Driver Score, Ratings and Acceptance Rate

Driver score is not designed to catch you out.

Less than 2% of all drivers on the platform are blocked for driver score in any given week. Around 2.68% of all lost driver score points nationally come from a low rating linked to behaviour or safety. It takes a long, repeated pattern of accepting and then cancelling trips to reach the blocking threshold. One bad trip or one bad rating will not get you blocked. If you are driving normally, this is not something you need to worry about.

Only specific actions affect your driver score. Here is exactly what those are:

1. Accepting a trip and not moving towards the pickup point — to the point that the rider gives up and cancels.
2. Cancelling before you reach the pickup — or arriving far from the actual pickup location.
3. Cancelling at the pickup without trying to contact the rider — a quick call or message first protects you from this counting against you.
4. Negotiating a different price or asking a rider to change payment method after being matched — this is not permitted once a rider is assigned to you.
5. A rider cancelling for a safety reason — such as wrong vehicle, wrong driver, or an unroadworthy car at pickup.
6. A 1 or 2 star rating specifically about behaviour or safety — not every low rating counts. Only those linked to behaviour or safety reasons.
7. A support case where you were found at fault — a Bolt agent must review and confirm this. It does not happen automatically.

Your driver rating has its own warning system. It runs independently of your driver score, based on a rolling average of your last 50 rated trips. Both a low average and at least one trip rated 1, 2, or 3 stars in your last 50 must be true before any action is taken.

• Warning — your rating drops below 4.6 stars and at least one trip in your last 50 was rated 1, 2, or 3 stars.
• Suspension — your rating drops below roughly 4.5 stars (this varies by city) with the same condition. Any suspension is capped at 14 days.
• Cooldown period — after a suspension ends, the same rating trigger cannot fire again for another 50 rated trips. This gives you time to rebuild without the pressure of another immediate block.

If you receive a warning, go to your account in the app and tap View guide. The in-app guide explains exactly what is affecting your rating and what to do about it.

Smart Accept is a feature that automatically accepts trip requests on your behalf. It is based on three settings you choose: distance, payment method, and price per kilometre. In Cape Town, Durban, and Gqeberha, the distance radius is set at a city level and cannot be adjusted by individual drivers. If Smart Accept is turned on, you may be auto-matched to trips further away than you would normally choose yourself.

• If Smart Accept accepts a trip on your behalf and you then cancel it, that counts against your driver score exactly the same as any other accepted trip you cancel.
• If you want full control over which trips you take, turn Smart Accept off in your app settings.