How practical is a 'Practical Classic' as a taxi?
Discussion
I run a taxi business in Devon. We are in need of a new cab.
I only want to spend around £4-5000. I've looked at a few of the usual suspects, Skodas, Mondeos, etc, and then I had a thought outside of the usual. The local council will allow classics to be registered as Private Hire (presumably for wedding hire,etc) but I thought of something else....
The car will do about 20,000 a year. It needs to be tidy, without being a shed - no sagging headlining, no rust spots, no missing doorcards, etc. It won't be used on stop start work, most of our jobs are a minimum of 10 miles from engine start to engine stop. So I thought why not put on a classic for the novelty value? For the 'overflow jobs' that the test of the fleet can't cope with.
My thinking would be it would be a talking point, would get all over social media and raise the company profile and could perhaps be used as the occasional wedding car (not that I want to go down that route particularly, but if it makes a few quid....)
So, my thoughts are Rover P4/P5. Humber Hawk, Humber Imperial....
This particularly.... Clicky
Talk me out of this, because I'm not seeing any downsides so far except fuel economy.
I only want to spend around £4-5000. I've looked at a few of the usual suspects, Skodas, Mondeos, etc, and then I had a thought outside of the usual. The local council will allow classics to be registered as Private Hire (presumably for wedding hire,etc) but I thought of something else....
The car will do about 20,000 a year. It needs to be tidy, without being a shed - no sagging headlining, no rust spots, no missing doorcards, etc. It won't be used on stop start work, most of our jobs are a minimum of 10 miles from engine start to engine stop. So I thought why not put on a classic for the novelty value? For the 'overflow jobs' that the test of the fleet can't cope with.
My thinking would be it would be a talking point, would get all over social media and raise the company profile and could perhaps be used as the occasional wedding car (not that I want to go down that route particularly, but if it makes a few quid....)
So, my thoughts are Rover P4/P5. Humber Hawk, Humber Imperial....
This particularly.... Clicky
Talk me out of this, because I'm not seeing any downsides so far except fuel economy.
Tyre Smoke said:
I run a taxi business in Devon. We are in need of a new cab.
I only want to spend around £4-5000. I've looked at a few of the usual suspects, Skodas, Mondeos, etc, and then I had a thought outside of the usual. The local council will allow classics to be registered as Private Hire (presumably for wedding hire,etc) but I thought of something else....
The car will do about 20,000 a year. It needs to be tidy, without being a shed - no sagging headlining, no rust spots, no missing doorcards, etc. It won't be used on stop start work, most of our jobs are a minimum of 10 miles from engine start to engine stop. So I thought why not put on a classic for the novelty value? For the 'overflow jobs' that the test of the fleet can't cope with.
My thinking would be it would be a talking point, would get all over social media and raise the company profile and could perhaps be used as the occasional wedding car (not that I want to go down that route particularly, but if it makes a few quid....)
So, my thoughts are Rover P4/P5. Humber Hawk, Humber Imperial....
This particularly.... Clicky
Talk me out of this, because I'm not seeing any downsides so far except fuel economy.
People being risk adverse to travelling in an older car?I only want to spend around £4-5000. I've looked at a few of the usual suspects, Skodas, Mondeos, etc, and then I had a thought outside of the usual. The local council will allow classics to be registered as Private Hire (presumably for wedding hire,etc) but I thought of something else....
The car will do about 20,000 a year. It needs to be tidy, without being a shed - no sagging headlining, no rust spots, no missing doorcards, etc. It won't be used on stop start work, most of our jobs are a minimum of 10 miles from engine start to engine stop. So I thought why not put on a classic for the novelty value? For the 'overflow jobs' that the test of the fleet can't cope with.
My thinking would be it would be a talking point, would get all over social media and raise the company profile and could perhaps be used as the occasional wedding car (not that I want to go down that route particularly, but if it makes a few quid....)
So, my thoughts are Rover P4/P5. Humber Hawk, Humber Imperial....
This particularly.... Clicky
Talk me out of this, because I'm not seeing any downsides so far except fuel economy.
Is it able to comply with any safety requirements for licensing? Such as front and rear seat belts for example.
If you are doing 20000 miles per annum then how often will it need servicing?
I suppose that as long as you are not relying on it it would be a nice novelty if you fancied it. How practical it is and how much time it will spend off road / broken down only time will tell
Let us know how you get on!
