Taxi Driver Online

why is it that controllers give fixed price quotes to hires when they book a taxi, an estimate is understandable but a fixed quote is taking the p***.
I have come to severe arguments with hires when they refuse to pay the proper charges as they say we were already quotes a price and that i am overcharging, i in turn get on to the controllers and ask them what authority they have to fix prices. The excuses they come out with are it was an estimated price etc etc,,but the hassles we get would make it sensible for control to not quote at all imo, sometimes the difference can be as high as 5-6 pounds,,,

With me it goes both ways. i had an out of town fare last job on saturday night, and the office quoted £40 which the punter was happy to pay, (as the week before a black cab ripped him off to the tune of £55 for the same trip). just out of interest i put the meter on, on the way back in to town and it ran to £35.40. so i was £4.60 up on the meter plus the £5 tip

The problem i get is when the office quote a price from the central of our city to the centre of some other town or village, and it then turns out that the punter wants to go to some farm or big house in the middle of nowhere, another few mile past the village they got the quote for.

what i do now is i make sure the punter knows that the quote is to take them straight to the village or town with no devitations, and if they want to go on further, or do drop offs on the way, it will be on the meter.

if you think the office is under estimating then go and tell them! i've done this twice in the last year, However one lad did this last year and the controller said 'OK lets go run it!' so they when off for a drive in to the country with the meter on and the quote was only 50p under!

well i suppose at the end of the day it can go either way,,but i know my city and its surrounding areas reasonably well,,and i sure as hell know that from the city of glasgow to central stirling is not 30 quid,,more like 40 or worse case35,,,,and you also have a very valid piont in the areas of those cities / towns they want to go to, there is a major difference in dropping at the first exit of the motorway and going to the other side of town,,i tell the hires from the start now that price quoted is estimated,,when i get into your town i start the meter / clock etc,,its the only fair way to do it. !!!!

I have some sympathy with the office; they can't really give a maybe/could be price over the phone. Customers ask for exact quotes to compare firms.

I think the more experienced drivers get, the easier it is for them to know if they have got a good price, or a bad one. The company I work with are very good, and I can't remember the last time I felt cheated on a quoted job.

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IDFIMH

Hi

Is it not the case that if it's on the meter then that is what you have to charge, regardless if it is higher or lower than the quote?

Or does the term out of town have some signifigance here that I am missing?

We do not have that that problem as PH as no meter all fares are fixed, however in a situation where the fare is a long distance where the customer has given the nearest main town as reference, the drivers do make it clear that the fare will be more as they are passing through the town originally quoted, if the customers says something like it's a few miles on yet.

They never have a problem with this they just call the office and get a new quote.

regards

Eric.

[edited by admin] Sussex you surely dont work for me?

And thank the Lord for that.

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IDFIMH

The obvious answer is that LAs cannot regulate journeys to outside their area (which is often what is meant by 'out of town', when the LA covers a single urban area), and I think the general rule is that the charge can be anything as long as it's agreed up front.

Also, out of town work is obviously the longer stuff, and thus punters tend to be more likely to ask for a quote, whether or not the joureny is subject to the metered tariff.

In answer to your first question, subject to the fare being not greater than the metered tariff when regulated, the price basically comes down to contract law.

Thus with all unwritten contracts, disagreements can arise, particularly where there's confusion between a quote and an estimate and suchlike.

It's the same when somene gets into the car and asks for a fixed fare to some village (say). This is often to a farm up a bumpy road three miles from the village, which obviously pi$$es me off big style. But, technically, the contract is only for the village, so I've no obligation to take Mr Plonker any further, unless we re-contract. So in such cases I usually put the meter on anyway, and re-bargain the fare if it turns out that they've been taking the pi$$.

But often these cases are due to honest mistakes on one or both sides, and clearly sorting things out can be difficult.

As for the driver/office scenario, the problem is clearly lack of communication, but once the office has agreed a fare with the punter, then once the driver agrees to do it then he's effectively sub-contracted to do it for the agreed price.

Of course, he may not know the price, and may not like it, but then it's up to him to make sure that the office informs him of any negotiated fare before he agrees to do it. And whether the driver agrees to do a fare at any fare negotiated with the office or can tell them to bog off should also be agreed.

But of course in practice these things are generally left unwritten, and is often plain farcical, but such is life!

Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I just remembered I meant to reply to this one when I was doing the thread about the meters and discounting.

we try to give an estimate but allways tell them it will be on the meter, we have meters in our ph as we think it a fairer way.often prices are quoted for longer jobs but i notice drivers are allways quick to have a moan about controllers when they underquote but never mention an overquote
typical drivers moaning when its quiet moaning when its busy

i think the time will come very soon that all private hire firms will have the need to put meters into the cars alongside their radios, this way we wont keep getting chinned by the management for overcharging. Id love that ,,

Trigot wrote:



tcabbie wrote:



In London PH are not allowed to calculate a fare by mileage in the car all fares have to be fixed.

The only way you can use a meter is if you drive a black cab.

Regards

Eric

Or license the car outside of London.

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IDFIMH

Why when as PH you can charge what u like?

i am PH and we all have meters.

its a lot better for the regular customers as they know how much is was last time, and not just the driver having a guess.

and it saves a lot of hassle on friday and saturday night where someone may think your trying it on.

As stated previously it is not allowed in London to calculate a fare by any type of mileometer/meter within the vehicle.

Just like u can not advertise the name of the company on the vehicle, we have some really strange regs here.