Grace Ashiru
Moove drivers have previously protested against sudden hikes in remittances.
Uber drivers operating under the Uber Go platform have been thrown into panic after reports surfaced that Moove, the company financing their Suzuki S-presso vehicles, is planning to increase their weekly remittances. The cars were issued on hire purchase with a four-year repayment limit. The current repayment plan is 56,400 naira per week, excluding the 25 percent commission deducted from fares.
According to reports, the company has been inviting the drivers in groups and breaking the news to them. Several drivers operating on the platform have confirmed this to this reporter.
One driver, who claimed to have been invited to one such meeting, said the company’s representatives explained that the company’s operating costs had increased, necessitating the need to increase the weekly rate:
“I was among those drivers that were invited to the meeting. The information is true. When the management explained how much they were spending for services and other expenses, in fact, it was worth increasing the remittance. The amount has not been communicated yet though,” the driver said.
However, a source familiar with the matter said Moove might be re-evaluating its business in the face of the prevailing economic situation. The conditions under which many of the drivers received their vehicles have changed drastically, with the company considering the possibility of suffering considerable losses at the end of the tenors.
The source further explained that the interest rates agreed with the drivers within the repayment limit have been eroded by inflation and, as such, have become unsustainable, thus the increase.
“The limit set is calculated based on interest rates. The initial interest rate is being eroded by inflation and has become unsustainable. Moove is clearly worried about losing money. Therefore, the only realistic way out of this challenge is to end the tenors of the drivers as swiftly as possible,” the source told Technext.
This reporter reached out to Moove to elaborate on the development but has yet to get a response at the time of this report.
Moove drivers continue to operate under stringent conditions.
Moove drivers with their Uber Suzuki ‘korope’ vehicles have found themselves at the lowest rung of the e-hailing ladder. Having received their vehicles under a hire purchase agreement, the drivers are forced to operate under the most stringent conditions and restrictions.
The first is a technical restriction. Moove only allows its vehicles to operate the app of its mobility app partner, Uber. This severely limits the drivers’ freedom and potential earnings, as e-hailing customers are spread across various other apps like Bolt and InDrive.
Moove also imposes a geographical restriction on its drivers, meaning they do not operate all over Lagos. They are restricted to the Island of Lagos and select parts of the Mainland.
When Technext reached out to Moove about the restrictions, the company stated that it restricts its drivers to only the Uber app to generate productivity data that would help it provide suitable financing products to them. That productivity data cannot be generated if the drivers are juggling several apps.
“In order for us to be able to provide our revenue-based financing products with no deposits upfront, we leverage productivity data from Uber to underwrite customers. This is why we require our customers to only drive on Uber,” a member of the company’s communications team told Technext.
At the time, the company also mentioned that it constantly reviews its product pricing to ensure that its customers are taking home a sustainable income. Drivers, however, insisted that their weekly fee has never been reviewed.
Moreover, the wording in Moove’s contract document suggests that the revisions will likely be upward, and the drivers will always be obliged to pay. Moove, in its contract, also reserves the power to deactivate any vehicle at any time for any reason, ranging from non-remittance of payments when due to no reason at all. If this happens, the driver automatically loses their initial deposit and equity along with the vehicle.
Moove drivers have previously protested against increases.
In February 2023, Technext monitored a protest by Moove-Uber Suzuki drivers against what they described as injustices. One of these injustices, according to the drivers, includes the sudden hike of the payment for their hire-purchase vehicles from N8 million to N12 million.
According to the protesters, even when a driver is issued a repossessed vehicle (which could be considered a used/tokunbo vehicle), they are still expected to pay the full 12 million capital. This is despite the previous user likely having paid part of the cost or possibly left some damages.
The drivers also said they are protesting the sudden hike in their daily remittance from 35 percent of gross income to a total of N14,400 per day. According to them, this is roughly 80 percent of the daily average N18,000 income of the drivers.
This is aside from personal expenses like fueling the car and data purchases, amounting to a total of N66,000 per week
