How to start an Uber business in Kenya (2026): the owner’s guide

"Uber business" in Kenya usually means this: you own the car, a driver works it on Uber, Bolt or Little, and he pays you a fixed amount for each working day. You do not drive. Done well, it is a steady income from an asset. Done loosely, it is a car you are paying for while someone else earns from it.

Here is the order to do things in.

1. Decide what you can put in

Before choosing a car, decide how you are paying for it:

• Cash — no instalment, so more of the daily amount is yours. But set aside money each month to replace the car when it ages off the platforms.
• Loan or asset finance — the instalment is your biggest monthly cost. Make sure the daily amount, on a realistic 24–26 paid days, covers it with room to spare.

Also keep a buffer of a month or two of costs. The first month has insurance, inspection, a tracker and the first service all at once, and the car may not earn for the first week while papers are approved.

2. Choose a car the platforms will take — for years

Check the age limits before you buy. In 2026 Uber Chapchap only takes cars from 2016 or newer; Comfort and XXL from 2018 or newer, and the limit moves every January. The newer the car, the more years it can earn. Our vehicle requirements guide has the details.

Favour cars that are cheap to run and cheap to fix, with spares easy to find in Nairobi — fuel and repairs decide whether your driver can meet his daily amount.

3. Get the papers in order

The two that trip people up: PSV insurance (private cover is not enough for paying passengers) and a logbook that matches — if a financier holds it, ask them early what the platform needs.

4. Find a driver you can trust

This is the decision that makes or breaks the car. Ask for references from previous owners, check his PSV badge and good conduct certificate, and see his ratings and trip history in the app. We cover it step by step in finding a driver for your Uber car.

5. Set the daily amount — and write it down

Around KSh 1,500 a day is the figure most often reported for a small car in Nairobi. Set it so an average day covers it, not just a good one. Then put everything in a written agreement: which days are owed, rest and garage days that are not, who pays for what, and what happens after unpaid days. Copy our free template.

6. Get paid into a till, not in cash

Have the driver pay into your own M-Pesa till or paybill, every day. A till gives you a record of every payment with a date and a sender. Cash handed over at the stage, or sent from someone else's phone, is how "I paid you on Tuesday" arguments start.

7. Know every evening who has paid

The most common way owners lose money is not a driver who disappears — it is days that slip. Tuesday is part-paid, Wednesday unpaid, and by the time you check on Saturday, the week is gone and the driver has a story.

Check the same evening, every evening. Keep a running balance per car that the driver can see too, so there is nothing to argue about.

8. Plan for the costs you know are coming

Insurance renews once a year. Inspections come round. Tyres wear out. Put a little aside every month so a renewal is a line in the budget, not a month with no profit. See the full monthly picture in how much Uber car owners make.

Is it profitable?

It can be, for owners who treat it as a business: a car with years left on the platform, a driver who can meet the daily on an average day, payments into a till, and someone checking every evening. The numbers are in our earnings guide.

Doing step 7 without a spreadsheet

Gariboss is built for exactly this: it knows what each car owes tonight, reminds the driver so you do not have to, records every M-Pesa payment against the right car and day, and sends you one message in the evening. The money goes straight to your own till.