Ola, Uber drivers logon to Olx to sell their cabs as incentives dry up

Thousands of financially distressed cab drivers in India registered with taxi aggregators Ola and Uber are listing their vehicles online for sale as trip incentives by companies dry up.

Cab owners from Gurgaon to Kolkata, Navi Mumbai to Hyderabad have listed cars with commercial licenses, with prices ranging from as low as Rs 50,000 to about Rs 8.5 lakh for sale, depending on the condition and age of cars.

“Gud condition recently changed clutch assembly EMI continue 22 months pending 12,350 per month,” says a listing by a Bangalore based cab owner on Olx.

A quick search for “Ola” or “Uber” throws up plenty of listings on the popular listing portal Olx.

Unable to make ends meet with the tightening of Ola and Uber’s incentive structure, drivers and taxi operators are looking to sell these cars, and recover whatever money that they can.

Many white collar professionals who had used this as an investment route to earn a side income by financing cars and attaching them with Ola and Uber are also feeling the heat.

"My cab's owner is unhappy as his income has fallen. I have not taken a salary cut but have to work all 30 days now to make up for the decline," says Dharm, a Delhi-based driver whose cab is attached with Uber.

A Bengaluru-based owner of a fleet of six cars, all of which are attached to one of the two cab hailing companies said that some of the drivers he hired for the purpose have quit.

"They are not happy. The kind of money that attracted them to this business is no longer there," he said, requesting not to be named.

"Getting a driver for Uber, Ola has become a bit difficult now. If that continues, I will have to pull back to offline," he added.

Drivers in other cities are also feeling the pain.

“It is no longer sustainable,” Thirupati, an Uber driver in Mumbai told Moneycontrol.

“The incentives were great in the beginning, but now if I make Rs 100, I have to give them (Uber) Rs 25, the maintenance, upkeep, servicing and fuel cost of the car is separate. We used to lease cabs to two three drivers in the good days, but now it just doesn’t make sense for us so we are selling our vehicles,” he said.

Multiple cab owners hardest hit

A large part of the cab fleet under Uber and Ola is sourced from the erstwhile local taxi operators, who now directly recruit one or more drivers or offer them a cab on a lease, to attach it to the on-demand cab hailing companies.

These fleet owners typically charge a commission or a fixed fee from each driver.

Additionally, there are a number of independent drivers also under Uber and Ola, who have bought a car of their own with a commercial licence to cash in on the earning opportunity created by both the companies.

In an email response to the question sent by Moneycontrol, Uber said that the listings on OLX were a minuscule part of their fleet in India.

“We currently have 2,45,000 active driver partners (who would have taken at least one ride in a week) and are seeing new sign ups every day. We are not seeing any significant churn,” said an Uber spokesperson.

An Ola source agrees that with 'rationalization' of incentives between the two competitors, earnings have come down for drivers.

"It is unlikely that drivers who ran their own vehicles on our platform would be selling off. Instead, they are either driver association heads or even individuals who were plying multiple vehicles and were then paying salaries to the drivers. Initially, they must be making a good amount of money. But with a rationalisation that has now come down," said a senior Ola executive on the condition of anonymity.

However, Moneycontrol also came across cases of individual drivers who have put up their commercial licensed vehicles for sale.

For instance, 41-year-old Krishna in Bengaluru has also put up his Indica car up for sale, as his commissions and incentives gradually dwindled.

Krishna bought his car on EMI two years ago and attached it to both Uber and Ola.

Ola did not respond to an email seeking comment at the time of publishing.

Falling incentives continue to haunt drivers

Declining incentives and lower earnings have been major issues for drivers affiliated with the cab aggregators since the past few months.

Early this year, several drivers with Uber and Ola went on an infinite strike to protest against the steep fall in their earnings.

"The incentives initially were very good. I managed to make at least Rs 70,000-80,000 per month. Now I get only about Rs 40,000. It is difficult to manage EMIs, household costs and education of children," said Krishna.

He heard a few of his colleagues consider selling their cars online, so he listed his car on OLX, hoping to get rid of monthly instalments and other maintenance costs.

OLX did not respond to Moneycontrol’s query on the rise in the number of such listings in the past 12 months in the major Indian cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

According to a report released by research and advisory firm RedSeer Consulting, the cab hailing platforms are struggling with a demand and supply mismatch.

The report states that the number of registered cabs registered a decline of 20 percent between January and March, as the driver incentives fell by almost 40 percent.

Uber said that “barring a few isolated incidents,” it hasn’t heard from drivers registered on its platform about issues they may be facing with vehicle maintenance costs.

Asked about whether Uber helps its drivers for vehicle upkeep, fuel and so on, the spokesperson said: “Given the strong demand from riders, we are seeing sustainable earning opportunities for driver partners and are committed to supporting them. Our idea is to ensure we help driver partners improve their organic earnings as we move forward in our journey from being a startup to a sustainable business."

The spokesperson also said that Uber works with lenders as well to find terms most attractive for driver partners.