Check the plate before you open the door

The car pulling up to the kerb looks like yours. It is the right colour, it slowed down for you, and you are cold and tired and want to get in.

Before you get into a booked car, check that the plate, the car and the driver’s face match the app.

At the door

Some people give this step: check the licence plate, the colour and model of the car, and the driver’s photo against what the app shows you, before you get in, rather than asking “Are you my driver?” and trusting the answer. A car that looks right and a driver who says yes are not the same as a match.

This page adds one thing, from the logic of that step rather than from people: if you do speak, do not offer your own name first. “Are you here for Sam?” can be answered yes by anyone. “Who are you here for?” has to be answered with your name, which your driver has from the app and a stranger does not. Drivers want the same check from their side; one person explains that drivers may ask who booked, so that they do not pick up the wrong person.

Checking the plate and the photo may not work for everyone, one person warns, for example if your eyesight makes it hard; in that case, do what you can and what feels comfortable.

Then a few more habits, one person each:

• Sit in the back, behind the front passenger seat, not beside the driver. One person adds taking a photo of the driver, letting them see you do it.
• Never agree to a ride outside the app, such as a cash deal or a booking arranged directly with the driver for next time. One person points out that you lose the app’s tracking, its insurance and its protections.
• If you are too drunk to make decisions, or might fall asleep, do not ride alone. One person’s advice is to go with a friend, or to drink less before booking a solo ride.

Your address, and your plans, are yours

Some people say to keep your home address from the driver, and the ways they do it are simple. Get dropped at the corner, a shop, a petrol station or a public place with cameras near your home, rather than at your door. One person uses the street number next door. The reason some people give is that some drivers have used a passenger’s address afterwards: one says drivers have turned up uninvited with gifts, and another warns that a driver can overhear your plans and come back later. And the app wiping your address after the ride does not help, one person points out, because someone can take a screenshot before it goes.

One person says a driver asking “Is this your home?” gets you to give away more than you meant to: that you live there, and maybe alone. Others answer that it is usually a driver checking the stop, badly phrased. You do not have to decide which. “This is fine, thanks” answers the question the driver needs answered.

A few more ideas from individual people: a good driver lets you choose exactly where to stop; the ride ends at the kerb or the gate, and the driver does not follow you into a gated community, a building or a driveway; one person keeps their profile thin, a first name and a plain photo, so they are hard to look up; and one person sets the “home” pin in their phone’s map to a nearby business, so a lost phone does not give their address away. One warning is honest about the limit. A driver who wants to can still work out the rough area, and come back.

Others here go further and lie. They say someone is waiting at home, that a partner is in the car, that they have dogs, that they are visiting a friend, that they live somewhere they do not. Some people say it puts off a driver who might follow them; others say it only works on someone opportunistic, and does nothing against a person who already knows where you live and means harm. Some people add a cost: using a neighbour’s address can put the neighbour at risk if they are out. And a false name or address could confuse emergency services if something goes wrong. The honest versions do some of the same work without that risk. Some people phone a friend or partner and stay on the call, on speaker, while they ride. One person shares the trip live with someone who has actually accepted it. The driver can then hear, truthfully, that someone knows where you are.

If it goes wrong in the car

Some people describe drivers making sexual advances, making threats, getting “lost”, or trying to keep passengers in the car. One person describes a driver who would not let them out until they threatened to call the police. The box at the top of this page is for that moment.

People argue about the door handles. Some people say that a missing plastic cover on the inside door lock, or a handle that looks unscrewed, means the driver has disabled it to trap passengers, and to get out at once. Others answer that this is mostly an urban legend: the metal shaft underneath still works and you can grab it, and the covers go missing through wear and tear from passengers. Others add that it depends on the car: on some the bare shaft is easy to grab, and on others it sits deep in the door and is hard to grip. One person says that in German cars the inside handle opens the door even when it is locked. Others say the real risk is the child lock, which is standard on many cars and which you cannot see from inside. What decides it, people say, is the car in front of you, and which cars do what is not covered here. The part that does not depend on the car: if a door will not open when you want out, say so and use the box above.

When a driver turns hostile, some people say confront them and call the police straight away; one says calm them down, for example by offering to pay for damage. What decides it, they say, is how dangerous the driver is being. What to do step by step when a driver becomes aggressive is not covered here.

After the ride, one person says to stay alert while you walk the last part home alone. Others describe drivers or delivery workers lingering at a door, or following someone. If that happens to you: in the US, VictimConnect can talk you through your options. In the UK, the National Stalking Helpline, run by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, is on 0808 802 0300; check its opening hours on the trust’s website. In an emergency, 911 in the US or 999 in the UK.

Who this page is not for

If you drive for a living, the risks from your side of the car are real, and one person here says the job is more dangerous than police work, but this page is written for the passenger. If your problem is a taxi refusing to take you where you want to go, that is a question of local rules that differ by city, and this page does not cover it. And if a driver has already found you, or keeps contacting you, this page comes too late: what to do legally is not covered here, and the helplines above are the place to start.