Chauffeur Driven Cars for Business People

If you are looking for a chauffeur driven car, it is safe to assume that you will want one the has an established reputation for service and reliability. But what else?

No two companies offering chauffeur driven cars are alike and inevitably you will have to establish between what is hype and fact. A starting point is to ensure that the company is licensed. All companies operating chauffeur driven cars are required to be licensed for private hire with their local District Council, or in the case of London, with the Public Carriage Office (PCO). Similarly, all of the vehicles that are offered for hire or reward must be licensed by the relevant authority and, only licensed private hire drivers can drive a private hire vehicle. The requirement for licensing ensures that the chauffeurs are subjected to both a medical and a criminal records bureau check.

Another little know fact, but nonetheless, very relevant if your are seeking to hire an executive chauffeur driven car, is the question of the private hire plate. All private hire cars are required by law to have a private hire plate fixed back and front. If you are seeking to impress, then a yellow plate fixed to the back of your chauffeur driven Bentley Arnage is going to look a little out of place, however, the news is not all bad. Some suppliers of executive chauffeur driven cars have succeeded in gaining an exemption, meaning that they do not have to display the private hire plate. If this is important to you, then it is worth checking with your chauffeur services company first.

If you are a business or business traveller, then the choice of vehicles available to you may be a significant factor. Whilst it is important for your chauffeur car services company to have a reasonable number of 'bread and butter' executive cars available at short notice, it is also helpful if they have other models, such as people carriers, top of the range vehicles, including for example a Rolls Royce and, maybe even stretched limousines.

Standards are important and within the chauffeur industry, these will vary widely, depending entirely on the type of service the operator actually offers and the level of control over the delivery of this service. For example, many chauffeur companies employ owner drivers, in much the same way as a private hire "minicab" company would. The main difference is that the owner drivers have executive cars rather than the usual family cars used by minicab firms. This provides the chauffeur cars operator with scale and choice, but it can come at the expense of control, given the chauffeurs are effectively self-employed and the vehicles are not necessarily company owned and therefore, maintained or subjected to daily scrutiny. Nonetheless, this model does work and is quite commonplace.

Others may act as agents or brokers, offering chauffeur driven cars from third party chauffeur car hire services companies, with the agent billing the customer and then sub-contracting the work. This is a generally accepted and commonplace practice, provided a strict check is kept on the companies that are being sub-contracted to. That is often easier said than done. Once again, this may be the core business model of the chauffeur services company, it could just be used to supplement the peaks and troughs of the main business and offering more flexibility to their clients.

Company owned vehicles and employed chauffeurs are more rare and tend to be the smaller operations. What they may lack in scale, they tend to make back in terms of control over service, reliability and staff matters. Once again these companies will tend to use other companies to assist as and when necessary.

Some, but not all, executive chauffeur car service companies will offer account facilities. If this is important to a business, then it will need to go to the top of your list. However, most companies will charge a fairly significant premium for those wanting accounts facilities, perhaps as much as 10 to 15% representing the increased risk and affect on cash flow.

Cars for Stars Limited is a well established and experienced, award winning company providing chauffeur cars and limousines through an extensive branch network. Cars for Stars in London is licensed by the Public Carriage Office (PCO) for private hire. Other Cars for Stars branches are franchised and therefore licensed through their respective local authorities. All Cars for Stars offices are obliged to adhere to the high standards and service as the Group. The local authority licensing regime means that the businesses are subject to regular assessments and scrutiny to ensure that they comply with all of the regulations and standards, the vehicles are also subjected to bi-annual tests, in order that they can retain their private hire vehicle licence. In addition, the chauffeurs must be licensed to drive these vehicles. For a chauffeur to obtain and maintain their licence they must be subjected to and pass a medical and will also be subject to a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Cars for Stars offer a full complement of chauffeur driven cars and American limousines for hire and all of their vehicles are exempted from the requirement to affix a private hire plate to the vehicle. As a full service chauffeur cars company, Cars for Stars offer a range of services, which include business and leisure travel, tours, wedding cars, transfers to and from airports, long-term hires, tours, European travel via the Eurotunnel other forms of event transportation. The range of cars is extensive, but includes a choice of entry level chauffeur driven cars such as the Chrysler 300 and Mercedes E Class, executive, people carriers, 4x4's, long wheel base cars including the Jaguar XJ, Mercedes S Class and BMW 7 Series as well as the pre-requisite smattering of top marques which include the Bentley Arnage, Rolls Royce Phantom and Maybach 62. Limousines come in different shapes, sizes and colours. As a licensed provider, the maximum number of passengers that can be carried, irrespective of size is eight.

