Can You Lease a Car to Drive for Uber
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Uber Drivers Without Credit Can Now Lease Used Cars For $0 Down And $185 A Week
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A zero-down lease with no credit? Yes, if you're an Uber driver in select markets willing to pay $185 a week to used car leasing app Fair. The first week is free -- sort of. Drivers' credit cards will still be charged a $185 deposit for that first week, before payments begin posting the following week. But the deposit is fully refundable.
The weekly lease, which totals $740 per month, is all-inclusive. It covers unlimited mileage, insurance, a limited warranty and roadside assistance. Routine maintenance is fully reimbursed, minus taxes.
Sweetening the deal is the possibility of reimbursement. For a limited time, California drivers who complete 70 Uber trips a week will receive $185 from Uber, which they can apply to a Fair lease. For 120 trips a week, the amount swells to $305.
It could be an effective lure to pull drivers from Lyft's Express Drive rental program, which has its own tiers for reimbursement.
Those switching from Express Drive are rewarded with a one-time $500 bonus from Fair after driving 70 rides in the first two weeks, but it's not cash and it can't be applied to the deposit or first week's rental fee. It's a credit in a driver's Fair account or "wallet" to be applied to future lease payments. It's a limited time offer. Neither Fair nor Uber has announced the sunset date.
In another partnership to help Uber drivers without their own cars to drive consistent shifts, the company piloted $5 Getaround rentals in select cities last December.
Santa Monica, California-based Fair launched in August 2017 as a consumer concept, an option for commitment-wary millennials to get personal vehicles for a particular season of their lives and for dealers to move inventory while cutting down on sales staff payroll budget and paperwork processing costs. Would-be lessees complete an application with a driver license scan and banking and income information, all in their smartphones. After the app sorts out a realistic transportation budget, a car shopper swipes around for vehicles at or under a determined payment. The lease is packaged in the app and the new Fair customer picks up the vehicle at a partner dealer with a final signature.
The company's founders include BMW and Tesla finance alum Georg Bauer and TrueCar founder Scott Painter. They've gathered $1.5 billion, most notably $385 million in a SoftBank-led B Round last December and a $50 million loan from Silicon Valley Bank in January. That debt financed the acquisition of more vehicles to meet growing demand.
Fair and Uber first partnered in January of 2018, announcing forthcoming unique rental terms for Uber drivers at the same time that Fair acquired Uber's Xchange leasing portfolio.
Update from Fair:
The original version of this article stated that Fair applicants for the core product, which is a no-commitment open-ended lease to individual consumers originated via smartphone application, are not subject to credit approval. At launch, the company used a machine learning-enabled financial assessment and soft pull. Applicants should now expect an inquiry. The product is similar to a standard dealer lease, minus the fixed term and residual, while the Uber product, with its credit card billing, unlimited mileage, and included insurance, is closer to a multi-week rental from a standard rental company.
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Can You Lease a Car to Drive for Uber
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/juliewalmsley/2019/05/29/uber-drivers-without-credit-can-now-lease-used-cars-for-0-down-and-185-a-week/
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