Charged A Lyft Cancellation Fee? How To Get A Refund Or Avoid It

Have you ever been charged a cancellation fee on Lyft? It’s a frustrating charge, especially if you don’t think it was justified.

Learn how cancellation fees work on Lyft and see how to dispute a fee and get a refund!

What you need to know

• To cancel a Lyft ride, tap Edit ride > Cancel ride in the ride information box at the bottom of the screen
• Lyft can charge a cancellation fee if you cancel your ride after matching with a driver
• You can also be charged if your driver arrives at your pickup location and cancels the ride after waiting longer than ~5 minutes
• To dispute a fee, find the ride in your Ride history and scroll to the Help section
• Read our complete guide to all Lyft fees for info about other fees and charges

How much is the Lyft cancellation fee?

The cost of the Lyft cancellation fee depends on the Lyft ride type you use and the city you’re in.

Generally, the cancellation fee is around $5 for regular Lyft rides, $10 for premium services like Lux or Black, and $10–$25 for scheduled rides.

How to cancel a Lyft ride

You can cancel a Lyft ride anytime: Before you are matched with a driver, while a driver is on the way to pick you up, or during an active ride.

Cancel before your driver arrives

Cancel your ride before your driver picks you up by tapping Edit ride > Cancel ride.

You may be charged a fee if you cancel more than 30 seconds after being paired with a driver.

Cancel your ride before pickup, but be quick. You may be charged a fee

Cancel during a ride

During a Lyft ride, cancel by dragging up the ride info, then tap Edit ride > Cancel ride.

If you are inside a moving car, it’s better to ask your driver to pull over and end the ride instead of cancelling it yourself. Cancelling during a ride won’t help you avoid paying for the ride unless a serious issue occurs.

While you’re in a Lyft, you can edit or cancel the ride

You can also update your destination or add a stop with the Edit ride button.

You will be charged a cancellation fee in these situations

According to the Lyft cancellation policy, you may be charged a cancel fee in these scenarios:

• If you cancel more than 30 seconds after a driver accepts your request and the driver is on time to arrive within 5 minutes of the estimated arrival time
• If you cancel more than 3 rides within 15 minutes
• If your driver cancels after arriving at your location and waiting longer than 5 minutes (exact wait time varies)

Fee for cancelling your ride after the cancellation window has passed

After a driver accepts your ride request, you only have 30 seconds to cancel the ride without penalty. After 30 seconds, you are subject to a cancel fee.

Note that your driver must also be on time, within 5 minutes of the original estimated time. So if your driver gets stuck in unexpected traffic and will be late for your pickup, you can cancel more than 30 seconds after being matched without being charged the fee.

No-show fee: When your driver arrives at your location and it takes you longer than ~5 minutes to reach the car

A driver can cancel your ride and charge you a no-show fee if they arrive at the pickup location and wait longer than the allotted wait time for the ride type, usually around five minutes. Premium ride types like Lux and Lux Black offer longer wait time, around 10 minutes.

Your driver must also attempt to contact you at least once before they can cancel and collect the no-show fee.

Scheduled ride cancel fees

Scheduled rides on Lyft have a different cancellation policy than on-demand ride. For a scheduled ride, you can be charged a fee if you cancel the ride within 1 hour of the scheduled pickup time, and if you have been matched with a driver.

You’ll also be charged a fee if you cancel when the driver is on the way to pick you up and they are on time to arrive within the pickup window.

And similar to on-demand rides, you can be charged a fee if your driver arrives at your pickup location and cancels the ride after waiting for longer than the allotted wait time.

How to dispute cancellation fees on Lyft and get a refund

Don’t think your fee was fair? You can dispute the fee inside the app or at help.lyft.com.

Go to: Menu (☰) >’ Ride history’> Find the ride > Scroll to ‘Help’> ‘Get help with another issue’ > ‘Dispute ride fare or charges’ > ‘Cancellation fee is wrong’

Each ride receipt has a “Get help” link that leads to a dispute form

After you dispute the fee, Lyft customer support will send you a message to let you know if they can refund the cancel fee.

You can also dispute charges by going to help.Lyft.com. Log in and click the Riding with Lyft option.

You will see a large button that says Dispute ride fare or charges. Select the ride, then choose the cancellation fee option.

You can also dispute the fee at help.lyft.com

More help

• Overcharged by Lyft? What you can do

How to avoid cancellation fees

There are three main ways to avoid cancellation fees: Only request a ride when you know you want it, make sure to go out to the driver quickly after they arrive, and double check that your pickup location is accurate. Drivers go directly to the GPS location in the app and will cancel if you’re not there.

Get flexible cancellations with Lyft Pink

Lyft Pink is a membership for $9.99 per month that offers several perks, including flexible cancellations.

Lyft Pink members get 3 free cancellations per month if you rebook the ride within 15 minutes.

Lyft Pink members get 3 flexible cancellations

How cancellation fees work for drivers

Drivers are paid cancellation fees to compensate for the time and miles they drive on a cancelled ride.

The cancellation fee for drivers is the greater of two numbers: The minimum cancellation fee, or the mileage + time that they drove to the passenger, calculated according to the local rate card.

• Regular cancellations: $2 minimum, $15 maximum
• Scheduled ride cancels: $5 minimum, $15 maximum

When passengers cancel, drivers get paid a fee if the passenger cancellation window has passed, if the driver is on the way to the passenger, and if the driver is on track to arrive by the stated ETA.

For passenger no-shows, drivers must arrive at the passenger location, wait for the countdown to end, and attempt to contact the passenger at least once.

More reading on Lyft

• Overcharged By Lyft? What to Do
• Lyft Codes for Existing Users? How to Save