What Taxi Operator to Work for?

Picking your taxi operator

Picking the best taxi operator to work for is only possible by speaking to other drivers and getting opinions. Otherwise it is a shot in the dark. You could try using the internet to find local taxi forums in your area but to be honest there is not a lot of info out there. There is nothing wrong with shooting in the dark, you have no commitment to the operator so if you don’t like the way they work you can move on to the next company - one thing to keep in mind is that you will have to get the radio fitted/ removed by each operator so it’s not quite as simple as just walking away; but it’s not far off. So get chatting to drivers, we usually love talking anyway so most will be glad to help you out. You may also want to become an operator yourself so you can take your own work. More on this in a future post.

Bad operators

When I talk about bad operators there can be a million reasons why they are bad. The most common thing to look out for is what is known as ‘feeding.’ This is where the phone operators give preferential treatment to friends or people who pay them a backhander; dishing out all the best work to them. Never touch a company who operate like this. Another thing you might want to avoid as a new driver is an operator who uses only radios to dish out jobs, you really want a job management system like ‘Autocab’ – you may have learn to use the in car computer terminal but it is so much easier than radio in the long run and importantly feeding can be traced and therefore less likely to happen. Make sure the operator spends money on advertising; some will take your settle money and spend little to nothing on advertising; so you will get no work. Most other problems with your operator boil down to a personality clash; by which I mean that they are often run unreasonable morons! The good thing is you only have to see them for 5 minutes a week.

Costs associated with your operator

If you have your own car you will have to pay a weekly settle to the operator, this is the rental fee you pay for the radio and all the jobs that come through it, it pays for advertising and the wages of the phone operators (not to mention a big chunk for the owner). It varies a lot; average is around £70-£120 it can be much more though. If you rent a car from the operator you will have to pay rental, again, lots of variation but average is around £200 per week. The operator may offer you insurance if you own a car, on the whole it’s not worth it. In my case the operator wanted £70 a week insurance; I found it myself for about £40pw.