Executive Hire Business - Idea
Discussion
Morning!
I've recently been thinking about setting up an executive hire/chauffeur business and thought I'd ask for any suggestions or advice.
We have many local taxi firms in the town, there's the odd private airport shuttle service etc, but nowhere to book a high end car with a driver for those 'special events' such as business meetings, taking the wife to dinner, picking up clients, taking friends out for the day etc when it'd be useful not to drive, not to have to park etc.
Obviously there are a few wedding hire companies, but they tend to come from out of town and are very expensive per day.
I'm sure there are quite a few people locally who would also like a 'posh taxi' now and again too, which got me thinking.
Occasionally we end up driving the length of country for business meetings, visiting London etc and it'd just be useful to have the option of a driver so we could get some work done in the back, rather than waste the day behind the wheel, but we obviously don't have the need for a full time driver.
There's also the fact that no one (unless retired) is likely to want a job driving, when it is irregular and on a Friday or Saturday night, with the odd midweek day, hence logic is that if it was also used for external hire, it'd reduce the cost of having someone stood idle for the majority of the time.
Thought I could start it with a couple of cars and see how it goes.
Cars would be something like a RR Phantom, Bentley Mulsanne, Range Rover LWB or Merc S Class, or even a luxury Mercen van that can seat 4-6 in the rear)
Would assume it best to set it up as a private limited company, company would buy the cars for cash and hire a couple of people to run it, do the admin and obviously act as the chauffeurs.
It wouldn't be so much about making profit, more to reduce wasted money when cars are not needed. If it could cover its costs and give me free use of the cars whenever I needed them, that would be a good outcome.
Few questions:
1. Could we get flexible fleet insurance to cover these kind of cars, with multiple drivers?
2. Given the hours would be 'anytime' how would it be best to employ people?
3. Best ways to market the new business? Facebook, Internet advertising, websites, radio etc?
4. Cars would most likely be good examples of pre-owned, but could the company reclaim the VAT on the car purchase of newer vehicles?
5. If yes, What are the pro's & con"s of reclaiming VAT on cars?
6. Can depreciation be claimed on the cars? (They'd obviously depreciate)
7. Can running costs, repairs, petrol, etc all be put through the business as a cost of sale/repairs?
8. I assume anytime my other businesses or we used it personally, we would need to pay the company the same way as any other customer would to keep it from being a benefit in kind?
Any ideas, suggestions or help would be much appreciated !!
Thanks
I've recently been thinking about setting up an executive hire/chauffeur business and thought I'd ask for any suggestions or advice.
We have many local taxi firms in the town, there's the odd private airport shuttle service etc, but nowhere to book a high end car with a driver for those 'special events' such as business meetings, taking the wife to dinner, picking up clients, taking friends out for the day etc when it'd be useful not to drive, not to have to park etc.
Obviously there are a few wedding hire companies, but they tend to come from out of town and are very expensive per day.
I'm sure there are quite a few people locally who would also like a 'posh taxi' now and again too, which got me thinking.
Occasionally we end up driving the length of country for business meetings, visiting London etc and it'd just be useful to have the option of a driver so we could get some work done in the back, rather than waste the day behind the wheel, but we obviously don't have the need for a full time driver.
There's also the fact that no one (unless retired) is likely to want a job driving, when it is irregular and on a Friday or Saturday night, with the odd midweek day, hence logic is that if it was also used for external hire, it'd reduce the cost of having someone stood idle for the majority of the time.
Thought I could start it with a couple of cars and see how it goes.
Cars would be something like a RR Phantom, Bentley Mulsanne, Range Rover LWB or Merc S Class, or even a luxury Mercen van that can seat 4-6 in the rear)
Would assume it best to set it up as a private limited company, company would buy the cars for cash and hire a couple of people to run it, do the admin and obviously act as the chauffeurs.
It wouldn't be so much about making profit, more to reduce wasted money when cars are not needed. If it could cover its costs and give me free use of the cars whenever I needed them, that would be a good outcome.
