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Detour
I drive with Detour The driver app I listed my car Your car's portfolio

1,600+ drivers registered with Detour

Your partner as an e-hailing, delivery and logistics driver

Fuel when you need it. Cash when the week needs it. Detour is the financial layer built around how driving actually pays.

See the plans
A driver on the road at night
A driver in a suit at the wheel
Detour drivers and the Detour team at a Detour and Uber event
A smiling driver behind the wheel
A brand-new Renault Kiger
  • Cash this week, paid back next week
  • A car with no loan and no balloon
  • An agent calls, usually the same day

Hello , Moeti (visitor). Nice to virtually meet you. My name is Karabo Ngoatle (pronounced: Kah-RAH-boh N-gwah-tleh).

Why Detour exists

We started Detour because some institutions don't give two F's about the people who keep this country moving. You are up before the city is. You carry people to work, to the hospital, to the airport, and you carry your own household on what is left.

Then you ask for a credit line and the answer is no. Not because you cannot pay it back. Because of how you look on a form: no payslip, no fixed employer, money that lands differently every week. A risk category, not a customer. So drivers and riders end up last in the queue for anything to do with credit, and they pay the most for it when it finally comes. That is not a gap in the market. It is people being written off.

You drive or ride all week, the money lands once a week, and everything else has to fit around that: the fuel, the car, the week that goes wrong. None of that makes you a bad bet. It makes you somebody nobody bothered to build for.

So we build around how driving actually pays. We give you access to tshelete, aka money, to cars, and to Mobility Vouchers, so you keep moving week in and week out, right across South Africa. That is the whole idea, and it is the only thing we want to be judged on.

Batho Pele means people first. It is an easy thing to put on a wall, so here is what it has to mean here:

  • You see the full cost before you agree to anything.
  • We say how long something takes, in words you should not have to decode.
  • When we get it wrong, we fix it and we tell you what happened.
  • You can reach a person, not only Kairah.
  • Most of what is on this site started with a driver telling us it was broken.
  • You should not be paying for anything you are not using.

If any of that is not true on the day you deal with us, write to me. Not to a queue. To me.

Karabo Ngoatle, founder of Detour

Karabo Ngoatle

Co-Founder & Group CEO, Detour

Write to me

Connect on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

The Detour Drive Account

One account opens everything Detour offers.

Subscribe to Drive, Detour Capital, the Fuel card and every driver benefit run through your Detour Drive Account. Your plan keeps it active: no plan, no benefits. Plans from R100 to R250 a week.

Open your account How the account works
debit On-The-Go
debit ProfessionalDriver
debit MyOwnBoss

Brand-new cars · in the Detour fleet

Get a brand-new car through your Uber account

No cash. No upfront payment. Pick your Uber product and your car, join our fleet, and your week comes off your Uber earnings. From R3 840 a week, with a R1 000 Mobility Voucher every Thursday.

  1. 1 Pick your car Choose the Uber product you drive for, then the car.
  2. 2 Join our fleet Sign up with Detour. The car is in our Uber fleet, so you drive it as part of it.
  3. 3 Drive and get paid Your Uber earnings come into your Detour Drive Account. Your week comes off first, and R1 000 lands every Thursday.
Suzuki Baleno, 1.5 gl, brand new 5 seats

UberGo · brand new

Suzuki Baleno

1.5 GL, brand new

Every week, from your Uber earnings

R4 244

  • R1 000 Mobility Voucher every Thursday
  • Insurance, tracking and maintenance
  • Nothing to pay upfront
Get this car See how your week adds up

Weekly amounts are OpenWheels' estimates, confirmed before you sign. Photos show the model, not the exact car. Which Uber products a car qualifies for depends on Uber's requirements in your city, and those change. Your agent confirms it before you take the car.

What would you like to do today?

  • On your Detour Drive Account

    Get a car

    One weekly amount, with insurance, tracking and maintenance already in it.

    Explore Subscribe to Drive
    Two Valternative electric cars

  • On your Detour Drive Account

    Get cash this week

    Detour Capital: R500 a week on On-The-Go, R1 000 on Professional Driver, and R2 500 on MyOwnBoss, paid back in one go next week.

    Get R1 000 from Detour Capital
    debit On-The-Go
    debit ProfessionalDriver
    debit MyOwnBoss

  • On your Detour Drive Account

    Fill up before payday

    Mobility Vouchers for fuel and EV charging on every plan, paid from your Uber earnings. No cash, nothing upfront.

    Explore the Mobility Voucher
    MOBILITY VOUCHER Fill up or charge up Settled from your Uber earnings PETROL DIESEL EV CHARGING EVERY PLAN MOBILITY VOUCHER Fill up or charge up Settled from your Uber earnings PETROL DIESEL EV CHARGING EVERY PLAN

22 days left · until 30 November

Detour and Valternative

Go electric. Pay a small part. We lend you the rest.

Get an electric bike or car from Valternative. You pay a small part of the deposit upfront, and Detour Capital lends you the rest, paid back from your earnings within a week of getting it.

Only 20 bikes and 20 cars left, until 30 November. For drivers with e-hailing experience: sign up before they are gone.

Detour and Valternative
  • An electric delivery motorbike with a carry box

    Electric bike

    R225 upfront

    We lend you the other R1 000 of the R1 225 deposit. Pay back R1 220 from your earnings within a week of getting the bike.

    20 available

    R1 225 a week, energy included: battery swaps on Valternative's network.

