Business Travelers Are Expensing More Uber Rides Than Ever

Business travelers are now relying on – and expensing – Uber more than ever.

Uber accounted for a full 5 percent of general expenses in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to a new report analyzing millions of receipts from travel and expense management software provider Certify. General expenses encompass everything from gas to WiFi, and made up almost half of all business expenses in the fourth quarter. The figure is even more impressive due to its swift rise from a (still sizeable) 3 percent of the general expense category in the previous quarter.

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Certify posits that beyond taxis, Uber may now also be posing a threat to rental-car companies. In the last quarter, Uber was expensed more than twice as often than National, the most-frequently expensed care rental company which accounts for 23 percent of all car-rental services.

Other brands that stood out in Certify's study of business expenses via millions of receipts and expenses from end users: Starbucks, which accounted for almost 5 percent of all food expenses and Delta, which accounted for 20 percent of airlines expenses. 

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