Do You Wanna Be a Grab Driver For Some Income?

Here, I Will Show You How!

Hi. Board My Car. Here We Go.

Hello. Welcome here.

You must be here because you wanted to explore being a Grab driver for a side or even a main income. Good job on taking a step towards achieving this, whatever your reasons are.

Here, I will be sharing my strategies and how you can earn the most out of this occupation.

Who Am I?

I am Stefen. I have a background in the aviation industry and have achieved much in life up till a point. At my highest, I ran a company trading aircraft spare parts and exporting them overseas. I am a trained coach and have a pilot license.

I lost my job from a flying club due to retrenchment last year Feb. Since I have a PDVL, I came back to drive Grab as an immediate income, to cover the family expenses.

Finding a job at 45 with an income expectation is really difficult. Maybe I don't know how to play the employment game so well, so I decided to do other things.

This is not a full-time career for me. I see it as an interim income generator while I build other things. So if you want a part time side hustle/income, this place is for you.

So whatever your reasons are, here, you are safe. I hope that the information I share here can help you get up to the maximum speed limit more quickly and safely.

The Strategy

It is really simple.

We want to keep the costs low and earn as much as we can in the few hours we can commit.

So I recommend the following:

Drive with Grab

Logo-GrabDriver

Rent from Tribecar

tribecar

Click the above to find out more about them.

I will also share some referral codes, for you to sign up with, so that you and I could have some referral rewards. Free money, why not, right?

What If I Dont Have A Car?

Oh, I dont too.

And I do not recommend renting by the month!

I rent a car from Tribecar to do Grab jobs. Many cars in the Tribecar network are Private-Hire Vehicles (PHV) and Grab allows the use for jobs.

There is a strategy to use Tribecar effectively.

Remember, if this is to be purely an income generator for you, we want to keep costs low. If you rent by the month, then you are paying for days that you dont use for Grab jobs, eg. Sat, Sun, nights, etc.

If you intend to drive full-time, then yes, renting by month or buying a car might work better. For now, lets thinking about having this as a part time business, during our spare hours.

 

Logo-GrabDriver

But Why Grab?

In short:

  • Strong Demand and Quicker Job Assignment
  • Superior Maps System
  • ERP Gantry Prices
  • Incentive Programs
  • Clear Money Management

Strong Demand and Quicker Job Assignment

Grab has the major market share of the ride-hailing industry. So the jobs that you can get from here is plentiful.

Back-to-Back jobs - Many times, before my passenger alights, the next job is lined up. The demand in Grab, means there are higher chances of another passenger wanting a ride near where I am dropping off.

Short or zero drives to next Pax - Many times, the next pax is exactly at the place I am dropping off this one. Grab works hard to achieve this, because they earn more from me if this drive is short. It is better for me that I drive less to the next pax, because it means more jobs in the hour, and less fuel burnt.

Demand Everywhere - This means for me as a driver, any time of the day, and at any location in Singapore, when I turn on the App, I can almost immediately get a job ping.

I earn money:

  • sooner because I get a job ping quickly
  • faster because next job is lined up
  • more efficiently because of shorter driving to the pax

 

Superior Map System

The Grab Driver app is also very elegantly programmed now, and has a very superior maps system built in.

It finds you the fastest route, and offers alternative routes so you can quickly choose to turn left through a filter, if a red-light stops you.

For me, the driver, it means ease and simplicity, as everything is in the same screen.

There is no need to switch apps (Waze/Google Maps), unless you want a second opinion.

Electronic Road Pricing (ERP)

If you cross a gantry, the Grab Driver app knows how much ERP is being charged at that time, and then automatically adds it to the amount to charge to the passenger.

No need to remember how much, and no money-loss if you forget to add.

But still, it is prudent to cross-check, just in case it is not correct.

Other Ride-Hailing Driver apps, do not add it automatically, so you would have to devise methods to track the amount and a reminder to add it into the fare page at the end of the ride.

Money Management

Money management is also clear and easy.

Money can be withdrawn into a bank account almost immediately after the ride.

There are 2 places to push money to:

  • To a bank account that you set in
  • To Grab Wallet (the app for users, not drivers. For Grabfood, to take Grab rides)

If to the Grab Wallet, then from here, you could PayNow yourself or send to bank accounts.

So technically, you can set it up to send money to 2 or more places.

For me, I send most of it to a main household account, and send a smaller amount to my own spending account.

Incentives

There are many incentive programs that are easy to understand.

Do remember that the many incentives are meant to have drivers on the roads to meet demand, so plan wisely.

There are many layers of incentives, generally:

  • Day-type - (Special Trip Bonus) Expires by end the day, and usually applies to certain timings. Only rides from (example) 7am to 10am, 6pm to 12am.
  • Few days - (Drive Star Bonus) Similar to Day-type, but is held over a few days. Mon-Thu, or Fri-Sun.
  • Month-type - (Grab Streak Bonus) The total number of rides is totaled. If you clock more than 300 rides in that month, you earned a streak. Do this for 3 months in a row, and you will be on Tier3 Streak. There is a cash payout with a percentage of the fees given back to you.

These incentives do have their own minimum requirements:

  • Acceptance Rate of x% and above
  • Driver Rating of X.xx and above
  • Cancellation Rate of X% and below

The incentives may have their own applicable:

  • timings
  • days
  • location / zones
  • vehicle types

There was a day I was 7 rides away from 2 of the above incentives, so with my wife's support, I went to do 4 hours of additional driving and achieved the 2 incentives and earned $51 + $11 extra.

What about Tada, Gojek, Ryde and other companies?

Yes, other platforms may boast of lower commission, or lower fees. However, they have lesser users, and hence, you might waste more time waiting for passengers or drive further to pick them. Thats not too efficient. So while we may "pay" more to Grab, it is because the experience of working with them is better and has great income earning opportunity.

I tried a few other platforms, but in my experience, Grab is enough. Although you can run 2 or more driver apps in the same phone, I dont. What happens if 2 apps got pings at the same time? Aiyoh, need to cancel one, get penalised. Hence, I dont do it. Less headache. Simple life.