Taxi Driver Online

Hi guys, hope business is good for everyone. i have noticed that my workload has increased and takings are up, but there are still really quiet spells throughout the week. at the moment, pretty much all of my work is cash, but i am looking at trying to get some regular account or contract work.

i have been in touch with the local council and they have said they have already tendered for their school work. i was looking online and have came across the likes of cabfind and cabline, does anyone have any experience of dealing with them? i have a mate who drives through one of the big city firms who do work for them, he says they get a lot of work from them and a fair bit is distance work. i know i can do it cheaper than the city guys and still be happy with the end figure, but would they be willing to use a small operator?

i also spoke to a driver who used to work elsewhere and he used to cover crew change jobs and road replacement services for trains, but wasn't sure how the company got the work. anyone doing this sort of work? times of day and day of the week don't bother me, if it is regular work i will go for it! do you go direct to the train company or airline etc, or is it done through the likes of cabline?

cheers for any help or advice and apologies for spelling or grammar mistakes as posting this from my phone!

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Tam Tam the taxi man,
If anyone can,

Tam can

If they ask for money up-front, then I would steer clear.

If they ask for 2/3 months credit, then I would steer clear.

If however payment is via bacs, then consider it.

It is only you that can decide for yourself if the job price is worth your while.

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IDFIMH

Are you based near an airport?

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you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

We do work for both Cabfind and Cabline and fine them both very good payers.

Cheers Sussex, think I would pretty much follow that. I am not going to entertain the ones who want a subscription paid first, you hear far too many horror stories about the hassle of getting work/paid.

Generally my terms are 28 days from date of invoive, but I know some larger organisations, such as my local council, state when they will pay you.

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Tam Tam the taxi man,
If anyone can,

Tam can

Yeah, not too far away.

Have been trying to think of ways to get more work to the airport too. I know a lot of people who stay out of town, on the way to the airport, and they all seem to be happy paying an extra tenner to the large company in our town as they charge for their dead mileage and do it on a fixed fare basis. Thinking of getting some leaflets done to advertise in these places, that we will only charge "door to door", but I get a feeling that they are using the bigger company because they have been around longer and gives them the impression of being "more reliable", when they aren't! So wondering if it is worth doing at the moment.

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Tam Tam the taxi man,
If anyone can,

Tam can

you'll recoup the cost of the leaflets in 2-3 hires, so go for it. nothing ventured, nothing gained, as they say.

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My heart is heavy, but my consience clear,
I voted Yes, without any fear.

Cheers Westside, do you find most of the work to be pre-booked in advance or is it just short notice they tend to book?

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Tam Tam the taxi man,
If anyone can,

Tam can

It's a mixture really. A large percentage is booked in advance. The one thing you have to take into consideration is that when you take on the accounts for both of these companies is that they will want work covering over the festive period (inc Christmas Day). They will also want several cars at once usually at your busiest periods. If you can't provide this service for them, then they will soon stop ringing.

We do work for Cabline and cover all the EWS train services work from round this area like crew changes and driver location runs. We also cover the AA, National Express through Cabline.

Like Westside said you have to be there when they call and that could be 24/7, we've had some good work that has seen us through the lean times.

They seem to be OK when it comes to payment.

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Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

Believe me, don't get Mercury X2

Cheers for the responses guys, very much appreciated.

I got in touch with them both yesterday, so just waiting to hear back from them. Good to know they seem reliable enough.

Depending on the amount of work they are putting my way, I wouldn't have a problem with having a couple of drivers/cars just pretty much dedicated to covering the accounts, and fit other stuff around it.

Time of day and day of the year doesn't bother me, if there is work to be had at a stupid time of day or on Christmas day etc, I will do it myself if none of my drivers are willing to start early or stay late. I will only turn work away if we genuinely cannot cover it. Just a bit concerned we may not be big enough though. If you don't mind me asking, what size of fleets are you guys operating with?

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Tam Tam the taxi man,
If anyone can,

Tam can

We have 45 cars in our system (we only had 35 last year and then we installed DataMaster. Hooray another pro DataMaster thread)

What's Datamaster

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!

Really?
http://www.datamasteruk.com/

Bill from DataMaster posts on here all the time!

Cheers I'll look at that in more detail later. I've been looking for an affordable system for quite a while now

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Note to self: Just because it pops into my head does NOT mean it should come out of my mouth!!