When I tried GrabCar Economy, I desperately wanted to love it. I support competition because it is supposed to increase service standards and bring prices down. Having an additional player in Singapore’s private transport sector also gives drivers both an extra safety net and source of income.
That’s how it is supposed to work in theory, in practice, my experience was quite different.
What is GrabCar Economy?
GrabCar Economy is a direct competitor to Uber X. Like Uber X, it provides private hire vehicles that are akin to chauffeur and limousine services. But these are not taxis, so they are not allowed to take flag down passengers or use taxi bays for pick-up/drop-off.
So please be considerate and understanding when boarding or alighting your GrabCar or Uber X vehicle.
Bookings are done entirely through the GrabTaxi app, which is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Pricing
Grab Car Economy’s unique selling proposition is that it offers a fixed point-to-point price when you book a car. This completely eliminates any sticker shock. So if the GrabCar Economy quotes you $10 for the ride, you only pay $10, regardless of how long the ride takes.
This gives drivers a huge incentive to get you to your destination as quickly as possible. It doesn’t matter if the ride takes ten minutes or one hour; the passenger only pays the pre-determined and agreed upon amount.
So how is the price determined? At the time of publication, this is how GrabCar Economy’s pricing works:
“Point to point bookings
Base Fare S$3 + S$0.70 Per KM + Surcharge (if applicable)
Surcharges are dependent on time, location and demand
Advance booking fee (at least 1 hour before): S$5
Additional stops are chargeable at S$5 per stop if the additional distance travelled is less than 5 km. For distances equal to 5km and above, passengers will have to create a new booking. Maximum number of additional stops is 3.
Additional waiting time: S$5 per 10 mins
Fixed fare not inclusive of ERP charges
Hourly bookings
$35 per hour for a minimum hire of 2 hours”
It should be noted that unlike Uber X, there is no cancellation fee whatsoever. GrabCar Economy also charges $5 for additional stops, so it could be more expensive than Uber X for those who like to use private hire vehicles to run a series of errands.
Real-world price comparison
As per my comparative research on taxis and Uber X, I used the same experiment parameters for GrabCar Economy. Every day after work, at approximately 5.30-6pm, I took Grab Car Economy from my office in Nanyang Polytechnic to my home in Hougang Avenue 1.
Here’s how the costs stack-up.
Grab Car Economy (average cost based on 4 trips, not that it matters since the price is fixed.)
$13.00
UberTaxi (average cost based on 6 trips):
$15.28
UberX (average cost based on 6 trips)
$13.15
On paper, GrabCar Economy is marginally cheaper than Uber X, but the $0.15 is negligible especially when you consider the less-than-stellar experience I had with GrabCar Economy.
Beyond The Price – A less than Uber Experience
What does the $0.15 discount get me? Honestly, a whole lot of trouble.
I had a great deal of difficulty booking GrabCar Economy. In order to write this review, I tried to take GrabCar Economy every day during the period of 23 April -8 May. But out of the 8 times I tried to book GrabCar Economy, I only succeeded 4 times. That’s a 50% success rate. I was hoping to take at least 6 rides to bring my experience up to parity with Uber X and UberTaxi, but the lack of availability made it impossible.
And whenever GrabCar Economy failed, I had to fall back on Uber X, which never failed to find me a car within ten minutes.
Ouch.
To be fair, I found it much easier to book GrabCar Economy as time went by, and as the service matures, I am confident that there will be more availability.
My other issue with GrabCar Economy was the quality of service, which is incredibly ironic because a lot of the GrabCar Economy drivers are also Uber X drivers.
Unlike Uber X, GrabCar Economy also accepts cash payment. But this can prove to be confusing to both drivers and passengers. Once, I completed an otherwise pleasant journey, and was about to jump into the shower when the doorbell rang.
I panicked slightly as I thought my expected guest had arrived 40 minutes early, and I scrambled to get dressed. But when I answered the door, I was surprised to see my GrabCar Economy driver standing there – he was uncertain if I should have paid him in cash for the ride.
I told him that when I booked the car, I chose to pay via credit card and showed him my phone.
