RIDE share provider Splend has taken its business one step further and is now offering its Rent-To-Own scheme that allows Uber operators to work towards car ownership.

The Australian start up that has 900 Uber drivers on board and is now eyeing New Zealand, said its Rent-To-Own scheme gives members similar flexibility as renting but with the added benefit of working towards ownership of the vehicle. It is targeted at drivers choosing to upgrade from Splend’s original rental service.

“It’s for those Uber drivers who have enjoyed the idea of casual renting of a car for their small business and now want to graduate into a full-time career with Uber,” said Splend founder Chris King.

“The original rental product is the first to the market. If you wanted to become an Uber driver and don’t have a car, then the rental product is for you. So Rent-To-Own is for those who have done the rental and now want to move on with car ownership.”

Rent-To-Own was launched in August and Mr King said take up was in line with predictions, though he won’t discuss numbers.

It follows Splend Rental’s debut in February and has a similar concept of allowing prospective drivers to own their business without taking a loan out with a bank.

The company dovetails with Uber, providing drivers with a vehicle to rent while working for the ride-share business.

Mr King said Splend was Uber’s preferred vehicle solution provider in Australia but there was no financial tie-up between the businesses.

“Our vehicles do an average of five per cent of all Uber’s national business,” he said.

“That’s the scale that we’re at. That’s an average so in Sydney it’s closer to eight per cent, and in other places it’s a bit under five per cent.

“That’s one in every 20 trips. That’s five per cent of trips that otherwise could not have been possible because people could not have access to the cars. It’s a great boost to Splend.”

He said that Rent-To-Own was a different type of product to the original rental business.

“It attracts people who see the opportunities of a career in being a full-time ride-share operator,” Mr King said.

“Members are required to have been a ride-share driver for at least a couple of months and done at least 200 to 300 trips. There’s a criteria here and you have to be committed.”

Entry to Rent-To-Own starts at $279 a week for a fully-maintained – including maintenance and insurance – Hyundai i30. Larger vehicles have a more expensive weekly rate.

“People pay only this sum,” Mr King said.

“It’s a fully maintained product sort of like a novated lease as well, but it is fully flexible so you’re not contracted for the period.

“If you want to walk away, you can cancel the contract. You get the car – it’s your car – and through the journey Splend completely maintains it.

“The big difference between a novated lease and our product is that ours is geared up specifically for professional drivers.

“So a professional small-business operator does 40,000-50,000km a year, and there’s a lot of consumables that are there – servicing, maintenance and insurance – so we have bundled all those things offering a fully-maintained fleet product in a format that won’t put someone into debt.

“We also pause payments for annual leave allowing the operator to have holidays and not have any repayments.”

“It’s an ownership program so if they do excess kilometres over what we estimate then that means the car can be paid off quicker. That’s obviously quite attractive for drivers who want to own the car sooner.”

Like the rental side of Splend, the company sources cars for its participants from AHG dealers.

But now that financing is involved, Mr King said he has established a panel of companies including McMillan Shakespeare, Custom Fleet, Fleet Partners and Toyota Finance.

“We have just added a Toyota Camry Hybrid to our vehicle range because it is sought after by people coming from taxis and chauffeur drives,” he said.

 

Though there is a lot of interest in the hybrid, Mr King said the SUVs are the most popular and represent 80-90 per cent of Splend’s fleet.

The most popular SUV is the Kia Sportage that Mr King said has proven to be very reliable and solid.

So successful has the company been that it is expected to hit $20 million in revenue this financial year.

Part of its success has been through expansion. After establishing the brand in the mainland states, Mr King said it is also looking to New Zealand.

“We have a lot of ground work while we grow and it’s very busy at the moment but we are targeting the March quarter next year to get into New Zealand,” he said.

“Uber are pushing to get over there. It is an interesting market because taxis are deregulated so there’s no plate value but they are expensive to hire – even more than Sydney.

“They don’t have the same argument as taxi plate owners in Australia have because the government over there hasn’t sold them plates.

“Unlike Australia, the New Zealand taxi drivers don’t really have a conflict with Uber. It’s just pure competition.”

Mr King said Splend had “explored North America but at this stage we are firmly focused on Australia and New Zealand”.

“There’s still a lot of growth and we have a lot of traction here.”

By Neil Dowling