Beat The Rising Cost Of Living By Driving With Grab

Being an entrepreneur and earning an income to support a family is not easy, especially with today’s high cost of living.

Nobody knows that better than Fadzli, who hailed from Perlis. He learned that the hard way. He was optimistic about his future when he started a small business in Perlis, but the business did not work out. But still, he did not give up. He started another small business, but it met with the same unfortunate fate.

With nothing else to lose, Fadzli ventured to the capital city of Kuala Lumpur to look for a job that will allow him to earn enough to support his wife and young child back in Perlis.

He was struggling initially, but he found out about Grab from the Internet and he decided to give it a try. Now, he’s making enough a month to support his family and himself, while enjoying the flexible hours, where he could take his time to go for prayer despite a heavy work schedule.

It’s not a fairy tale. Earning an income by being a ride-sharing driver can be a lucrative reality, if you know the tips and tricks to maximise your earnings.

It takes more than just working late hours or hustling around town to do that. You have to drive smart to capitalise on your driving hours by first choosing the right platform to drive with.

Here’s are the tricks that allow Fadzli (and you) to ‘grab’ his way to earning enough to support his family and himself:

1. Drive during peak times to earn bonus incentives

Although being a Grab driver means you have the flexibility to drive whenever you like, there is a trick to ensure you work the same hours but still increase your earning.

Just choose to drive during peak hours and get high guaranteed fares. There are five tiers to peak hours: Mega Peak, Ultra Peak, High Peak, Peak and Bonus. The highest tier, Mega Peak, would give you RM25 to RM50 per hour, depending on the number of trips you complete.

So, it’s not just the number of hours you drive, but the time you choose to drive and the number of trips make a huge difference in your earnings too.

2. Opt-in to the Grab Ambassador Programme to be entitled for more rewards

You don’t need to hit certain fares target to be a Grab Ambassador. All you need to do is to drive exclusively for Grab. Being a Grab Ambassador automatically qualifies you for Tier 1 incentive. For example, Grab Pro driver only gets Tier 2 incentive, while Grab Ambassador could get up to 7% or more if he/she hits four trips.

Other than more earnings, there are other perks that you can enjoy to maximise your earnings, and increase your savings. It’s easier to earn with a higher acceptance rate, this means you accept the jobs that come in and avoid cancelling the jobs as much as possible.

You are also no longer restricted by Bonus Areas – areas that are specified by Grab where drivers used to have to a hit a certain target.

Here are the benefits and rewards for Grab Ambassadors:

To be a Grab Ambassador, you will need to keep an acceptance rate of 85%. You also need to avoid passenger cancellation, as that will hurt your bottom line.

This can be avoided by only picking up bookings that are nearby so your passenger won’t have to wait too long. Keeping a high rating will also likely reduce your passenger cancellation rate.

One way to keep your ratings up is to make sure every passenger is treated well, for example, greeting your passenger and maintaining a clean vehicle.

3. Reduce your cost further with these tips

With petrol prices fluctuating weekly, refueling our cars has to be one of the most constant drains to our wallets. It is especially painful when it has a direct impact on your income, like how it is for a ride-sharing driver.

Here are some tips that will help you reduce your petrol cost, so you can keep more of your earnings!

• Drive a more fuel-efficient car. A car with 1.0L – 1.3L engine boasts fuel economy of 4.7L/100km, one of the lowest in the market. This means, you will only spend RM59.22 (RM2.10/litre of RON95) for 600km of mileage.
• Empty your trunk. Remove heavy things, such as baby stroller from the car when you don’t need them as the extra weight increase the drag factor causing your car to be less efficient.
• Keep your tires pumped. Check your tyres inflation regularly, not just for safety reasons but also to ensure your vehicle’s fuel efficiency is at its optimum. The reason under-inflated tyres waste more petrol is because they create more traction, and thus need more petrol to get them going.
• Get your car serviced on time. Servicing your car regularly will increase your vehicle’s fuel efficiency.
• Do not leave your engine idling. If you have to wait for your passengers for more than a few minutes, turn the engine off. It is estimated that for every two minutes you leave your car idle, you use the same amount of petrol to travel about 1.5 km.