Few questions:
1. Could we get flexible fleet insurance to cover these kind of cars, with multiple drivers?
2. Given the hours would be 'anytime' how would it be best to employ people?
3. Best ways to market the new business? Facebook, Internet advertising, websites, radio etc?
4. Cars would most likely be good examples of pre-owned, but could the company reclaim the VAT on the car purchase of newer vehicles?
5. If yes, What are the pro's & con"s of reclaiming VAT on cars?
6. Can depreciation be claimed on the cars? (They'd obviously depreciate)
7. Can running costs, repairs, petrol, etc all be put through the business as a cost of sale/repairs?
8. I assume anytime my other businesses or we used it personally, we would need to pay the company the same way as any other customer would to keep it from being a benefit in kind?
Any ideas, suggestions or help would be much appreciated !!
Thanks
Just a quickie - you have a bit of a wide target there (posh taxi for taking the wife to dinner versus having someone drive me to Edinburgh).
In general when I had a long distance to travel for work I would use the train/aircraft. If I had to drive then a regular airport limo service offered about as much utility as anything "Better" could. You can't do that much in a car, however much it may feel like you could (conference calls, checking emails).
So I think you probably need to try and gauge which strand you are targeting - business or leisure. Then work out the size of the market from there.
I have a feeling that people who will hire a "posh taxi to take the wife to dinner" may well split into those who consider a Merc E Class to be "Posh" and those who already have their own Bentley in the garage and would be more inclined to just hire a driver - have you considered a "driver hire service" instead?
In general when I had a long distance to travel for work I would use the train/aircraft. If I had to drive then a regular airport limo service offered about as much utility as anything "Better" could. You can't do that much in a car, however much it may feel like you could (conference calls, checking emails).
So I think you probably need to try and gauge which strand you are targeting - business or leisure. Then work out the size of the market from there.
I have a feeling that people who will hire a "posh taxi to take the wife to dinner" may well split into those who consider a Merc E Class to be "Posh" and those who already have their own Bentley in the garage and would be more inclined to just hire a driver - have you considered a "driver hire service" instead?
Flooble said:
I have a feeling that people who will hire a "posh taxi to take the wife to dinner" may well split into those who consider a Merc E Class to be "Posh" and those who already have their own Bentley in the garage and would be more inclined to just hire a driver - have you considered a "driver hire service" instead?
Wouldn't be difficult to have that as another service offered.The idea sounds great in principle, have a few people running it for you but having access to the cars whenever you want!
You might want to do a SWOT analysis to see where your business is going in mid- to long-term.
The current hire/taxi business will not be the same in five years, with business models like Uber, Lyft and the likes being established making use of digital networks. Also, self-driving cars will be available in 2020; and in the following years, manufacturers will develop them further, so that no passenger needs to have a driver's licence and being able to be in control of the vehicle.
This mainly being a threat to taxi and minicab businesses, how will they transform to cope, and how will that affect you chauffeur business?
Today, you might need to charge five times the price of a cab - how attractive will your service be, if you need to charge 20 times the price of a self-driving cab?
The current hire/taxi business will not be the same in five years, with business models like Uber, Lyft and the likes being established making use of digital networks. Also, self-driving cars will be available in 2020; and in the following years, manufacturers will develop them further, so that no passenger needs to have a driver's licence and being able to be in control of the vehicle.
This mainly being a threat to taxi and minicab businesses, how will they transform to cope, and how will that affect you chauffeur business?
Today, you might need to charge five times the price of a cab - how attractive will your service be, if you need to charge 20 times the price of a self-driving cab?
Monkeylegend said:
I would advise speaking to your local licensing authority first to see what hoops they make you jump through with regard to private hire regulations.
It's not as straight forward as simply buying a few cars and getting people to drive them for you.
it will be treated as a minicab operation from a regulatory point of view, although some Las do permit 'unmarked' PHVs in certain circumstances .It's not as straight forward as simply buying a few cars and getting people to drive them for you.
i run s small (read me and subbies when required) taxi/airport transfer company.
Your thinking is sound and there is definitely a space in the market all depends on where in the country you are as it varies wildly. Your looking to do private hire by the sounds of your setup so you will need licenced by your local authority. Any questions if your in Scotland ford away. England I'm not much cop as its s different system.
