Where To Rent A PCO Car For Uber

If you are one of the lucky few that own their own car that meets the long list of criteria set by TFL to be a suitable Private Hire Vehicle, then this article won’t be of much use to you. For the rest of us though, entering the gig without a car, it can be an expensive and stressful time trying to figure out what the best move is.

There is an argument of should you rent or should you buy to drive for companies like Uber, and in my case, buying wasn’t an option. I was already tied into financial commitments that meant, getting a loan for a car wasn’t on the table, so from the onset, I was solely focused on renting.

When I’m entering a new arena or faced with a big decision, I tend to obsess over it, to fully understand what the best path to take is, and so I went down the google rabbit hole of researching all my options when it came to renting a PCO ready car.

What surprised me was how many companies where out there, ranging from the big players like Otto car and Splend to the local guy on Gumtree.

Generally they all work on the same basis of a large deposit and a week up front and a minimum contract that keeps you tied in for at least 6 weeks.

None of these PCO car rental companies where ticking the boxes for me as I didn’t want the outlay of a large deposit and I also didn’t want to be tied into any type of contract. No matter how confident I felt coming into the Private Hire Game, I was still only doing this part time and even with the best intentions, I still didn’t know if it was going to work for me..

For these reasons I decided to rent a PCO ready car with Drover.

Drover burst on the scene over 3 years as a car subscription service and have now expanded there offering to PCO rentals as well. Drover doesn’t actually own any cars but provide the marketplace through which other companies can offer their cars on a subscription basis.

Why Did I Chose Drover to Rent a PCO Ready Car?

No Deposit

What attracted me to join drover was the fact that you didn’t have to pay a deposit which was on average about £500 with all the other companies. With drover you pay a one off joining fee of £129 on your first booking which you never have to pay again. The joining fee can also be split into 2 payments if you sign up for anything more than 2 weeks.

The good news is that if you sign up to drover with the Appdriver Referral Code -EVAN999 you will receive £50 off your first booking which brings down the initial subscription fee to only £79.

Not having the initial outlay of a few hundred pounds before I started earning and before I knew that it was going to work out was a huge plus.

No Contract (Updated July 2019)

Most of the companies I researched required a minimum of 6-8 week contracts which again as a new driver wasn’t what I wanted.

With Drover, you have the option of a weekly rolling subscription or a commit and save subscription.

With the weekly rolling subscription you can hand the car back the next week, which is a great option if for some reason you decide to stop driving or if you decide to change the car for something else.

With the commit and save subscription you can choose anything from a 4 to 52 week contract. Generally the longer the subscription the lower the price, but there are still many cars which cost the same regardless of which subscription you choose.

*Drover has since changed the minimum subscription term to 4 weeks which is still better than most. A couple of weeks before your subscription is due to end, they send you multiple emails and texts to remind you and give you the opportunity to confirm the end of the subscription or to extended it with additional discounts as an incentive to commit to a longer term. The whole process is done with a few clicks of a button and is very convenient and hassle free.*

Price

If like me, you are looking for a really well priced car to get you started then drover has got you covered. They have new cars coming on daily and you can catch a real bargain. You can easily pick up a decent Toyota Prius for £185 which is less than what you would pay with most of the other PCO rental companies.

When looking for a car, I recommend sorting price from low to high to get straight to the cars that are within your price range.

Location

Because of my full time job and other family commitments I only had one day a week in which I could pick up a car, so it had to be as local to me as possible.

The great thing about drover is that it shows you the postcode of the car your looking at so you can immediately eliminate it, if it is too far away. When you select the car it even shows you a google maps image which shows you the exact pick up location of the car.

More Benefits Of Renting A PCO Rental Car With Drover

Like all PCO rental agreements, your weekly payment includes insurance and maintenance of the car, meaning that all your costs are fixed and you wont be left with any hefty repair bills associated with owning your own car.

A few more things that separate Drover form the competition though is the fact that they act as a middleman which gives you the security if you ever find your self in dispute about your rental. I have heard stories of smaller firms refusing to give back deposits for issues that shouldn’t be in question, but with Drover you are safe in the knowledge that you will not be taken advantage off as they will always act in your best interest.

In the unfortunate event of an accident which was your fault, Drovers insurance excess is £500 which is also half of one of the other well known companies out there which is £1000.

Another positive is the 150 mile daily mileage allowance which is 50 more miles more than another company I was considering. As a private hire driver you want the ability to drive as much as you want to without the constraint of a low daily mile limit.

If your looking to enter the Private Hire game to drive for companies like Uber, and want to get started in the cheapest way possible with the least commitment and hassle, then there’s no better place to get you on the road the Drover.

Don’t forget to take advantage of the Appdriver Referral Code EVAN999 to receive £50 of your first booking. If your having trouble getting the code accepted online, send me a quick email so I can get it authorised for you.