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[Vamps]

Vamps,that mig looked way to tidy to be heading to car heaven

We loved it, but sadly written off, not claimed, after a deer ran out in front of it, took the washer bottle out, the cost and faff on sorting it was not worth it, was a lowly 2.0L GLS auto, bought blind off ebay that cost us nothing but service items......she loves her 2.6 now though....

[05omegav6]

Thanks very much for the thorough advice.

It is obviously not possible for me to do this then.

Maybe private hire taxi work would be possible for me then?

Budget £500 to get your badge.

You need the following:

DSA Taxi test, basically a strictly marked driving test, £78.
New medical, from your GP, to Hgv/Psv standard, £160 at my GP.
New CRB check, £44.
Licencing Conditions test, varies from Council to Council, but typically £25-30.
Badge, issued once all above done, again varies, but typically £200-250.

TFL website has all the info for the London Boroughs, or if you live a bit further out, your local authority will be responsible for the whole process.

If you want your own car, be vary carefull and ask lots of questions at your LA, as many have vehicle restrictions such as age/history/size and so on. First year Taxi insurance will be at least £1800, NCBs not transferable. Estate cars better as you can carry four people AND their luggage. MPVs cost more to buy, more to run, have crap luggage space, and are often only licenced for 5 passengers.

If you want to work for yourself, you will also need an Operators Licence for the place you live, again LA can help, these vary from £150-300.

As for not wanting to work 72 hr weeks, if you start out on your own expect to be on call 24/7, 72 hours per week is probably the minimum. If you work for a firm, using their car expect 30-40% commission, so £3-400 for every £1000 metered, taking your tax from that.
Using your car, commission will rise to 60-80%, possibly plus a fixed radio rental of around £100 per week, but you pay for fuel, car, tyres, servicing, repairs etc,etc...

And if you turn over more than £79k you'll need to be VAT registered.

Welcome to my world

[Vamps]

Thanks very much for the thorough advice.

It is obviously not possible for me to do this then.

Maybe private hire taxi work would be possible for me then?

Budget £500 to get your badge.

You need the following:

DSA Taxi test, basically a strictly marked driving test, £78.
New medical, from your GP, to Hgv/Psv standard, £160 at my GP.
New CRB check, £44.
Licencing Conditions test, varies from Council to Council, but typically £25-30.
Badge, issued once all above done, again varies, but typically £200-250.

TFL website has all the info for the London Boroughs, or if you live a bit further out, your local authority will be responsible for the whole process.

If you want your own car, be vary carefull and ask lots of questions at your LA, as many have vehicle restrictions such as age/history/size and so on. First year Taxi insurance will be at least £1800, NCBs not transferable. Estate cars better as you can carry four people AND their luggage. MPVs cost more to buy, more to run, have crap luggage space, and are often only licenced for 5 passengers.

If you want to work for yourself, you will also need an Operators Licence for the place you live, again LA can help, these vary from £150-300.

As for not wanting to work 72 hr weeks, if you start out on your own expect to be on call 24/7, 72 hours per week is probably the minimum. If you work for a firm, using their car expect 30-40% commission, so £3-400 for every £1000 metered, taking your tax from that.
Using your car, commission will rise to 60-80%, possibly plus a fixed radio rental of around £100 per week, but you pay for fuel, car, tyres, servicing, repairs etc,etc...

And if you turn over more than £79k you'll need to be VAT registered.

Welcome to my world

London, mini cabs have no rules, or did not when I did a bit in the early 90's, as long as I paid for hire and reward insurance, and paid a company for a radio there were no other restrictions, have things changed? CRB I had anyway.......

[dbdb]

How did you get that mud spray pattern on n/s front wheelarch?  J turn?

[05omegav6]

Vamps the times they have a changed

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartners/taxisandprivatehire/26862.aspx

London has finally caught up with the rest of the UK in this regard. The link applies specifically to London, but it typical of the rest of England. Certainly all the areas I have personally looked at are variations of these requirements

Just to add, having a CRB check already is irrelevant, as you have to have a separate one for each application

[Kate]

I got a quote for a motor trade policy to cover car transportation instead of recovery.  It came out as £1600.

