Tribecar Partners With NTUC Income And CARRO To Launch Car Rental Starting At SGD $0.50 Per Hour The partnership will provide motor insurance calculated through a usage-based proposition, factoring in the vehicle's mileage, location and timing consumption

Singapore-based car-sharing platform Tribecar on Tuesday announced a partnership with NTUC Income and CARRO to provide next-generation smart city insurance for cars in their "Super Economy' category.

The alliance aims to provide apparent motor insurance coverage through a usage-based proposition, first piloted in Singapore where motor insurance is no longer based on a fixed cost but tied to the vehicle's smart data such as mileage, location and timing consumption.

The platform claims that with the private hire and food-delivery insurance and complies with LTA regulation, allowing commercial (driving for GrabCar/Go-jek, food delivery for FoodPanda/Deliveroo or sending delivery for Lalamove/NinjaVan) and/or leisure usages, the platform has launched its "Super Economy' hourly car-sharing rentals offer an effective way of commuting without taking public transport as Singapore moves into Phase 3.

The company further maintains that the car-sharing platform has adopted the smart city insurance programme and has now made it possible to provide car-sharing hourly rentals from as little as SGD$0.50/hour for its "Super Economy' category.

"It is very encouraging to see the growing interest in new insurance models like usage-based insurance within the motoring community, which is testimony to the value it brings to drivers – customization and convenience. Our customer-centric insurtech platform can be easily integrated into Tribecar's offerings to deliver greater flexibility, affordability, and transparency to meet the changing needs of drivers today," stated Max Tiong, digital transformation head, Income.

The joint initiative between Income and CARRO's leasing arm, CARRO Leap has developed a usage-based motor insurtech platform, combining telematics, insurance, and data analytics, designed to enable car rental firms in Singapore to mass adopt usage-based programmes effectively, said the report.

"With a usage-based model that allows them to pay insurance based only how much they drive, Tribecar's customers can now enjoy a new level of flexibility with rental cars. With Income's support in driving this transformation, we hope this partnership will help catalyze further efforts to use technology to meet the practical needs of today's drivers," shared Aaron Tan, founder and chief executive officer, CARRO.

As a business, car-sharing firms operate on a pay-as-you-go revenue model whereas usage-based insurance is an emerging trend for improved risk management. Merging the two operating models, the platform has said to have successfully reinvented itself by understanding its customer's perspectives and incorporate customer-centric products within their car-sharing platform.

"We are very pleased to roll out this program with the aid of Income and CARRO. This adoption of UBI for our cars simply means transparency, lower prices and tremendous savings for our members. We're also experimenting with new ways to deliver greater value for our members. Currently, we're in talks with authorized car distributors in Singapore to roll out "drive before you buy' schemes for members that may be keen to buy a new car," added Adrian Lee, co-founder, Tribecar.

Since its launch in 2016, Tribecar has invested over S$4 million in research and technology initiatives from its profits to accelerate product development.