Carsharing in the UAE

The United Arab Emirates can be described as a typical car country. This is a country of skyscrapers and highways. There are few sidewalks here, although separate areas for tourists to walk have emerged in Dubai in recent years. As the locals say, if you want to cross the street, just get in a cab and go to the other side.

For those who work or have some connection to the UAE, it is unthinkable to exist here without a car. That is why people buy and rent cars here, because it is a real means of transportation.

Public transport is developing, despite the excellent unmanned subway, there is too little public transport or it is not convenient enough. Not because it's bad, but because it can take 1.5 hours to get from point "A" to point "B" by subway, but only 20 minutes by private car or taxi.

Car rental is quite developed in most emirates. The greatest success is in the capital - Abu Dhabi and the tourist emirates, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah.

The car rental market in the UAE includes both international brands and small companies with several cars.

Carsharing operators

The carsharing market is represented by 2 operators, namely:

  1. UDrive
  2. Ekar

Despite such a vast market, the number of operators is very small.

Geography, area of ​​use

Both operators operate in Dubai as well as in the capital, Abu Dhabi, but while Udrive initially positioned itself as a Dubai car-sharing service, Ekar is an operator from Abu Dhabi.

Cars can be used throughout the UAE, but they must be returned to the city where the rental car was received.

Parking

Companies provide free parking in designated areas.

Car fleet

The cars that are provided for carsharing are mainly made in Japan. Some companies have different fleets of vehicles in different emirates, and these fleets may also differ in the cost of services, even for the same car models.

2023-12-01