Starting a very small wedding car hire company?
Discussion
Me and Mrs MOB have been thinking about this for a while - between us we have a 2015 M5 and a 2015 Macan S, do you think these cars would be attractive for wedding car hire (with me driving)? I think the Macan more than the M5 perhaps?
It wouldn't be a replacement for our main income, and would probably stay small.
High level thoughts;
- Public liability insurance is looking like less than £100 per year
- Car insurance company says no additional premium unless mileage goes up significantly
- minimal additional fuel and mileage costs for the occasional use
- marketing via website, facebook, yell etc
- Partner up with photographers, florists etc
- additional wear and tear of the cars interior would make my OCD twitch
The golden question - what rate would you expect to pay for these cars - assume collect bride, deliver to church, take from church to reception then bugger off.
I'm thinking £300 for the M5, £350 for the Macan - sound sensible? Quite difficult to get comparisons without pretending to be a customer elsewhere, which I don't want to do.
I think someone on here has done similar?
Any views/experiences would be gratefully received, good or bad :-)
It wouldn't be a replacement for our main income, and would probably stay small.
High level thoughts;
- Public liability insurance is looking like less than £100 per year
- Car insurance company says no additional premium unless mileage goes up significantly
- minimal additional fuel and mileage costs for the occasional use
- marketing via website, facebook, yell etc
- Partner up with photographers, florists etc
- additional wear and tear of the cars interior would make my OCD twitch
The golden question - what rate would you expect to pay for these cars - assume collect bride, deliver to church, take from church to reception then bugger off.
I'm thinking £300 for the M5, £350 for the Macan - sound sensible? Quite difficult to get comparisons without pretending to be a customer elsewhere, which I don't want to do.
I think someone on here has done similar?
Any views/experiences would be gratefully received, good or bad :-)
I'm surprised there's no extra insurance to pay between (a) owning/running two cars privately (b) using them for business/hire/reward. That said, all you have to worry about is marketing, sales, getting paid and being a professional chauffeur. And hoping that an M5 and Macan is what yer average bride is looking for. Presume they are white or silver?
Personally I don't think the average bride would want either car... it's not a vintage or modern Rolls, Bentley etc. To a non-petrolhead, one is just a BMW. If the bride wants a big Porsche, then surely a Cayenne, or more likely a Range Rover IMHO.
That aside...
- Amazed at the car insurance no difference... I'd check that.
- If you have a bump, and your insurance company have to pay out for a replacement wedding dress as it is damaged in the incident.
- If the car has a fault, how do you replace with like for like at the last minute? Or it breaks down on the way from the wedding to the reception...
- Liability insurance - if I was doing that job I would want insuring against every possible failure, or have copper bottomed contingency plans in place. I would imagine that ruining her big day would cost you £££
If as you suggest, the cars are your P&J, don't do it. They will get damaged... they will become tools of your trade, not a prized possession.
That aside...
- Amazed at the car insurance no difference... I'd check that.
- If you have a bump, and your insurance company have to pay out for a replacement wedding dress as it is damaged in the incident.
- If the car has a fault, how do you replace with like for like at the last minute? Or it breaks down on the way from the wedding to the reception...
- Liability insurance - if I was doing that job I would want insuring against every possible failure, or have copper bottomed contingency plans in place. I would imagine that ruining her big day would cost you £££
If as you suggest, the cars are your P&J, don't do it. They will get damaged... they will become tools of your trade, not a prized possession.
UpTheIron said:
If you have a bump, and your insurance company have to pay out for a replacement wedding dress as it is damaged in the incident.
- If the car has a fault, how do you replace with like for like at the last minute? Or it breaks down on the way from the wedding to the reception...
- Liability insurance - if I was doing that job I would want insuring against every possible failure, or have copper bottomed contingency plans in place. I would imagine that ruining her big day would cost you £££
All good points but nothing can ever be 100% certain. Even if you insure against every risk, it can't stop things going wrong. The best way to mitigate this IMHO is to have some practical things in your T&Cs - for example as a wedding photographer I state that if my camera breaks or I can't get there, my liability is limited to a full refund. In your case if your car breaks down, I'd suggest your liability is to transport the bride; no court would expect you have an identical copy of every car lying about spare as back-up.- If the car has a fault, how do you replace with like for like at the last minute? Or it breaks down on the way from the wedding to the reception...
