Uber has forged a strategic alliance with Fair to offer a new programme for customers.
Since January, Uber has partnered in California with flexible car-leasing startup Fair to supply vehicles to drivers for a US$185 refundable security deposit. Drivers can then earn that much in credits from Uber if they complete 70 trips a week, which can effectively offset payments owed to Fair. Uber agreed to sell its subprime-lending unit to Fair in January 2018, which gave the startup access to a pool of drivers that now make up roughly half of the company’s more than 30,000 active users. Initially conceived as a way to help new drivers get started, Uber’s unit formerly known as Xchange Leasing racked up losses and drew criticism for saddling drivers with financial commitments they struggled to meet.