How To Get Lost Items Back From Uber (And How Much It'll Cost)

Though the company has come under a lot of scrutiny, much of it deserved, Uber has completely transformed the taxicab and livery cab industry. Flat-rate black car services existed and continue to exist outside of the app ecosystem, especially in large metropolitan areas. Still, they require phoning a specific car service and paying the driver in cash. In an increasingly cashless and app-driven society, something like Uber made a lot of sense as an idea for a startup. Uber's specific implementation and clashes with regulatory hurdles aside, the company nevertheless found a void that needed filling in a way that provided a better customer experience.

One pleasant side effect to that? If you accidentally leave something in an Uber, the inherent design of how the service works makes it a lot easier to track down the car and driver to retrieve the item than it would be if you left it in a traditional cab. All of the relevant details are laid out clearly to both the rider and Uber, and because it's such a common problem, Uber has a clear policy in effect for alerting the driver about lost belongings and going through the process of retrieving them. However, if you lost something, that's your fault, and the driver returning the item is time not spent catching fares, so there's a fee charged for the lost and found service. With all of this in mind, let's in into the nuts of bolts of how getting your possessions back works and what you have to pay for it.

To report a lost item, you can either log into your account on Uber's lost item page or navigate to the relevant section of the mobile app. To use the app, open it and then:

1. Tap "Activity" at the bottom of the screen.
2. Tap the correct ride.
3. Scroll down to "Find lost item" and tap that.
4. That will pull up a support chatbot that will give you the options of contacting the driver, telling Uber you've been unable to contact the driver, or, if necessary, "Something else."
5. Follow the prompts, by entering your best callback number (the driver won't see it) and agreeing to the $20 item return fee, until you've contacted the driver.

On the web page:

1. Go to the Uber help page for lost items.
2. Log into your account.
3. Click the correct ride.
4. Enter your best callback number and agree to the $20 fee to set up the call with the driver.

Once you've contacted the driver, confirm that they've found your missing item and figure out a mutually agreeable time to have them drop it off. If you get voicemail, Uber warns that if you decide to leave your number, you're giving the driver something they wouldn't normally have. In addition, if someone else ordered the trip for you, they should make the request so as to get to the right driver quicker. All of this also comes with Uber's disclaimer that officially, they and the driver are no longer responsible for anything you leave in the car after the trip ends.