- Liability insurance - if I was doing that job I would want insuring against every possible failure, or have copper bottomed contingency plans in place. I would imagine that ruining her big day would cost you £££
Every business plan can be shot down by 'what ifs'; ultimately it's a judgement.
insurance_jon said:
strangely some insurers (although very few) will give wedding car extension for little or no premium.
HOWEVER, word of warning you cannot do anything other than weddings. no racedays, proms, corporate etc
Yes, we were also considering Proms as well but that requires local authority licencing - weddings and funerals only do not currentlyHOWEVER, word of warning you cannot do anything other than weddings. no racedays, proms, corporate etc
Great feedback so far everyone, much appreciated :-)
I can probably help here - we currently have a small/middle sized chauffeur company running a mixture of business and personal cars.
Vintage wedding car
LWB Jag XJ's
Merc E-Class
Audi R8 Spyder
Porsche Cayenne Turbo
VW Camper Van
There is next to no interest in the Audi/Porsche, there just doesn't seem to be the market for that kind of car in the wedding industry.
What a previous poster said in regards to the M5 being just another BMW is unfortunately true, the bride/groom will almost always have an uncle or friend with a BMW/Merc/Audi that will do just as good a job and save them £300 in the process.
The camper van - we sub-let ours and if we had purchased it would probably be sitting with a loss. Unless it's out every single weekend and you have no hefty repair bills you'll struggle to get your money back for it, let alone make any.
Advertising - most wedding bookings are made at wedding shows where the full family comes along and gets to see and sit in the cars. These come with massive costs so not something you would probably consider (think between 2-5k for a stand). Facebook would be the easiest, offer a small promo maybe and get people sharing it to get it out there. Another idea would be to go round the local wedding venues and let them know what you can offer - they often refer clients on to third parties for anything they can't provide.
Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative, if you need any help with anything feel free to PM me.
Vintage wedding car
LWB Jag XJ's
Merc E-Class
Audi R8 Spyder
Porsche Cayenne Turbo
VW Camper Van
There is next to no interest in the Audi/Porsche, there just doesn't seem to be the market for that kind of car in the wedding industry.
What a previous poster said in regards to the M5 being just another BMW is unfortunately true, the bride/groom will almost always have an uncle or friend with a BMW/Merc/Audi that will do just as good a job and save them £300 in the process.
The camper van - we sub-let ours and if we had purchased it would probably be sitting with a loss. Unless it's out every single weekend and you have no hefty repair bills you'll struggle to get your money back for it, let alone make any.
Advertising - most wedding bookings are made at wedding shows where the full family comes along and gets to see and sit in the cars. These come with massive costs so not something you would probably consider (think between 2-5k for a stand). Facebook would be the easiest, offer a small promo maybe and get people sharing it to get it out there. Another idea would be to go round the local wedding venues and let them know what you can offer - they often refer clients on to third parties for anything they can't provide.
Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative, if you need any help with anything feel free to PM me.
Check out the likes of Avis Prestige I wanted something a bit special as my wedding car we had a classic jag for my other half. For not much more than what your thinking of charging they offer similar cars for the weekend but me and the best man get to drive it rather than you. I don't think your cars are special enough for most weddings.
R8Steve said:
I can probably help here - we currently have a small/middle sized chauffeur company running a mixture of business and personal cars.
Vintage wedding car
LWB Jag XJ's
Merc E-Class
Audi R8 Spyder
Porsche Cayenne Turbo
VW Camper Van
There is next to no interest in the Audi/Porsche, there just doesn't seem to be the market for that kind of car in the wedding industry.
What a previous poster said in regards to the M5 being just another BMW is unfortunately true, the bride/groom will almost always have an uncle or friend with a BMW/Merc/Audi that will do just as good a job and save them £300 in the process.
