Earlier this month we got you, and ourselves, excited when we announced the news about a new pay-as-you-go car rental app that cost just 50 fils a minute. It all sounded too good to be true – cheap rates, free petrol, free parking, and when you’re done with the car, you simply park it and step out. Well, unfortunately, that has changed slightly.
Udrive, the car rental app that promised us the cheapest travel method in the UAE (Dhs0.50 per minute, and capping out at Dhs120 for a whole day), has temporarily suspended their service due to regulatory issues. However, it’s not their full service that has been halted, just their pay-per-minute offering (yep, arguably the best bit).
You key to drive the udrive car is access via a key pad
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However, in an attempt to appease disgruntled customers, udrive have tried to soften the blow by reducing the daily rental rate on their cars from Dhs120 to Dhs99.
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Refuelling a udrive car is free
A udrive spokesperson said of the matter: “We would like to inform you that at the time being, udrive can offer car-rental service on a daily basis only, the previously offered service per-minute car rental scheme is currently put on hold until certain logistical, regulatory and administrative issues are resolved. We are sorry for any inconvenience this might have caused. For customers who have registered with us, we will be refunding your membership fees should you wish.”
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The current udrive fleet consists of 50 Toyota Yaris models, with the aim of expanding it to 200 within the next few weeks. However, with the recent restrictions on udrive’s pay-per-minute scheme, we’re unsure as to whether they’ll be going ahead with such rapid expansion.
While the daily rental rate of Dhs99 is incredibly affordable it still doesn’t beat their original pay-per-minute offering, which was so cheap that a trip from JLT to Mall of the Emirates would’ve cost just Dhs8.
We will keep you posted with more updates as they happen.
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