Is your driver doing off-app trips? The signs, and what to do (Kenya)

An off-app trip is a ride the driver takes outside Uber or Bolt — a regular customer who calls directly, an airport run agreed on WhatsApp, a cash fare from the stage. The driver keeps the whole fare and pays no commission. Many owners shrug: the daily amount is paid, so why care?

Because the car is yours, and so are most of the risks.

Why it matters to the owner

• Wear you are not paid for. Every off-app kilometre burns tyres, brakes and service intervals you pay for — on top of the kilometres that earn the daily amount.
• Insurance. A PSV policy covers the car carrying paying passengers; read yours for how it treats trips outside a platform. If an accident happens on an off-app trip, there is also no trip record from the app — the first thing an insurer and the police may ask for. See the accident claim guide.
• Safety and the platform account. A trip outside the app has no rider details, no GPS record and no support line. Some drivers start off-app arrangements with riders they met on the app; Uber's rules allow it to deactivate accounts for fraud, deception or interfering with its service, so read the platform's current rules and decide where you stand.
• The agreement. If yours says the car is only for platform trips, an off-app trip is a breach — whatever the daily amount.

The signs

1. Mileage that does not match the app. Note the odometer each week and compare it with the kilometres in the driver's trip history (the driver can show you the weekly summary in the app). Some gap is normal — driving to the first request, going home. A gap that grows week after week is the sign.
2. Fuel that does not match. Fuel costs that rise while app earnings stay flat point to kilometres somewhere else. The fuel cost calculator shows what the car should use for a given distance.
3. Long offline hours with the car moving. A tracker's trip history shows where the car was while the app showed the driver offline.
4. A daily amount always paid, but nothing to spare. A driver who pays every day but complains the apps "are dead" may be making the difference off-app.

None of these proves anything alone. Use them to start a conversation, not an accusation.

Setting the rules

Put it in writing before the car leaves:

• Platform trips only, or which off-app trips are allowed (some owners allow known regular customers, at a mileage charge).
• A weekly odometer photo sent on WhatsApp — it takes the driver ten seconds.
• What happens on a breach: a warning, then the car comes back.

The driver agreement generator covers who may drive the car and what it is used for; add your off-app rule under "Use of the car".

Keep the money side clean

Off-app trips thrive where everything is cash. When the daily amount goes into your own till every day and both of you can see the running balance, the conversation stays about the car, not about who owes what. Gariboss keeps that side straight, so you can spend your attention on the kilometres.