The way people get around is going to change, with more people deciding that they don’t want the hassle of owning a car – they just want to hire one from time to time.
This seems to be the prevailing view among established automakers such as Daimler, parent company of Mercedes-Benz, as well as new entrants to the motoring market, such as the smartphone apps which enable users to hail cabs and so on.
In the latest development towards the new motoring world, Daimler has paid an undisclosed sum to buy PayCash, which will become the electronic payment system for the services of the Daimler under the new brand name “Mercedes Pay”, which enables payment through smartphones.
Bodo Uebber, board member at Daimler with responsibility for financial services, says: “Mercedes Pay is a key building block in Daimler’s mobility and digitization strategy.”
By entering the electronic payment business, Daimler Financial Services says it will be making its offerings more appealing.
“Mercedes Pay is an elementary part of our mobility and digitization strategy,” Uebber. “The new Daimler payment system underscores our commitment to make our offerings even more attractive as a leading provider of digital mobility services.”
Klaus Entenmann, chairman of the board of management of Daimler Financial Services, says: “Our philosophy is ‘Mobility at your fingertips’. Our customers can pay for our mobility and service services simply by smartphone using Mercedes Pay.
“Mercedes Pay enables a technically simple and secure handling of our digital offers. The customer, who will only have to enter his number data once in the future to use various Daimler services, will benefit particularly. This is possible with the so-called eWallet, a virtual money bag.”
Mercedes Pay is integrated into Daimler Mobility Services, a subsidiary of Daimler Financial Services. Here, various mobility services are bundled together, such as Daimler’s car-sharing service car2go or the taxi app mytaxi operated in nine countries of Europe.
In 2016, the financing and leasing service provider Daimler Financial Services managed for the first time its fleet of 4 million vehicles from the Daimler Group. In the future, these and other financing transactions will be made possible via the new payment system.
PayCash Europe is a financial institution regulated by the Luxembourg banking authority with a license for electronic money. The ePayment company, which was founded in 2012, offers not only mobile payment but also solutions for cryptos such as bitcoin and eWallet systems.
