Uber Unveils Car Rental Service in UK

Uber launched a car rental service in the UK which allowing people to book and hire a car through the firm's app. Uber explained that users will be able to book vehicles right up to the time of pick-up before picking it up from a CarTrawler location.

Also, it confirmed its new system would follow other car rental companies across the industry in regularly deep-cleaning all cars and implementing strong social distancing protocols.

According to Jamie Heywood the Uber regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe explained that travel restrictions are easing and people are venturing out more, they want to help get the country moving safely again.

On other hand, whether it’s public transport, bike and car rentals, car rides or even a boat, users can now make almost any journey on the app, pushing us further towards our goal of ending the need for private car ownership.

Later, it is expanding its transportation of goods services in the Middle East and North Africa. It has launched an on-demand delivery service called ‘Uber Connect’ in Egypt.

The new service has been launched after its successful introduction in 25 cities across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Mexico.

Egypt is the first market in the region for Uber to launch Connect to support locals as the country coexists with the coronavirus outbreak.

There are two services that Connect is offering to customers in Egypt through Uber’s main app, the first is a door-to-door delivery service that enables users to send and receive packages to/from family and friends, and the second allows them to request couriers to pick-up/purchase items on their behalf from nearby stores including groceries, laundry, or anything else.

The items requested for purchase should not exceed EGP 500 ($31) according to Uber’s website. As for the packages being sent to friends and family, the total value should not exceed EGP 1,000 ($63).

Uber is offering the service through its scooter partners. The delivery orders have a limit of a maximum of 10 items (per order), in which it has to weight under 10 kgs.

According to information available on the app, Connect’s base fare in Cairo EGP 4. the users will be charged EGP 2.15/kilometer and EGP 0.25/minute, for every delivery.

Egypt got several other companies offering similar services such as Uber’s Middle Eastern subsidiary Careem, and Saudi’s Mrsool. The country had another popular ‘deliver anything’ services, “Glovo“, but it exited the country earlier this year.