Taxi Driver Online

well I dont know who you are, though if you are a wiganer you can hope!

hope that book is more accurate than your last post, I have never been an l.o, I was much higher than that.

by the way Nige and Alan take note, not one of my decisions was ever overturned on appeal!

Wharfie

Back to aruiga.
Exactly how much does it cost per unit?
I work with a firm that has just under a 100 taxi/ph.
Someone said its about a grand to 1500 each car.
Now thats serious dough.

Lee Boy

Serious Dough?

So lets say it is £1,250 per car. The kit lasts at least 8 years (from my experience). That makes it an outlay of £156.25 per year. Divide that by 52 weeks and you are paying £3.00 a week.

What do you get for this?

Improved communications.

Better efficency.

A quieter peaceful cab.

Less mistakes (I said this, no you didn't etc)

All that for £3 a week. I don't call it serious dough, I call it a bargain. But of course you have to look beyond the end of your nose to view it in such a manner.

Good analysis there Tom.

Of course there's always a problem with a big upfront investment for the long-term.

For example, many taxis in my area will have been bought for less than the capital sum you specify, so in relative terms it's a lot of dough.

Dusty

well youve missed the grounfloor opportunity dusty, less fuel more time for more jobs, by the way I see Micks now extroling the virtues of Midas, he forgets that I wrote about it long before he had it installed, did you see his snooty comment?

jesus hes an expert in computers!

pity he cant sort his forum out


Wharfie

Jeez Dusty! Many cabs bought for less than £1,250? Do the peeps in your manor ever question what their operating costs are? It costs a fortune to keep old motors on the road when you are doing the kind of mileage each of us does in a year. Not to mention the downtime when they are in for repairs.

_________________
There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

Dusty that is where the word serious comes in.

If you really are serious about being in this industry you have to be prepared to invest properly.

I agree with Andy, driving a cheap vehicle is the most costly thing you can do.

These guys that buy a banger, licence it, run it into the ground for 6 months until it blows up and then walk away from the trade, are the real enemy to us all, whether you are Hack or PH.

As much as I believe in free, open markets, with as few restrictions entry as possible, I firmly believe councils should have rules that do not allow a car over three years of age to be licensed for the first time.

"......... for the first time."

Now that is significant.

We run a fleet where the average age is just over 18 months. But every now and then, we get a car that runs on and on. It becomes our spare car usually. We often have a car on stream up to 5/6 years old.

I like the idea of a limit for initial registration. That's good. A lot of London Cabs are quite old, but still good vehicles. I would not say the same of average saloons however, as they are built with different life frames in mind. Some of the execs and Limo boys have quite old cars,too. But they dont do 100,000 miles a year like a Taxi does.

_________________
There is Significant Unmet Demand for my Opinion.

With all due respect Tom its the condition that matters, imagine giving that set of rules, then comming up with a vintage car!

Tom government guidelines say age does not matter and I aggree, improve pass rates if you must but leave age out of it!

if I bought a BMW AND LEFT IT IN THE GARAGE FOR 3 YEARS, surely you are not saying it should not be licensed all things being equal?

but I aggree with the thrust of your post, we cannot afford so called cheap cars.

Wharfie

Oh I would say to you that it shouldn't be licenced.

Three years would be my limit. A car over that age could look in immaculate condition and still be a death trap. It is having a history of ownership that I find most important.

But what I am really after is ensuring people that enter this trade are prepared to make a 'proper' investment into their 'business' from the start. If they are forced to do that they will have to take a more long term view.

I would also love to see a 'self employed' register created by the Tax Office. You would have to take a certificate from them along to your LO before being able to licence a vehicle.

well yes that will close dowen large chunks of the trade, but is it neccesary?

rulings have to be relevant.

prhaps we could chip all the drivers with microchips so we always know where they are on the governments satelite?

Wharfie

I've a better idea. Why not chip all Saturday night passengers? Then we'd at least know where the F*** they want picking up from, even if they didn't.

well thats a good idea too!

all this technology is now available. in fact it is believed that blunkets identity cards will have one.

Wharfie

Now that could be a benefit, the ID cards.

If we have a credit card swipe, we could whizz the card through it, and it there is any trouble, we know their full SP.

Well I'd like to see comparative costs Andy, no doubt your analysis is correct in some cases, but in general terms I would say that older cars are cheaper to run.

In my manor I would say that the old cars seem to give less bother than the newer ones, although I wouldn't like to generalise, but I know that some of the lads who've invested big money have had endless expense and problems.

On the other hand, some of the older ones seem to have gone two or three times round the clock and can generally be repaired quite cheaply.

Of course it depends on warranty and suchlike.

On a related point, does anyone have comparative figures for fully comp and TFO insurance on similar cars.

In other words, what would be the insurance saving on an old heap TPO as compared to a newer motor fully comp.

Dusty