That was the first time in my entire life that a driver rang my doorbell to inquire about payment. He was friendly and polite, but GrabTaxi really needs to train and educate its drivers better.
I had another unpleasant experience when I used GrabCar Economy to go out for lunch with my colleagues. The car arrived earlier than I expected, so I messaged the driver to apologise and inform him that we will be down in a few minutes. Five minutes after the driver arrived, we entered his car and he showed me the blackest face I’ve seen since Rui En.
I found him to be a bit rude too.
I’ve taken over 80 Uber X journeys to date, and I try to be as nice and polite as possible. I typically give 5 stars to all my drivers, and the lowest I ever rated an Uber X driver was 3 stars for speeding and jerky driving.
I gave this GrabCar Economy Driver 2 stars – the lowest I’ve ever given to a driver.
I find it somewhat alarming that in the short time I’ve had with the service, I’ve gotten a GrabCar Economy experience that is worse than Uber X, despite the 80 Uber X rides I have taken.
I readily admit I was wrong in incorrectly estimating the time of the car’s arrival, but considering my SMS notification-cum-apology and the mere waiting time of 5 minutes, I found the reaction to be totally uncalled for.
In the rare occasions that Uber X drivers had to wait for me, I’ve never received anything remotely resembling this reaction.
GrabCar Economy Vs Uber X
On the surface, both GrabCar Economy and Uber X seem similar. Both apps allow the booking of private hire vehicles that serve as competitively-price alternatives to taxis. They even appear to use the same drivers.
But there is where the similarities end.
GrabCar Economy’s fixed, up-front pricing completely eliminates the sticker-shock of Uber X’s infamous Surge multiplier. But what happens when you need to change the location? How would payment work in that scenario?
Despite the flexibility, giving riders the option of paying via credit card or cash also increases the possibility of confusion. What happens if a rider chooses to pay via credit card, but absent-mindedly pays by cash? What happens if a driver receives a booking via cash payment and forgets to receive payment, having mistaken it for a credit card payment?
And when you factor in the potential for accidental double billing when using the much-appreciated promotional discounts, things become even more complicated.
As mentioned, I also experienced greater difficulty in booking a vehicle using GrabCar Economy and when I finally suceeded, the overall experience was worse than Uber X.
I think Uber takes driving ratings very seriously, going as far as to cull drivers with low ratings. Whatever the case, I’ve enjoyed a friendlier, higher quality of service with Uber X.
In comparison, GrabTaxi’s rating system seems to be optional. The app is also buggy. It has asked me to rate my driver several times before I even started my journey.
Also, the GrabTaxi app does not appear to provide GPS directions to the driver. I’ve had a few drivers fumble to input my address into Google Maps before we could embark on the journey. Not exactly a seamless experience.
I also appreciate Uber’s web interface, which gives me a full history of all my rides. This is very useful for accounting and calculating my costs. GrabCar Economy does not have any web interface. Everything needs to be done in-app.
So which is better?
Once I have exhausted all my GrabCar Economy promo codes, I intend to return to Uber X. Whereas Uber X offers a tightly-controlled, heavily-curated user experience, I’ve found GrabCar Economy to be inconsistent.
My chief concerns are availability, and quality of service.
I love competition and I am rooting for GrabCar Economy. I will gladly give GrabTaxi my business if and when it manages to address the issues I’ve faced. But for now, Uber X gets my money.
Click here to sign up for GrabCar. If you use my promo code A66C52 you will get $8 off your first ride, and I get $8 credited to my account too.
If you would prefer to use Uber X, you can click here to sign up . If you use my promo code p98zj you will get $10 off your first ride, and I get $10 credited to my account too.
I tried grabcar economy for the first time the other day and was surprised and angered by the $5 extra drop-off fee. We booked a grabcar, noting in the notes that we will require a drop-off directly en-route. The extra drop-off wouldn’t result in any deviation of route and would add a total of 15 seconds to the journey. Boy, were we surprised then the driver told us that he would be adding $5 to the $12 fare for that drop-off at the end of the journey. This extra fee isn’t listed anywhere on the app, wasn’t mentioned to us by the driver when we boarded, isn’t charged by UberX or any taxi companies in Singapore so couldn’t reasonably be expected by a passenger. This was a hidden charge and not only angered me as a customer, but also makes grabcar economy completely uncompetitive relative to taxis or uber if you are dropping off an extra person. We take this route every week (including the two stops) and are charged around $12 via cab, so why would we use grabcar economy which charges 42% more for no reason!? This hidden charge makes no sense!
