Taxi firms can either be very successful, or they can go under in a few weeks. It all depends on how much work you put into it and how you pay for the taxis. If you do some research before you open the firm that can mean the difference between success and failure.
It is important that if you are thinking about opening a taxi firm, you know what you are getting yourself into. If you do into it thinking that everything is going to run smoothly, all the time, then you might go running for the hills on the first day.
It is not going to be all fun and roses all the time. There will be times when you feel like nothing is going right and there will be times when you think that it is the most amazing business in the world. You have to learn to take the good with the bad, and there will be bad.
If you are thinking about opening your own taxi firm, read on for some tips on what you need to know before you get started.
Licenses
Before you even think about opening the taxi company, you need to know what licenses you need in the country where you are operating. You can’t just put a few cars on the road and then start picking people up. You need licenses.
You will need a taxi firm license and then you will need licenses to pick people up and licenses for your drivers. If you put cars on the road without the proper licenses, then you will be labeled a pirate taxi firm and you are liable to face fines or even prosecution if you are caught.
Drivers
You need to make sure that your drivers are screened before you let them drive people around because if anything happens, like if they crash their car or they are rude to the customers, then you are the one that is going to be liable.
Most of the time, if a customer has an issue, they will phone up, complain and nothing will happen. But, all it takes is one adamant customer and your business could be in serious trouble.
The customer will be more likely to take legal action against you rather than the driver because they will assume that they will make more money off a company when compared to a person.
Staff
You will need more staff than just drivers. You will need people to answer the phones to send drivers to their fares and you will need staff to do the accounts and take care of the administration side of things, unless you are willing to do that yourself.
Don’t just assume that you only need money to buy the cars and then you are ready to go. You need to have money to pay staff member wages and you probably need money to hire the premises for your firm.
Buy vs Lease
When you get your cars, you need to make sure that you know whether you are going to buy the cars or lease them. You might be tempted to buy them so that you don’t have monthly outgoings but there are benefits to leasing.
You don’t need a massive amount of money to buy the cars if you lease them. You will just need to pay a monthly fee and you could take the money out of the driver’s fees. You could even tell the driver that it is their responsibility to pay the rent because they are essentially renting the taxi off you.