default minimum rental period of 4 weeks, but you can change that, return at any time with no penalty as long as you schedule the return and deliver to location assigned for dropoff. Otherwise, $150 return fee. Some dropoff locations may be distant, but Lyft will provide you with 1 free Lyft ride up to $100 to get you home. You need to return with same amount of fuel as picked up with and in same condition with normal wear and tear.
- Insurance is provided at all times.
- When you are offline, you have insurance through Maven provided by company named Zurich with $1000 deductible,
- While app is on, standard Lyft insurance policy with $2500 deductible. (If your app is on but no passengers, submit the claim to Maven, and they will reject it. Lyft will then cover it after that)
- Maintenance is provided by GM partner locations, any maintenance at other locations (like Jiffy Lube) is at your own cost.
- You may have a choice of color/options on the vehicle.
The help section states the on-app miles will be reimbursed if you do a set amount of rides WHILE IN THE COVERAGE AREA. This had me worried because what if you take a fare very far outside the coverage area? How many would be on-app and how many would be personal use? The answer is they would all be on-app, so long as you return to the coverage area immediately. In essence, the system is programmed to track when you dropoff outside the coverage area and to then allow exactly the same amount of miles to return. So if you dropoff 20 miles outside of coverage, you will NOT be charged for the 20 miles to return to coverage area so long as you leave the app on.
Here are the cars that are available:
- Chevy Imapla
- Chevy Malibu
- GMC Terrain
- Chevy Equinox
Below, I will show you how to sign up for the Express Drive Program. The way you sign up is different if you are a new applicant or an existing driver. Even new applicants have access to the Express Drive Program.
Existing Drivers
You enroll in the program by going into your online driver dashboard and click the Vehicles & Docs tab (or this link), then selecting the rental option on the bottom.
Note that the weekly ride thresholds may not be correct on the driver dashboard. For the cities that have the Express Drive program, all drivers should have gotten a separate email notifying them of the requirements and details, like this email I received yesterday:
Different vehicles have different rental cost. You can check this by scrolling through the vehicles. See the above pictures to see what is available in Boston (it may be similar to other Express Drive cities). Some may not be available for immediate pickup in your city when it launches so there may be a bit of trial and error.
New Lyft Applicants:
For new applicants signing up for Lyft, they can choose a rental car in the vehicle section if it is available in your city. If you do not see an option for it under the vehicle portion of the application, Express Drive is not live yet in your city and you will need to wait until it is available. Like stated above, there may only be one vehicle available for immediate pickup so if it is not what you want, you can either drive for a week or two on what is available or wait until the car you want is available.
Once you complete the application, Lyft will run your DMV record and perform the background check. This will all be processed before you arrive to your mentor session. Lyft will apply a refundable deposit to a card of your choosing during the application process. This will be refunded to you if you don’t pass your background or DMV check, or when you join the program and complete your first ride.
You will then meet with your mentor at the Express Drive car pickup location and you will have your mentor session in your car. You won’t get the car after your mentor session but after your application is approved. You will then pickup the car once your Lyft application has been approved and ready to drive.
Have more questions about Uber or Lyft? Head on over to our Rideshare Driver Training Course! Driver Promotions- New Uber Drivers will get up to a $800 bonus after signing up: Sign up for Uber.
- New Lyft Drivers will get up to $800 if you sign up here using this link.