Hey Gen,
Even though GrabCar has done a great job on increasing availability, I also have issues with their service.
Recently, I had an engagement that was to end at 6pm, so I booked an advanced Grab Car to arrive at 5.55pm. The driver arrived at early, at 5.40pm and messaged me . telling me to hurry up and rang on my host’s doorbell like a loan shark. I was very disappointed, especially considering the addition $8 booking fee.
To be fair to GrabCar, they do state that additional drop-offs costs extra, so you are better off with UberX for these kinds of trips.
I just rated one ratings, the first one star after a year of grab car and uber experience. It was the same reason – the extra $5 for a 3 seconds drop off on the same route. I was exceptionally angered at the grab driver’s attitude too ! He was exclaiming that the Grab company and himself are both TAM JIAK in dialect for greedy and seriously, no passenger would like to hear that arrogant tone in the early morning when already pissed. It was my first 1 star rating and an email from Grab was sent to me with a lengthy explaination blah. I replied to that email that Grab is very inflexible and therefore I’m definitely not putting Grab as my first choice anymore.
Hi,
Thank you for sharing. I think this is the first comprehensive review I’ve seen of GrabCar. I’ve just had an uncomfortable experience with them and would like to share (I’ve emailed the company already). Perhaps you can let me know if my concerns are valid or I’ve somehow been mistaken.
According to what I’ve read, the price given when one books GrabCar is the FINAL price that one will pay. That is what I thought when I chose to use the service also. To my surprise and dismay, at the end of the journey, the driver typed in “$7” for “tolls and others” which brought the total to $22 (I had to pay $8 when I thought it would only be $1 or at most +$2-3 for ERP). I didn’t see how it could have added up to that much extra, but I was in a big hurry, so I didn’t make a fuss and paid up after clarifying “it’s $7 more?”.
I have 2 issues with this. Firstly, I had to pay so much more than the supposed final price. What if I didn’t even have the amount in my wallet? This is misleading and it actually cost more than a normal metered taxi fare would have (according to various estimates, that would have been ~$13-19). Secondly, I find it kind of questionable for the company/app to allow the driver himself to enter the fees for “tolls and others”. Where is the regulation and the assurance that the passengers won’t simply get scammed if there is no check to ensure that the amount entered is accurate or even feasible?
Apologies, to clarify, I had used a $15 promo code and the price stated was $16. I was also aware that I may be charged for tolls (i.e. ERP) but $7 seems exorbitant.
Hi Yvonne, since I’ve written this review, GrabTaxi has made some changes to GrabCar.
Yes, drivers can input tolls, and I agree it goes against the “what you see if what you get pricing” simplicity that is supposed to avoid any sticker shock.
If you have any concerns with the pricing, do contact the GrabTaxi people for verification. I previously had a dispute about a discount code that was not applied , and they managed to resolve it, albeit slowly.
Do let us know what happens.
Thanks, Dedrick. I’ve contacted GrabTaxi about this and hopefully they can get back with a satisfactory answer.
Hey Yvonne,
I always make payment via credit card. So when my driver failed to apply the discount, GrabTaxi offered to either generate a cash coupon code for the difference, or to do a rebate via credit card. I opted for the latter.
It sounds like you made payment via cash, so I have a feeling they may offer to generate a cash coupon for you if they decide to give you a rebate.
Yes..will only go standard taxi under Grab.
GRAB CAR DRIVERS ARE VERY RUDE.
NEED SOME SCREENING OF THE DRIVERS.
Grabcar economy can be ridiculously expensive.
