Once you have an approved vehicle, you can bid on any published trip. Each bid is a real price you are committing to, so it is worth understanding what you are entering before you send one.
You get one bid per trip. There is no second attempt alongside the first, so think about the number before you send it.
What you enter
Your price. The full amount, in rupees, for the whole trip as described. Not a deposit and not a daily rate.
An extra kilometre rate. Optional, and explained below.
With driver or self drive. Match what the traveller asked for.
A message. Up to 1,000 characters, optional, and the most underused field on the page. More on this below too.
The extra kilometre rate
When a traveller posts a trip, a distance is calculated from their itinerary. Your extra kilometre rate applies only to distance beyond that.
If the trip runs as planned, you never charge it. If they add a detour on the day, or the route is longer than the itinerary suggested, it covers you.
Leave it empty and you have agreed to your price no matter how far the journey actually runs. That is fine on a short airport transfer. On a seven day tour around the island, it is a real risk you are absorbing.
Set it honestly. Travellers can see it, and a modest rate reads as a professional who has thought about the trip. A high one reads as a low price with a catch in it, and they will pick someone else.
Write the message
Travellers cannot message you before they accept your bid. Messaging opens only after they have chosen.
So your message is the only thing you get to say to them. When someone is comparing your price against three others, it is doing the work a conversation would do anywhere else.
Worth including:
- That you have read their itinerary, ideally by mentioning something in it
- What your price covers, especially fuel and tolls
- How you handle a late flight, if it is an airport pickup
- Anything about the vehicle that does not show in the photos
An owner who writes two useful sentences about the actual trip wins bookings against a cheaper offer with nothing attached to it.
Why a bid gets blocked
There are five reasons the system will not accept your bid.
1. The trip is no longer open
It has been confirmed with another owner, cancelled, or the travel date has passed. Trips close automatically on their start date.
2. Your vehicle is not approved yet
Only approved vehicles can bid. If yours is still pending, wait for the decision. If it was rejected, fix the reason and resubmit it. See how to add a vehicle and get approved.
3. The vehicle type does not match
If the traveller asked for a specific type, only that type can bid. A traveller who left the type open can receive bids from anything suitable, which is why open trips are usually worth bidding on.
4. You have already bid on this trip
One bid per owner per trip. If you want to change your offer, update the bid you already placed rather than trying to add another.
5. The vehicle is booked over those dates
If that vehicle already has a confirmed trip overlapping these dates, the bid is blocked and the message names the conflicting trip.
This is deliberate. It stops you being double booked and having to let a traveller down, which is the one thing that damages an owner’s standing fastest. If you have a second vehicle free over those dates, bid with that one instead.
Changing or withdrawing a bid
While your bid is still pending, you can update it or withdraw it.
Once it has been accepted or declined, it is fixed. A traveller who declines your bid cannot undo that, so a withdrawn bid is genuinely gone rather than parked.
What happens when you win
The traveller accepts your bid and:
- You are notified immediately, and the trip details are emailed to you.
- Every other bid on that trip is declined automatically.
- The trip becomes confirmed.
- Messaging opens between you and the traveller.
Use that message thread early. Confirm the pickup point, the time, and how payment is being handled before the day itself.
Getting paid
Let’s Ride does not handle money. The traveller pays you directly, the amount you both agreed, and we take nothing from it.
That also means we are not holding a deposit for you, so agree the arrangement in the message thread rather than assuming. Settling it in writing before the trip saves an awkward conversation at the end of one.
Still stuck?
If a bid is refused and the reason is not clear, contact support and a person will look at it.