Vroom, a 360-degree online platform for vehicle services based in Dhaka, has launched a co-branded credit card in partnership with Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) called EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card with an ambition to simplify payments for vehicle related services for vehicle owners. If you are a car owner you know, counting fuel and vehicle services costs is a challenge. While people complain about the problem, there are not many viable solutions. With the card, Vroom aims to address the gap.
The product adds to Vroom’s overall strategic ambition to become a vehicle services platform. It will also help bring new customers for its other services while improving retention of existing customers.
The card can be issued as a base card for the car owners or as a supplementary card for any EBL Visa/MasterCard base cardholder’s spouse or relative or driver(s).
Managing payments for fuel and car services can be a challenge for car owners. Tracking costs is a challenge. Making driver(s) accountable comes with difficulties. Budgeting is often a missed opportunity. Consequently, as a car owner, you are always spending more than what is needed. And any attempt to control cost is often like putting water through a sieve.
EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card simplifies the entire problem. If you own a car, you can issue a supplementary EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card to your driver for your regular fuel expenses, set a spending limit on the card and get notifications on each transaction. It makes tracking expenses effortless. You know where your money is going. Taking measures to control cost and make your driver(s) accountable is now possible.
EBL Vroom Oil & Gas card comes with a long list of benefits including:
EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card can be issued as a base card for the car owners or as a supplementary card for any EBL Visa/MasterCard base cardholder’s spouse or relative or driver(s).
If you are a primary cardholder using Visa or Mastercard branded credit cards, you are eligible for an EBL Vroom Oil & Gas card for your spouse or relative or driver(s).
The first two supplementary cards (including EBL Vroom Oil & Gas supplementary card) issued against the primary card are free. EBL Vroom Oil & Gas card can currently be used at more than 100 fuel stations across the country where Visa and Mastercard payment network cards are accepted. This number is growing every day.
The card is primarily designed for the driver(s) of primary cardholders so that they can use the card for purchasing fuel and other vehicle related services. It can be issued to the spouse or relatives of the primary cardholder too; in case they purchase the fuel regularly.
Launching a co-branded credit car is a clever move on the part of Vroom. If the company can execute on its ambition, it will open more opportunities for Vroom. As you can see in the list of benefits the card offers, it not only simplifies payment for vehicle related expenses for a vehicle owner, it also ties Vroom’s other services with it. It means many of the EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card owners will eventually convert for other Vroom services enabling a virtuous cycle of customer acquisition.
Vroom aims to build an ecosystem of vehicle services. The company aims to automate Bangladesh’s car servicing sector, simplify vehicle services and reduce challenges of car owners. To that end, the company has been on an innovation spree launching new products and services to address the challenges of vehicle owners. We wrote about Vroom’s strategic ambition before in How Vroom is Building an End-to-End Platform for Vehicle Services in Bangladesh:
“One approach to view Vroom is that the company is building an ecosystem of vehicle management services. This has also been made feasible by the industry dynamics. The vehicle is a connected industry. Offering one service essentially enables you to offer other relevant services. Vroom started with on-demand wash and polish services. As the company started to expand its wash and polish service, it came to see that its customers want and need more services.
An excellent customer service regiment has worked as a flywheel for the company helping create a virtuous cycle. From wash and polish, the company eventually got into the reconditioned vehicles buy/sell, building a marketplace and comprehensive solution for buying and selling reconditioned vehicles. The company then moved into launching services such as selling authentic vehicle parts, an automated platform for repair services where it works workshops across cities, vehicle inspection service, ownership transfer assistance, car loans assistance in collaboration with financial institutions, fleet management solution for businesses, corporate vehicle maintenance solution, etc. The entire ecosystem creates a virtuous cycle of positive returns for every participant.”
EBL Vroom Oil & Gas Card is yet another addition to the staple of Vroom’s products that will allow it to aggregate greater demands while also making the lives of car owners easier. Vroom was founded in late 2017 as an on-demand at-home car wash and polish service.
The company has since expanded to cover almost all vehicle services, including reconditioned cars buy/sell, on-demand wash and polish, maintenance, fleet management, and everything vehicle-related. The company now aims to become the leader in automobile industry automation and standardization in Bangladesh.