4. Refer new drivers to Grab

To upsize your earnings as a Grab driver, it’s not just about driving. It’s also about networking.

That’s right! The new multi-level driver referral programme gives Grab driver a chance to earn continuously when they refer new drivers to the company, their referrals refer new drivers, and their referrals’ referrals refer new drivers.

Sounds complicated? It’s really not. There are a total of three levels of referrals you will be rewarded. The first level referral will earn you RM75 per driver, second level at RM50 and lastly, the third level at RM25 per driver.

Wait a minute, you hate networking and recruiting? You don’t have to do that all the time. Here’s how you can earn up to RM525 by just referring two drivers! Here’s how it works:

All you need to do is to ensure you maintain at least 20 jobs within the past 30 days, or minimum 5 jobs per week (if you have been driving for Grab for less than one month). Your referrals also need to complete 30 jobs within the first month for you to qualify for the referral bonus.

5. Bring up your nett earnings when you drive with Grab

One of the biggest concerns most people have about becoming a ride-sharing driver is, will your earnings be able to cover your car maintenance cost and fuel. The more you have to pay for those, the smaller your earnings become.

So, how can you lower the cost to bring up your nett earnings? GrabAllStars rewards is an exclusive rewards programme designed to reduce a Grab Driver’s costs. Each Grab Driver will be eligible for this programme that comes with a tiered system.

Of course, the more you drive, the higher your tier is, there are also a few factors that affects this, such as being a Grab Ambassador and having excellence ratings would push you up the tier.

Your excellence ratings can be brought up by offering a great experience for your passengers. There are a few conditions that Grab see to gauge if you are an excellent driver.

Based on these conditions, you will rated in three categories:

Silver	Gold	Platinum
You are a Grab Flexi/Grab Pro/Grab Ambassador. You complete 50 rides or more in a month. You hit 50% or more in your acceptance rating. You achieve 10% or less in cancellation rating. Your driver's rating is 4.40 and above.	You are an active Grab Ambassador. You complete 100 rides or more in a month. You hit 85% or more in your acceptance rating. You achieve 10% or less in cancellation rating. Your driver's rating is 4.70 and above.	You are an active Grab Ambassador. You complete 300 rides or more in a month. You hit 90% or more in your acceptance rating. You achieve 3% or less in cancellation rating. Your driver's rating is 4.90 and above.

Depending on which category you fall into, Grab offers attractive rewards to help you manage your cost effectively, not just cost related to your car, but also the general cost of living. From time to time, rewards in the form of F&B vouchers, retail rebates and freebies are available on GrabAllStars.

Silver	Gold	Platinum

Here’s how much you can potentially save on your car expenses in a month:

	Before rewards	After rewards
Estimated annual spending on engine oil	RM178 x 5 = RM890	(RM178 – RM30) x 5 = RM740
Estimated annual spending on tyres	RM800	RM800 – 30% = RM560
Estimated spending on car servicing	RM150 x 5 = RM750	RM750 – 50% = RM375
Total	RM2,440	RM1,675

 

Based on the example above, the estimated savings is RM765! That makes a difference in your annual income. On top of that, you can enjoy petrol savings of up to RM150 in a month with their PETRONAS rewards. Check out more rewards and savings that are available for GrabAllStars!

 

Fadzli, who drives exclusively for Grab today, found a second chance. He is now working for himself, and bringing home a handsome income to support his wife and his young child.

Maximising your earning as a Grab driver is more than just hustling at all hours. It’s about hustling at the right hours and taking advantage of the incentive and rewards available to keep your cost low and your earnings high.

If you are working a 9-to-5 job with no prospect of a pay hike, it’s time to reconsider your option or think about supplementing your income. The best thing about being a ride-sharing driver is – you can choose to do it full-time or part-time!

 

All the information obtained from Grab is accurate at the point of publication. 

Main image from Grab