Is it a Hackney Carriage or Private Hire Vehicle?

All Hackney Carriages (taxis) are required to display an illuminated ‘TAXI’ sign. On licensed cars the sign is fitted to the roof and the word ‘taxi’ is visible from the front. During hours of darkness all taxi signs are illuminated when the vehicles are available for hire. Private Hire Vehicles are not permitted to display any sign on the roof of the vehicle.

All taxis and Private Hire Vehicles have to display licensed plates, one fixed to the rear and the other to the internal dashboard of the vehicle. The plate displays the licence number and the number of passengers that a vehicle is allowed to carry. The exterior plate affixed to a Hackney Carriage (taxi) are white, whilst a yellow plate is affixed to the rear of a Private Hire Vehicle., except in the case of some 'executive hire' vehicles where an exemption may have been applied for and granted. Hackney Carriages (taxis) can be hailed directly from the street or hired from taxi ranks, which are situated in each town.

Private Hire Vehicles must by law be pre-booked. A Private Hire Vehicle may also include a Stretched Limousine, which will not be permitted to carry any more than 8 passengers and will also be required to display a yellow plate on the rear of the limousine unless exemption has been granted.

All Hackney Carriage (taxis) are fitted with fare meters, which should be used for each journey. Fares are fixed for each vehicle by the District Council, and a fare card must be displayed inside the taxi.

Becoming a local Private Hire Chauffeur

Whether you are working for a company providing chauffeur driven cars and/or limousine for hire, if they are licensed for private hire by their local authority, then they can only employ correctly licensed drivers/chauffeurs.

Driver’s licences are only issued by appropriate District Council after the driver has been checked to ensure that he or she:

1. Is a fit and proper person of which includes vetting for criminal convictions, including motoring offences.
2. Has held a full, valid driving licence for a minimum of 12 months.
3. Has passed a medical as laid down by the District Council
4. Has successfully undertaken a knowledge test of the area. (this is not always mandatory)
5. Is fully aware of the conditions and obligations attached to the drivers licence.

All licensed drivers must wear an identification badge, which includes a photograph of the bearer. Some District Councils will issue a ‘dual’ licence that permits a licensed driver to drive a Hackney Carriage and Private Hire Vehicle. Please note: This is designed as a guide only, whilst the principles will remain the same, some District Councils will intepret the rules differently. In additon, the rules for applying for a PCO (Public Carriage Office) Licence in London will differ.

Cars for Stars is a UK based company operating chauffeur driven cars and limousine. Based in London, it offers national service through an extensive, branch network of franchised offices. All Cars for Stars franchises are fully licensed by their respective local authority, or in the case of London, by the Public Carriage Office (PCO), which means that the chauffeurs will have been subjected to a medical and criminal records bureau check and the chauffeur cars and limousines will be subjected to regular and vigorous tests.

Cars for Stars local offices can be found in the Chauffeur Cars Directory or the Limousine Hire Directory.

Why a chauffeur car can cost less than a taxi

Did you know, that if you are looking to travel to or from London, it will probably be cheaper to hire a chauffeur driven car, than it would to use a metered London Taxi Cab? Because chauffeur services companies operate on a lower hourly and mileage rate, for longer hires and those with higher mileage the hire charges are very competitive. Better still, because London based chauffeur car hire companies are obliged to be licensed with the Public Carriage Office (PCO), there are no congestion charges to consider either.

So next time you are looking to travel into London, why not consider hiring a chauffeur driven car for the evening, you will be pleasantly surprised at how inexpensive it is. Or if you are a business traveller, the hire of a chauffeur driven car for the say will cost less than most European Business Class flights.

Cars for Stars is a London based company offering a range of chauffeur driven cars and American stretched limousines for hire. The fleet of chauffeur cars includes, but is not limited to: the Chrysler 300, BMW 7 Series (LWB), all new Jaguar XJ (LWB), Mercedes S Class (LWB), Mercedes Viano people carrier, Rolls Royce Phantom, Bentley Arnage and the Maybach 62. Cars for Stars, licensed by the PCO for chauffeur driven cars. You can find other companies providing chauffeur cars in the Chauffeur Cars Directory.

