Uber and car finance company WesBank have announced a new R200 million collaboration, whereby the finance company will make cars available to Uber drivers on a car-rental basis. After three years Uberdrivers can buy the vehicles minus depreciation. FirstRand’s Vumela Enterprise Development Fund is also linked to the deal.
Drivers must have been with Uber for at least three months to be eligible for the car maintenance lease program. The driver’s income as well as quality record will be taken into account in the granting of the car-rental leases. The car rental program provides the opportunity for 15ooo Uber drivers to provide the internet sharing driving service in our country over the next two years, by making vehicles available to them. To date an obstacle for Uber drivers has been obtaining finance for their vehicles.
Uber will deduct payments from the Uber drivers’ income for the car rental, and the Vumela fund will act as security if the drivers cannot repay the monies owed. Ownership of the vehicles remains with Wesbank over the three year period,
‘The (Uber) technology is really about empowering these entrepreneurs. But there was always a piece missing. It wasn’t always easy for Uber drivers to get finance‘, said Alon Lits, the regional GM for Uber in sub-Saharan Africa. ‘While it’s not ownership, they get all the benefits of ownership. It gives them something to aim towards’, he added.
Chris de Kock, the CEO of WesBank, said that locals have ‘challenging credit records as out of every 100 applications for financing, 60 are declined‘.
Uber drivers are not the only ones to benefit from the car rental program – Hertz, Europcar, Pace, and Fleet Data Technologies drivers will also be able to rent vehicles at improved rates as part of the same scheme.
Source: Fin24, Uber media release.
Chris von Ulmenstein, WhaleTales Blog: www.whalecottage.com/blog Tel 082 55 11 323 Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here