Now, an app to find a driver for your car

Have a car and tired of driving in the City? Now, you can hire a ‘verified and trusted’ private chauffeur for Rs 99 per hour on the mobile application DriveU.

Ashok Shastry, Chief Operating Officer at DriveU, says that the service is currently available only in Bengaluru and Chennai and plans to expand it gradually.

 “Anyone with a car is able to book a professional driver from the smartphone. An uniformed driver with a paper floor mat and a special seat cover comes to your place.

These chauffeurs are chosen only after training and police verification of their background,” he adds. The charge is calculated only on per hour basis. If it is a one-way drive, the driver should be paid an additional Rs 50, apart from hourly charges and it is Rs 250, if it is in the night (9 pm to 7 am) as the driver has to come back to the first location.

There will be a discount of Rs 50 after four hours, he said and added that there are 100 private drivers in Bengaluru and 50 in Chennai.

Mixed feedback
DriveU, a mobile app-based start-up, has received mixed feedback in the Google Play Store. Krishna D, a customer, says that the driver demanded Rs 350, while the bill was only Rs 99. Nitesh Gupta felt the app was not reliable.

“I made a booking on Friday for a cab on Saturday. I just received a sorry message when I was actually waiting for the driver. (I) would not recommend as this seems to be more like a trial phase and if your drivers are busy, don’t tell us at the last minute,” he complains on the app downloading platform. Tushar Kapila had to bear with an unprofessional driver. However, for Nishad Musthafa, it was a pretty awesome experience.

“Needed someone to drive us from Bengaluru to Mysuru and back. A driver was available at a very short notice of two hours,” he says.