Monday, January 7, 2008

How to Enter the Limo and Taxi Business: What you Need

Running a limo and taxi business is not a simple task.

You need to have the right and the most innovative system for running and organizing your business. Below are some helpful tips that you can consider to start a limo and taxi service.

Start-Up Costs

Running a taxi and limo business have very high start-up costs. Here are some reasons why.

Insurance

This is the most expensive cost factor that involves in this type of business and considerably the greatest hindrance to start. Taxis and limos are normally insured at rates that are relatively high enough to generally account a weekly charge. Insurance for this type of highly-expensive business is not that easy to obtain.

Normally, the bills for this type of business range from sixty to a hundred dollars a week, and although very expensive, this is not actually a first class type of insurance. This is mainly because the markets for this insurance type are very small. It is then quite a challenge for people in the taxi and limo industry to come up with their premium down payments that are commonly set about twenty percent of the over-all annual policy.

Licensing

The cost for obtaining a license to operate a taxi and limo business is about $3,000 annually. This will not be a problem as long as all of the taxis and limos are painted and fully-equipped according to the standard, ready for inspection.

Office Costs

This is just a very minimal cost. Since customers do not see the office, the main concern in looking for an office is the location that has enough parking space. About $1,000 per month is the normal cost for parking spaces.

Radios

To keep communication lines open, taxis and limos should have their own radios. This cost is all borne by the broker himself upon start-up, and normally is minimal for the company.

Tower and the Frequency Allocation

Since most tower operators are hoping to have their equipments bought, the cost for tower and frequency allocation is very minimal.

Meters

For taxis, these are normally paid for by the brokers themselves and then installed by the servicing company. Meters are set at varied rates, determined by the city they are operating.

How to Attract Customers

Once you have prepared the basic things to start your taxi and limo business, the next concern that matters is how to attract customers. Here are some possible ways on how you can gather clients.

Pricing

Pricing is generally fixed and they vary from one city to another. Prices can also fluctuate if the city council decides to vote for an increase in meter rates. The concern is not actually the increase of rates but the metered waiting time. The most reasonable rates for taxi is 1.65 for the flag drop and .17 per click in every 1/9th of a mile.

Credit

To attract more customers, taxi and limo operators should come up with a possibility of accepting credit card payments. This is a big mistake for operators since a lot of people would be willing to take cabs if credit cards are accepted.

Venturing into a taxi and limo business is expensive and takes a lot of time to start up. It is important then that you have the right knowledge on how the business works so that when you decide to have a taxi and limo business of your own, you will not end up losing your investment.

Vanessa Arellano Doctor

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