This morning I travelled from west coast park to Fusionopolis, I made the same booking more than 20 times before, same rout, same time. Normally it’s 14 dollars including toll fee so I didn’t think much before made the booking, but today, the driver demanded me 30 dollars! Grabcar explained because there were less drivers available at that time. It’s 29 dollars but driver demanded 1 dollar toll fee which I was never asked before, I argued with driver, the driver insisted 1 dollar toll fee despite the super high taxi fee and my baby was crying at that time, which really make me feel bad about greediness of the company and driver.
Anyway, I never experienced such money sucking taxi service before in Singapore, there is no point to recommend this service to friends, time to say farewell.
I have personally experienced GrabCar’s dynamic pricing, and I agree that it is less than transparent, and can result in some sticker shock. At least Uber is upfront with the demand-and-supply driven nature of its Surge pricing.
The official metered taxi is less hassle to travel and almost always available. But please don’t expect limousine service on a standard taxi. Some pax are rude and have high expectations. Seriously, from $3.20 up to $3.90(flag down) and $0.22 per 400m some pax feels like they need to be treated like some high class VIP. I haven’t met any pax who board a premium bus svc(e.g Night Owl) and tell the driver things like “can you drive faster”, “can you increase/decrease the aircon temp”, “why you arrived this bus stop late/early”. A taxi is for the pax convenience. Not a luxury. Pax want luxury or tip top svc, go book a limo or hire a chauffer if can afford. Otherwise, those difficult pax should just stick to the 3rd party unofficial taxi and save some $$.
I used to have enjoyable rides, but I feel very disappointed for this ride. The driver is actually turn up very slow to reach my place to pick me up and he actually go wrong/much longer route to reach my destination.
Right after I make my booking, I called driver to inform him where am I as I was very tired that time and need to go back as fast as I can. But he was actually very slow and reach me after some time later. I tried to be more understanding and tolerance and tell myself that they are not professional driver so lower down expectation on them. During waiting, I actually a bit impatient and wanted to cancel the booking, but I feel guilty to cancel the booking as the driver is on the way already. So I just be patient and wait for him instead. But after the ride, I receive the e-receipt with unreasonable extra charge to my ride. When I booked the ticket, it showed me SGD12, at the end it turned up SGD17 without my consent and any reason. I just feel like this GRAB APP is very unsecure and it can just simply charge me without my consent. After feedback to customer support, I was told I got fine SGD5 because the driver couldn’t locate me. It is ridiculous that I got fine just because of driver’s unprofessional? Should I charge the driver or GRAB for waiting for my time waiting there instead? As customer, I never request for the compensation for the lateness. Ultimately, the driver charge me for his own lateness.
3 things to highlight:
1) Dishonest business. Price showing SGD12 but charge me differently
2) Unsecure system that can charge passenger without his/her consent. If the credit card is configured there, it can be charged with any amount
3) Unprofessional driver, unfamiliar road and hardly locate me. Furthermore, bring me to much longer route to reach my destination
I used to book GRABCAR previously, all the while it was fine, but this ride make me think twice if I should take GRAB again. I have deleted all credit card details in GRAB apps now to prevent any extra charge by them.
Just want to highlight (my bro-in-law is a Grab driver and I am frequent Grab rider)
1) Tolls charges is not inclusive in the basic fare. The fare structure stated clearly, not fair to express dishonest business.
2) Nothing is secured via credit card even online banking. I use cash for payment most of the time since it is allowed. No issue so far.
3) I don’t expect professional drivers since I am not paying premium ride. As long the driver is polite and able to fetch me safely from point a to point B, I am satisfied. Driver can only base on GPS location to locate rider and navigation which is not accurate at times, I don’t blame driver for this.
It is still good to communicate with driver to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings.
It’s wasting my time!!!
I advance booking for two time for grab standard taxi on today but they accept it without check that is the advance booking!!!
Then two of the driver called me and asked me to cancel because they tot is now!!!
Pls check it before you accept the ride!!!
Yup, just wrote in to grabcar customer service about the unreasonable $5 additional cost for dropping someone off or picking a friend up along the way. It was a real shocker esp when you get to know about it only when you are already in the car and about to drive off. No time to cancel and call taxi instead. I mean seriously..
Charge for picking up/dropping off a friend:
Grabcar: $5
Comfort Cab: $0.20
What kind of policy lah??