WhatsAppWhat makes PCO car hire so appealing for London drivers?
If you’ve ever considered becoming a private hire driver in London, you’ll likely have heard of PCO car hire services at some point. A lot of drivers choose to use this kind of setup, but why exactly is it such a popular solution compared to the alternatives?
From the reduction in cost-related barriers to entry, to the increased flexibility associated with hire solutions, these are a few of the main reasons why so many London drivers choose to go with PCO car hire services to get them on the roads.
Reducing cost-related barriers
One of the most significant benefits of using a PCO car hire service over buying your own vehicle is the reduction in cost-related barriers to entry. PCO-licensed vehicles need to be at most 10 years old (ideally newer), highly efficient, and clean and smart enough to be used daily for professional work.
As a result, buying one of these vehicles can come at a high cost, and that’s before you’ve even started to get into licensing and insurance. For a lot of private hire drivers, this simply isn’t a viable solution.
With PCO car hire, those initial costs are substantially reduced. Often, you’ll just need to pay a small deposit and the first week or month’s fees, and you’ll be able to get on the road and start earning right away.
Less responsibility
If you do own your vehicle, it comes with a whole host of additional responsibilities. From breakdown repairs to licensing issues, anything that might happen to the vehicle – mechanically or legally – is up to you to sort out.
With PCO car hire, a lot of this responsibility is placed on the car hire provider instead. While it will of course depend on the precise arrangement you sign up for, a lot of services will be responsible for both regular maintenance and for sorting out bigger mechanical issues.
You’ll still need to carry out checks, like assessing tread depth and keeping the tyres pumped up, but if something like the clutch goes wrong, or the timing belt snaps, you shouldn’t have to take care of the problem all on your own.
Easier regulatory navigation
As the years go by, the laws and regulations that govern private hire vehicles in the capital get increasingly complex. Figuring out how to get all of the paperwork taken care of can be a surprisingly tricky task, feeling a bit like a job all of its own.
When you use a PCO car hire service, most of the regulatory side of things will be taken care of already. You’ll just need to make sure that you have your own private hire drivers license sorted out – the vehicle should be legally ready to drive from day one.
Flexibility
Another huge benefit to PCO car hire is how flexible the available solutions are. There are all sorts of hire arrangements available, from short term solutions that you can end at any time with a week or so of notice, all the way to longer, fixed term contracts where you can choose to purchase the vehicle for a very reasonable nominal fee at the end.
You can talk to the provider, tell them what your situation is, and they’ll be able to walk you through some of the best options for your specific set up. Compared to simply purchasing a vehicle outright, this kind of setup can be massively beneficial, allowing you to tailor your arrangement around your personal financial situation.
Access to premium vehicles
Even if you could technically afford to buy a basic, 8 year old Prius, that might not be the best car for you in terms of earning potential. With a PCO car hire service, you’ll likely be able to access a range of other vehicles, allowing you to tap into the Uber Exec, Comfort and XL markets if you want to.
This can allow you to earn a lot more per ride, with the potential to really bump up your monthly and annual earnings as a result. The great thing about hire solutions is that you can also just dip your toes into these markets, and if they don’t quite suit you, you should be able to exchange your vehicle and try driving another niche of customer.
Avoid the pains of depreciation
As many people will be all too happy to tell you, cars depreciate incredibly quickly, making them a poor asset to choose to invest in. In the context of working as a professional driver, and the thousands of miles you’ll be racking up each month, this problem doesn’t get any better.
By hiring your vehicle, you offload this problem entirely. For example, you don’t have to worry that the moment you started driving your new car, you instantly wiped 10 to 20% off of its value simply because it technically became second hand. That’s the car hire company’s problem, not yours.
Ongoing support
What all of the above basically means is that you’ll essentially have a team supporting you as you work. There will of course be a lot of things that you’ll have to take care of yourself, like your own personal licensing and your day-to-day scheduling.
But when it comes to any vehicle-related issues, you should have a support team that you can contact at any time. This can have a big practical and psychological impact on your experience working as a private hire driver – you won’t quite be doing it all alone, and that can make it a lot easier to dive in and get started.
Due to the flexibility in terms of how PCO car hire arrangements can be set up, there will often be a solution that suits most drivers’ needs. Whether you just need a vehicle for a few weeks while you sort out another solution, or you want to sign up for a multi-year contract that ultimately allows you to purchase the vehicle, it’s worth researching some providers to make sure that you find the perfect option for your needs.