Used-leasing startup Fair is training new employees in Phoenix and acquiring a number of companies to ramp up for nationwide expansion this year, Chief Executive Scott Painter told Auto Finance News.
Last week, the company acquired Los Angeles-based car delivery startup Skurt, following an acquisition last month of Uber Technologies Inc.’s Xchange Leasing book; both deals closed for undisclosed sums. The leasing platform is partnering with the rideshare giant, which will direct drivers looking for a vehicle to Fair’s app.
“Part of getting this [Uber] deal across the finish line was ensuring that we’re able to instantly support an entire driver community under contract, as well as drivers we intend to add,” Painter told AFN. “We’ve opened up a Phoenix site and are actively in the process of staffing up and training.”
The company is nearing 200 employees to service its nationwide rollout, he said. Painter did not disclose how many lease contracts Fair acquired in the Uber deal, nor how many contracts are delinquent.
In the coming weeks, those Xchange Leasing customers — which had agreed to steep weekly payment contracts paid for, in part, through wage garnishments — will be put under new agreements that won’t deduct from wages, Painter said.
“We obviously have to keep up a bit — we have a lot of growing to do — but that’s why we raised capital and have new resources and partnerships,” Painter said. “As we roll out Fair across the country, [acquiring a car] will be something that Uber drivers will get without making a big leap, and we won’t have to spend a lot of marketing to get their attention.”
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