There is plenty of work out there both for regular airport transfers and high end (the market in the uk deems anything E class equivalent of nicer executive.
Plenty of online booking platforms to gleen work from and various models to take your fancy in terms of the way they structure the percentages they take etc.
Other thing I would perhaps suggest if your looking to invest for a decent return is private hire/executive hire rentals to existing drivers. Up here you can rent a skoda Octavia out to s driver for £175 a week. And they line up all day long to pay it.
Companies like uber are always looking for third parties to supply vehicles to keen drivers. But a fleet of 3yr old E class mercs rent them out for £200-225 a week ?
If you want to bring your own work in there's plenty of options out there. There's a serious shortage of "decent" firms out there and clients will pay a premium for a reliable service. The hard part is getting yourself out there and showing people how good you are. Lots of clients in the airport transfer market for example on expense accounts simply won't care if their car to the airport costs £50 or £100 as long as it's clean and turns up and the driver is decent. The ultra executive angle your looking at is in my opinion a very very niche product and whilst I don't doubt it could work with a lot of work and effort it's s very limited market a did be inclined to stick with the executive market with maybe a single elite tier (s class Bentley etc) vehicle which can drop into your executive fleet as and when required
Drop me a email /PM if you want any advice or want to put some feelers out more than happy to answer any questions if I can be of help
Your thinking is sound and there is definitely a space in the market all depends on where in the country you are as it varies wildly. Your looking to do private hire by the sounds of your setup so you will need licenced by your local authority. Any questions if your in Scotland ford away. England I'm not much cop as its s different system.
There is plenty of work out there both for regular airport transfers and high end (the market in the uk deems anything E class equivalent of nicer executive.
Plenty of online booking platforms to gleen work from and various models to take your fancy in terms of the way they structure the percentages they take etc.
Other thing I would perhaps suggest if your looking to invest for a decent return is private hire/executive hire rentals to existing drivers. Up here you can rent a skoda Octavia out to s driver for £175 a week. And they line up all day long to pay it.
Companies like uber are always looking for third parties to supply vehicles to keen drivers. But a fleet of 3yr old E class mercs rent them out for £200-225 a week ?
If you want to bring your own work in there's plenty of options out there. There's a serious shortage of "decent" firms out there and clients will pay a premium for a reliable service. The hard part is getting yourself out there and showing people how good you are. Lots of clients in the airport transfer market for example on expense accounts simply won't care if their car to the airport costs £50 or £100 as long as it's clean and turns up and the driver is decent. The ultra executive angle your looking at is in my opinion a very very niche product and whilst I don't doubt it could work with a lot of work and effort it's s very limited market a did be inclined to stick with the executive market with maybe a single elite tier (s class Bentley etc) vehicle which can drop into your executive fleet as and when required
Drop me a email /PM if you want any advice or want to put some feelers out more than happy to answer any questions if I can be of help
And to answer your questions (I got a bit carried away with my last post)
1. Could we get flexible fleet insurance to cover these kind of cars, with multiple drivers?2. Given the hours would be 'anytime' how would it be best to employ people?
Yes there are plenty of specialist brokers targeting the sector what's available depends on the size of fleet your wanting to run.
Employing drivers is a difficult one from a purely business sense I'd set up as a booking office and get drivers in on a self employed basis similar to how 90% of cab firms operate. How you structure that depends on how large you are and how much work you bring in.
3. Best ways to market the new business? Facebook, Internet advertising, websites, radio etc?
I don't advertise I use third party booking agents who take a percentage although I'm in the fortunate position of having a core of regular clients. Initially though it really depends on the market your targeting. Airport transfers? Get your cars seen at the pickup points no better advert than a smart car and driver sitting when another company is running late /hasn't turned up for a client. I know I've gained new business this way. Local press a Facebook page costs nothing but the biggest driver of business is doing the job right and letting your clients advertise for you word of mouth is the biggest driver of business and nothing beats a personal recommendation
4. Cars would most likely be good examples of pre-owned, but could the company reclaim the VAT on the car purchase of newer vehicles?