A Job as a Licensed PCO Chauffeur in London

If you have always wanted to become a Chauffeur or just want a change of direction, then you do a lot worse than consider a job as a Chauffeur working in London. So where do you start?

If you already have a PCO Licence, this is a significant advantage, because the process of applying for one can be quite long, often taking up to 3 months. Without a PCO Licence, you cannot work for a PCO registered company in London. If you have a good knowledge of London and you have worked as a PCO Licensed Driver, then the step to becoming a Chauffeur is a relatively small one.

However, you will almost certainly have to consider working on a casual or part-time basis, before you will be considered for a full-time role. Companies such as Cars for Stars, based in London are always looking for experienced PCO Licensed drivers or Chauffeur's and offer excellent rates of pay. Depending on experience and availability, the company will be able to offer part-time and full-time position, but like many operations offering chauffeur cars and limousine hire, the hours can be unpredictable and, therefore, Chauffeurs have to show a high degree of flexibility.

The same flexibility is needed in terms of the type of vehicle. For example, those Chauffeur's that are as willing to drive stretched limousines, as they are other chauffeur driven cars, will be provided with considerably more work, than those that wish to only drive cars.

If you already have a PCO Licence, which is current and you would like to work as a Chauffeur, you can either visit the Cars for Stars Chauffeur Jobsite or call them on 0845 500 3030. If you do not want to work as a chauffeur but are interested in other types of driving jobs, you could try the website Professional Drivers Jobs.

Find a reputable Chauffeur Car Hire Company

Of course there are two issues here, where is a good place to find a company providing chauffeur driven cars and how do you determine which are the more reputable organisations?

The first point is perhaps the easiest, although based on where you live in the UK, this could also be debatable. The most likely two places to start is Yellow Pages and the Internet, I will deal with the latter, because there is not much that can be said about opening the Yellow Pages at the right section!

There are three principal options on the internet, each has its merits and you may well choose to try a combination of all 3 methods. The first is to go to an online general directory such as Yell.com, here you can compete a search based on a company name, or type of business followed by your nearest town or city. Typically, premium or featured advertisements are displayed first but, of course, this is not guarantee that the chauffeur company is any better or worse than any other, only that they want more exposure for their budget.

If you are feeling brave and, you are prepared to trawl through a great deal of rubbish (or non-relevant chauffeur companies) , then you could just enter a 'local' search string into your favourite search engine, for example 'chauffeur cars dundee'. Whilst this will provide you with a good selection of companies, it is highly questionable as whether or not they will truly be local, but it is always worth a try.

The third way is to go to your preferred search engine and enter the search string 'chauffeur cars directory'. It is fair to say that the UK market is not well served by niche directories, particularly in relation to chauffeur cars, but it is always worth looking for a niche directory before you start to trawl through the results of a more general search. In the UK for example, three directories come to mind, in order of relevance; Chauffeur Cars Directory, Vehicle Hire Directory and the Chauffeur Cars and Limousine Hire Directory. The first is exclusively chauffeur cars and wedding cars and the other two are more general, but have separate sections for chauffeur cars and wedding cars.

Using any, or all of these three online search methods should allow you to put together a reasonable shortlist. Next, you will want to ensure that they are, insofar as you reasonably can, a reputable organisation. Here are 10 top tips to allow you to come to an informed decision.

1. Check their fleet, is it modern and, does it include they type of vehicle you want to hire?
   Are they prompt and efficient when you call them?
2. Do you call a landline or a mobile phone? If it is the latter, or an answer machine, then you will need to take this into account if you are looking for a business that may require last minute hires or fast decisions.
3. Do they answer you questions in an open and honest manner?
4. If you send your enquiry by email, how long does it take them to respond? Any organisation taking more than 24 hours is not likely to be responsive enough for most people.
5. Are they licensed? All companies operating chauffeur driven cars (unless they only supply wedding or funeral cars) must be licensed for Private Hire. This will be either through their local authority or in the case of London, by the Public Carriage Office (PCO)
6. If you are a business user, then you need to establish their operating hours, whether you can book online, and also if they offer account facilities
7. If you are looking for wedding transportation, then it is reasonable to ask to view the cars
   Ask if they can provide references or perhaps, if they have received any awards?
8. Make sure you know and accept their terms and conditions of hire. Most companies include these on their websites.
   

For increased flexibility and a more extensive range of vehicle, do not be tempted to exclude national chauffeur cars operators, provided of course, they have a local presence of office.