More on the variation of running costs for different councils

Ok, as I have said in previous posts you will be surrounded by several LA’s. The one you live in may not be the best to work in; annoying but true. Several things can differ between LA’s, you should review all the information before making a decision.
The main things to consider are:

Taxi Insurance
Prices can vary dramatically. E.g my 1st year in Liverpool was £1800, my friends 1st year in a neighbouring area was £950. Same Insurance company, same car (Octavia 08)… we even live in the same postcode and we where both private hire drivers BUT we are plated by different councils! That’s a massive saving on the cost of running your business. You will also have to start again with your no claims, taxi insurance is not like normal insurance so you can’t use your NCD.. Some companies will honour it tho – which saves you a packet and lets you use your NCD on a private car at the same time.

Plates
The price of plates and associated costs vary from LA to LA.

Work
The amount of work available can vary greatly from LA to LA. For example in neighbouring LA Knowsley the population is lower than Liverpool, they don’t have a city centre as developed as Liverpool so Hackney drivers in Knowsley don’t have as much work as Liverpool drivers. Plus a lot of people come from neighbouring LA’s to drink in Liverpool so there are a lot of long fares for Liverpool black cab drivers. In the world of Private hire, one of the neighbouring councils firms dominates Liverpool – Yes, they pay cheaper running costs because they are not based in Liverpool but they work mainly in Liverpool and the firm advertises heavily so there is more work for drivers. So being a Liverpool driver is not a great choice when you add the extra insurance costs for Liverpool and the domination of PH (Private Hire) from external LA’s you realise Being a Hack (Hackney cab driver) in Liverpool is the way to go or you could work for a neighbouring authority as a PH driver. A lot of cabbies won’t agree with this on moral grounds and to be honest it’s not what I would choose to do, but in the cold light of day I’m just trying to tell you how best to make money.

De-restriction
If your LA has De-restricted Hackney cabs in your area then the work volume point above can be disregarded, depending on how recently de-restriction took place will dictate the volume of work available, It is impossible for me to guess. The end result of De-restriction though is not enough work to go around – aka saturation. If your council has de-restricted it MAY be worth looking outside your LA of residence. Only 26.8% Of UK authorities have restricted hackney numbers, I hope you are part of the lucky minority. For full stats on de-restriction click here: http://taxi-driver.co.uk/quota.html