The camper van - we sub-let ours and if we had purchased it would probably be sitting with a loss. Unless it's out every single weekend and you have no hefty repair bills you'll struggle to get your money back for it, let alone make any.
Advertising - most wedding bookings are made at wedding shows where the full family comes along and gets to see and sit in the cars. These come with massive costs so not something you would probably consider (think between 2-5k for a stand). Facebook would be the easiest, offer a small promo maybe and get people sharing it to get it out there. Another idea would be to go round the local wedding venues and let them know what you can offer - they often refer clients on to third parties for anything they can't provide.
Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative, if you need any help with anything feel free to PM me.
Always good to hear feedback like this, good or bad.Vintage wedding car
LWB Jag XJ's
Merc E-Class
Audi R8 Spyder
Porsche Cayenne Turbo
VW Camper Van
There is next to no interest in the Audi/Porsche, there just doesn't seem to be the market for that kind of car in the wedding industry.
What a previous poster said in regards to the M5 being just another BMW is unfortunately true, the bride/groom will almost always have an uncle or friend with a BMW/Merc/Audi that will do just as good a job and save them £300 in the process.
The camper van - we sub-let ours and if we had purchased it would probably be sitting with a loss. Unless it's out every single weekend and you have no hefty repair bills you'll struggle to get your money back for it, let alone make any.
Advertising - most wedding bookings are made at wedding shows where the full family comes along and gets to see and sit in the cars. These come with massive costs so not something you would probably consider (think between 2-5k for a stand). Facebook would be the easiest, offer a small promo maybe and get people sharing it to get it out there. Another idea would be to go round the local wedding venues and let them know what you can offer - they often refer clients on to third parties for anything they can't provide.
Sorry if that all sounds a bit negative, if you need any help with anything feel free to PM me.
The good thing for me is that any outlay to start something up would be minimal, and if it didn't come to anything, I've lost very little. To be honest just thinking about doing something outside of the daily grid is quite exciting :-)
Its also interesting to hear the comments on whether our 2 cars would be popular for weddings - feedback from people I know would suggest that they would be popular for people that want a nice wedding car, but not the usual "old rolls" etc. But that doesn't equate to actual bookings.
Thanks again for everyone's comments.
I've found there to be a world of difference between what people say and translating that into what they actually do. Asking people what they thin is all well and good but the actual ones booking the cars will be the important parties.
Unless you are prepared to go about it "Properly" I think you will struggle to get a single booking, when it comes to weddings people are incredibly particular, they'll pay top money but in return have very specific requirements.
Have you actually had an insurance quote yet for using the cars as hire and reward?
I can't imagine it will be cheap.
Unless you are prepared to go about it "Properly" I think you will struggle to get a single booking, when it comes to weddings people are incredibly particular, they'll pay top money but in return have very specific requirements.
Have you actually had an insurance quote yet for using the cars as hire and reward?
I can't imagine it will be cheap.
Using my cars for weddings (and funerals) gives no rise in premium - thats with Direct Line.
Using for any other bookings such as airport runs, Proms etc, insurance goes up (don't know to what extent) and you need a licence from the local authority, DBS check etc
I was surprised to be honest.
Using for any other bookings such as airport runs, Proms etc, insurance goes up (don't know to what extent) and you need a licence from the local authority, DBS check etc
I was surprised to be honest.
MOBB said:
Using my cars for weddings (and funerals) gives no rise in premium - thats with Direct Line.
Using for any other bookings such as airport runs, Proms etc, insurance goes up (don't know to what extent) and you need a licence from the local authority, DBS check etc
I was surprised to be honest.
I'm shocked, genuinely that you can use a car for commercial purposes, ferrying people to and from a wedding and not pay a higher insurance premium.Using for any other bookings such as airport runs, Proms etc, insurance goes up (don't know to what extent) and you need a licence from the local authority, DBS check etc
I was surprised to be honest.
Have you had that in writing, explained exactly what you intend to do?
Because if that's the case there could be a business there.
Interested in the facts though I'm not doubting what you have been told on the phone.
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