If you are doing 20000 miles per annum then how often will it need servicing?
I suppose that as long as you are not relying on it it would be a nice novelty if you fancied it. How practical it is and how much time it will spend off road / broken down only time will tell
Let us know how you get on!
Tyre Smoke said:
This particularly.... Clicky
Tyre Smoke said:
Talk me out of this
Nope. Shan't.DO IT!
Seriously, if you can view the extra running costs as advertising, and if the local authority will licence it, then DO IT! Retro-fitted three-point belts all round are going to be a must, though, I think. It does say "Interior needs some restoration" - think I might be tempted to retrim in leather, simply for being harder-wearing than that slightly shabby WoE cloth.
Wooda80 said:
Is it able to comply with any safety requirements for licensing? Such as front and rear seat belts for example.
If you are doing 20000 miles per annum then how often will it need servicing?
I suppose that as long as you are not relying on it it would be a nice novelty if you fancied it. How practical it is and how much time it will spend off road / broken down only time will tell
Let us know how you get on!
The only thing it must comply with is it must pass an annual MOT and six monthly taxi test, which is essentially an MOT (so one is at the same time as the MOT) and that the seats have no rips, seatbelts work (if fitted) and all switches and lights work as they should. The only thing I can think of would be I'd need to add a cigarette socket to power to driver's (me) PDA. There is no requirement for a roof light on a Private Hire vehicle or any door signs. I can even get dispensation that the Private Hire plate does not need to be displayed on the rear.If you are doing 20000 miles per annum then how often will it need servicing?
I suppose that as long as you are not relying on it it would be a nice novelty if you fancied it. How practical it is and how much time it will spend off road / broken down only time will tell
Let us know how you get on!
Servicing would be a minimum of every 4k miles with preventative stuff in between.
jas xjr said:
The first thing that sprung to mind was a morris minor.quite inexpensive and plenty available. Good support too
Got to be honest, if I phoned for a minicab and a Morris Minor turned up I wouldn't be tremendously impressed, and I like classic cars. Most people younger than me would have no idea what it was except that it was a small, slow old car.At least something like a Rover P5 has the size and heft to look like it will survive an impact and has a bit more space inside.
boyse7en said:
Got to be honest, if I phoned for a minicab and a Morris Minor turned up I wouldn't be tremendously impressed, and I like classic cars. Most people younger than me would have no idea what it was except that it was a small, slow old car.
At least something like a Rover P5 has the size and heft to look like it will survive an impact and has a bit more space inside.
Which is why I ruled them out, along with Minx's and the like. At least something like a Rover P5 has the size and heft to look like it will survive an impact and has a bit more space inside.
This looks like it might have potential. Rear legroom doesn't look all that great though!
To clarify, as long as it's legal (with or without seatbelts) and will pass an MOT then I can use it. It won't be used for time critical journeys. I'll leave that to the modern stuff. or particularly long journeys - nobody wants to be stranded broken down or the fuel costs would outweigh any profit!
boyse7en said:
jas xjr said:
The first thing that sprung to mind was a morris minor.quite inexpensive and plenty available. Good support too
....if I phoned for a minicab and a Morris Minor turned up ....I may be swayed if a 450SEL 6.9 or late 60's Quattroporte turned up but they are hardly first choice cars for 20k pa!
Unless you are running a classic taxi business and people know what they are getting, surprising them with a classic turning up may not go down at all well.
iDrive said:
I don't use Taxi/Private Hire very much at all, however...
Would I pay £11 to get to the Railway Station by (Volvo Amazon / Bentley Turbo R / Shadow / Land Rover LWB) rather than £9 by a 5 yr old Passat?
Yes.
The point is, it wouldn't cost any more than 5yo Passat. Would I pay £11 to get to the Railway Station by (Volvo Amazon / Bentley Turbo R / Shadow / Land Rover LWB) rather than £9 by a 5 yr old Passat?
Yes.
And to the poster above, unless it was requested, it's unlikely to take you to the meeting or the wedding. However, if I did take you to the meeting or the wedding, you would still get there. There is no point in running a classic on a commercial basis if it's going to be inherently unreliable. Hence maintenance is the key. And if 2.0hdi Peugeot can do 300k reliably then so a classic can do 20k pa surely?
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