After online news company Quartz reviewed Uber's car leasing solutions to Uber drivers, it was approached by Uber, claiming to have performed an internal audit of the lease situation. The final result was that Uber started to phase out subprime lease options mainly offered to immigrant drivers that came with three-year contracts and high termination fees, and also canceled its Xchange lease program.
The Xchange leasing program being closed, cost Uber a massive loss, around $9,000 per car. Last month Uber sent a message to all Xchange lease drivers to return their cars under this program and in exchange would receive a $450 visa gift card. Uber also claimed to have known about the defective overheating Honda Vezel cars being offered to their drivers in Singapore.
Uber continues to find ways to partner with local car dealers and rental companies trying to find solutions for economically deprived applicants. In one of its first steps, Uber is removing the auto-deduct feature of its mandatory lease and rental contracts since this proved to be problematic. 25% of all drivers in NY had problems with auto deduction after they had returned their vehicles and 45% had inaccurate billing. The main issue was that the drivers thought Uber dealt with the complaints while Uber thought the dealers dealt with the complaint directly, leaving the driver with no one to solve the problem.
Uber has decided to introduce a monthly dealer ranking card to track dealers and the complaints received about them from drivers. Uber will also deal with all complaints, not allowing the situation to go unchallenged and making sure dealers provide answers and solutions to all arising issues.
Uber already notified drivers that auto-deductions are canceled and will offer drivers bonuses to source e forms of automatic payments to provide proof of lease or rental capability. In one message that Uber sent to its drivers, they request that all drivers with debit cards register them to an Uber partner American lease. American Lease will then manage all payments via their append Uber is offering a $150 incentive for drivers joining the new program before November 27th, 2017.