No idea my accountant deals with this. Although I vaguely remember it being based on depreciation and running the value down over x no of years although I might be talking cobblers
5. If yes, What are the pro's & con"s of reclaiming VAT on cars?
See above speak to a professional in the field
6. Can depreciation be claimed on the cars? (They'd obviously depreciate)
As above believe so
7. Can running costs, repairs, petrol, etc all be put through the business as a cost of sale/repairs?
Yep legitimate business expenses
8. I assume anytime my other businesses or we used it personally, we would need to pay the company the same way as any other customer would to keep it from being a benefit in kind?
Sounds very above board but being 100% legit I would imagine so
1. Could we get flexible fleet insurance to cover these kind of cars, with multiple drivers?2. Given the hours would be 'anytime' how would it be best to employ people?
Yes there are plenty of specialist brokers targeting the sector what's available depends on the size of fleet your wanting to run.
Employing drivers is a difficult one from a purely business sense I'd set up as a booking office and get drivers in on a self employed basis similar to how 90% of cab firms operate. How you structure that depends on how large you are and how much work you bring in.
3. Best ways to market the new business? Facebook, Internet advertising, websites, radio etc?
I don't advertise I use third party booking agents who take a percentage although I'm in the fortunate position of having a core of regular clients. Initially though it really depends on the market your targeting. Airport transfers? Get your cars seen at the pickup points no better advert than a smart car and driver sitting when another company is running late /hasn't turned up for a client. I know I've gained new business this way. Local press a Facebook page costs nothing but the biggest driver of business is doing the job right and letting your clients advertise for you word of mouth is the biggest driver of business and nothing beats a personal recommendation
4. Cars would most likely be good examples of pre-owned, but could the company reclaim the VAT on the car purchase of newer vehicles?
No idea my accountant deals with this. Although I vaguely remember it being based on depreciation and running the value down over x no of years although I might be talking cobblers
5. If yes, What are the pro's & con"s of reclaiming VAT on cars?
See above speak to a professional in the field
6. Can depreciation be claimed on the cars? (They'd obviously depreciate)
As above believe so
7. Can running costs, repairs, petrol, etc all be put through the business as a cost of sale/repairs?
Yep legitimate business expenses
8. I assume anytime my other businesses or we used it personally, we would need to pay the company the same way as any other customer would to keep it from being a benefit in kind?
Sounds very above board but being 100% legit I would imagine so
mph1977 said:
Monkeylegend said:
I would advise speaking to your local licensing authority first to see what hoops they make you jump through with regard to private hire regulations.
It's not as straight forward as simply buying a few cars and getting people to drive them for you.
it will be treated as a minicab operation from a regulatory point of view, although some Las do permit 'unmarked' PHVs in certain circumstances .It's not as straight forward as simply buying a few cars and getting people to drive them for you.
I ran my own business as per the OP's idea for 15 years and had to go through all the private hire licensing requirements, ie car licence, drivers licence, operators licence, CRB enhanced check or whatever it's called today, and they now insist on a driving test, knowledge test, and training re child exploitation.
I ran under a section 75 with unmarked chauffeur cars, and you have to insure as such, including a minimum of £5m public liability cover.
Get through all that and you are ready to go, at a significant cost I might add.
All you need then is the customer base, and the patience of a saint.
Also based on what the OP wants to do, if he is a frequent visitor to London he will need to have cars that meet the new emissions limits coming in over the next few years for the licensed trade.
People who don't know think it's a walk in the park
I think you could find drivers at short notice/on an as and when basis, its just finding the right drivers for the job. There are drivers, and there are screwdrivers.
I've done chauffeuring work and really enjoyed it. I currently work for a guy doing something else, but its not full time so am always on the look out for other things. Its a shame i'm not in your area as i'd certainly be interested in this sort of thing. Good luck.
I've done chauffeuring work and really enjoyed it. I currently work for a guy doing something else, but its not full time so am always on the look out for other things. Its a shame i'm not in your area as i'd certainly be interested in this sort of thing. Good luck.
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