    Apply for the bike
  • A Valternative electric car in Uber Electric livery

    Electric car

    R500 upfront

    We lend you the other R2 000 of the R2 500 deposit. Pay back R2 370 from your earnings within a week of getting the car.

    20 available

    R2 500 a week. Charging is extra, at R7 per kWh you use.

    Apply for the car

Detour Capital

Cash this week, paid back next week

Cash in your Detour Drive Account when the week needs it, paid back in one go from your next week's Uber earnings.

From R500 on On-The-Go and up

Get R1 000 from Detour Capital
A driver at the wheel of a car in the city

Why drivers stay

Built around the week you actually have

  • A car, without a loan

    Subscribe to a new vehicle for one weekly amount. Insurance, servicing, tyres and licensing are already in it, with no loan and no balloon at the end.

  • Cover that travels with you

    Tracking, roadside assistance and insurance arranged through our partners, so a breakdown costs you a delay rather than a week's income.

  • Something beyond the car

    Accredited and short courses through Inscape, open to a driver's household and not only the driver.

Drivers on Detour

1,600+ drivers registered, and counting

Hear it from them. Every video here is published with the driver's written permission.

  • “I'm just trying to get another source of income.”

    Lesego

    Detour driver

Pricing

Plans built around your week

Every plan comes with Mobility Vouchers for fuel and EV charging, and Detour Capital paid into your Detour Drive Account.

  • debit On-The-Go

    On-The-Go

    R100 a week

    Borrow R500 of Detour Capital, and next week you pay

    R720 all in

    R500 + R120 interest and fees + R100 subscription

    New drivers, under a year on the road.

    Detour Capital
    R500
    AA Stand-by-you service
    Not on this plan
    Mobility Vouchers
    Petrol and diesel for motorbikes and scooters, up to R500 a week, and EV charging
  • Most popular
    debit ProfessionalDriver

    Professional Driver

    R150 a week

    Borrow R1 000 of Detour Capital, and next week you pay

    R1 270 all in

    R1 000 + R120 interest and fees + R150 subscription

    Full-time drivers with no other income.

    Detour Capital
    R1 000
    AA Stand-by-you service
    100 km roundtrip
    Mobility Vouchers
    Petrol and diesel for cars, motorbikes and scooters, and EV charging
  • debit MyOwnBoss

    MyOwnBoss

    R250 a week

    Borrow R2 500 of Detour Capital, and next week you pay

    R2 870 all in

    R2 500 + R120 interest and fees + R250 subscription

    Drivers running it like a business.

    Detour Capital
    R2 500
    AA Stand-by-you service
    200 km roundtrip
    Mobility Vouchers
    Petrol and diesel for cars, motorbikes and scooters, and EV charging

The weekly fee is charged in advance and is non-refundable.

Compare the plans

We find the driver, check them, and put them in your car. You choose who it is.

List your car

List your car

Your car earns while a Detour Verified Uber Driver drives it

Detour Verified means

  • Identity (KYC)
  • Background and criminal checks
  • Home inspection
  • Licence verification
  • Traffic fines

A driver whose home inspection fails is never presented to you. Nothing is signed until you have met us and seen the driver.

Why Detour

So, why Detour?

We do more of what a driving week actually needs, and less of what gets in the way of it.

  • Cash with the cost up front

    Detour Capital: you see what you pay back before you ask, and it is paid back in one week.

  • A car with no loan

    One weekly amount with insurance, tracking, maintenance and AA cover in it. No finance, no balloon, nothing to settle at the end.

  • You keep your own account

    Your Uber account stays yours. We sit beside it, we do not sit on top of it.

  • It pays for more than driving

    Accredited and short courses for you and your household, paid weekly while you drive.

  • A person answers

    An agent calls, usually the same working day, and Kairah answers any time.

Why Detour

Ways to drive

Built for the way you drive.

Every way runs on a Detour Drive Account, kept active by your plan. Pick the one that fits how you earn.

A driver's hand on the steering wheel at dusk

Your own car

Keep driving your own car

Keep your car and your Uber account. Add a Detour plan around it.

Vehicle
Yours
Plan
Any plan, R100 to R250 a week
Best for
Drivers who already own a car
Drive with your car

Help

Still got questions?

Read why drivers choose Detour The questions people actually ask, answered in plain words. We're here for you Chat to us on WhatsApp and a person answers.

Closed · back tomorrow at 10:00

Talk to a person on WhatsApp

A person answers on weekdays, from 10:00 to 15:00. Outside those hours, Kairah answers straight away, and the team picks up your message on the next working day.

For a payment that went wrong, an accident or damage, or a problem with your account. Have the mobile number on your Detour account to hand.

WhatsApp +27 67 424 8163 Ask Kairah

Need to send a document? Send it on WhatsApp, or call +27 67 424 8163.

The Detour Drive Account

Your Detour Drive Account is two minutes away

Two minutes to apply, and an onboarding agent calls you, usually the same working day. Your plan keeps your Detour Drive Account active: Subscribe to Drive, Capital, the Fuel card and your plan's benefits all run through it. Plans from R100 to R250 a week.

Compare the plans
debit On-The-Go
debit ProfessionalDriver
debit MyOwnBoss

Partners we work with

The platforms and providers behind what a Detour driver gets.

  • Uber
  • Cartrack
  • Automobile Association of South Africa
  • Bluecom
  • Inscape
  • Valternative Energy

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What brings you to Detour?

Pick the one that sounds like you. You'll sign up in the Detour driver app, where it takes a few minutes.