GrabCar: Offering Hassle-Free Private Car Rides

Clients of GrabTaxi are already familiar with the convenience of booking a ride without having to fall in line at long taxi queues during rush hours. Now, this Southeast Asian taxi-booking mobile app has launched a brand new service to provide a new option for passengers.

GrabCar, which is now available on the existing mobile app, provides an authorized on-demand private driver for anyone without the hassles of owning a private car. It expands the benefits of Grab Taxi to a new network of drivers by offering private car drivers the opportunity to build on their income by giving them a much wider user-base and an efficient driver-to-passenger matching.

During the media launch held in Vyne at The Fort, co-founder of GrabTaxi Anthony Tan said what ensured GrabTaxi's success in the Philippines has been its ability to adapt and evolve to meet their users' needs. "That's why we are introducing GrabCar; we see that there is an opportunity to fill a gap in the industry without taking away business from our core user-base of taxis," he explained. "Grab Car will give our passengers that upmarket personalized experience while ensuring a fun and authentic ride."

GrabTaxi co-founders Brian Cu and Anthony Tan with Natasha Bautista

Natasha Bautista, Marketing Vice President and Assistant General Manager of GrabTaxi Philippines described how GrabCar will complement the public taxi industry by providing an affordable alternative supply to meet this demand. She and her fellow executives gave assurance that GrabCar will provide passengers the option to select a private car if they require one and a higher change to make a successful booking during peak hours.

"GrabCar not only gives consumers more options. It will also be positive for taxi drivers in the GrabTaxi network. This will increase the volume of cars available to passengers and build consumer confidence and loyalty in GrabTaxi, eventually leading to more people using the GrabTaxi platform and more rides for taxi drivers."

Safety, convenience, and speed. Those are the promises of GrabCar to its clients. Another good news is, you might just be surprised that the vehicle to fetch you is a Mini Cooper! After the media launch, I tried the app for myself to book a ride to my place in Alabang and a Toyota Fortuner arrived to take me home :) 

Unlike in GrabTaxi where the ride is metered, GrabCar shows you the fixed amount you have to pay outright. Thus, no more guessing how much you're going to end up paying. The advantage is, in case you encounter really heavy traffic (which I did because of the sudden rain!), you don't have to worry anymore about your bill shooting up. 

To use GrabCar, just select the GrabCar option on the GrabTaxi app. This will help narrow down the search to GrabCar vehicles for an affordable chauffeured trip.