Does anyone think that this would be a worthwhile business? Working for small garages and private clients etc?

[mantahatch]

How about applying to the AA or RAC. Do they still have recovery only drivers ?

[bigegg]

1600 is not a bad price for insurance - I was paying that a couple of years ago for the mig 

There's only you can work out if it will be a worthwhile business.

Assume that it will cost you 50p a mile to run the truck (I have no idea - I just doubled what the 3T transit SWB costs me in diesel)
£35 a week for insurance = £1 an hour
Maintenance on truck + tax = £1500 a year? = £30/week = £1/hr
Insurance same = £1 an hour
Depreciation on truck (replacement cost in time)=£5000 in 3 years = (again) £1/hr
Wage = £12 an hour (no idea, seems a reasonable amount, considering how many unpaid hours you'll do)

Gives you a break even cost of £16/hr + 50p a mile.

Consider an average trip of 30 miles (round trip to/from base) takes 1.5 hours, including loading/unloading
Your breakeven would be £39 - call it £50 - if you had to charge £30 to compete locally, your hourly wage would be £6 an hour after your fixed costs (insurance, tax, maintenance, depreciation)

A day trip - say 100 miles each way +loading = (8 hours * £16)  + (200 miles x 50p) = (£128 + £100) = £228 breakeven. If you had to charge £150 to get the job, you would make £18 for the day (and go broke!)

[bigegg]

How about applying to the AA or RAC. Do they still have recovery only drivers ?

Last time I spoke to a AA recovery driver, they were a local firm contracted to the AA - probably the job that Kate applied for originally.
 

[05omegav6]

Margins are tight, rule of thumb is £1 per mile, with a minimum charge. If your self employed you'll need to be budgeting for Tax and NI as well as vehicle costs.

Another consideration is that if the gross weight is over 3.5t, then you're getting into the realms of tachographs, operators licences and everything else that goes with it, so you either limit yourself to smaller/lighter cars and use a transit type vehicle, or step up a notch and go for a 7.5-12t flatbed.

I don't intend to be negative, merely playing devils advocate, but any new venture will depend on alot of hard work, time, some cash and a hefty dollop of luck.

If you want a regular income from the get-go along with regular hours, then you're perhaps better off looking for a regular job

Good luck with whatever you decide to do, but be sure to research every little detail before diving in. Alot of people trip themselves up early on by either not being prepared or overlooking the legislation for any given industry, and being self employed the responsibility rests with you and noone else

[Kate]

Thanks again for all the advice.

I'd like to give it a go but I reckon that finding the right truck will be very difficult.  Some you see are wrecks that have covered millions of miles.

There certainly are lots of things to think about.

Does anyone know of any for sale?

[Vamps]

Vamps the times they have a changed

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/businessandpartners/taxisandprivatehire/26862.aspx

London has finally caught up with the rest of the UK in this regard. The link applies specifically to London, but it typical of the rest of England. Certainly all the areas I have personally looked at are variations of these requirements

Just to add, having a CRB check already is irrelevant, as you have to have a separate one for each application

I guessed things would have changed, they needed to really.......

New DBS should remove the need for multiple CRB's............

[05omegav6]

You reckon

My licencing numpty insisted me having a fresh on inspite of my producing a one week old one from my Airside pass. The same bloke refuses to take badge renewals etc with cash, insisting on cheques His reasoning... it might be cosidered a bribe a sure sign of corruptedness if ever there was

[Kate]

I'd really like to work for myself as no-one will give me a chance.

I send CV's and application forms and get no reply. It's horrible being bored out of your mind.

It's the feeling of being useless that's the worst.

No use to anyone.

[Vamps]

I'd really like to work for myself as no-one will give me a chance.

I send CV's and application forms and get no reply. It's horrible being bored out of your mind.

It's the feeling of being useless that's the worst.

No use to anyone.

Come back North and try these......they also have a taxi company.......

http://www.turnersofsedgefield.co.uk/recovery.asp?cid=113888165

This company is part of my early retirement plan, which is getting nearer by the day.....