In the current financial climate, unless you are the exception, taxi owners will no doubt look for any way that he or she can save money to help increase or maintain current levels of income. So, we thought that we would mention just a few of the things that you could consider doing to help in this respect.

Fuel costs

One of the biggest financial outlays for a taxi business or private hire business is the cost of fuel. So, any way that you can mitigate this has got to be welcomed. In this respect, you will easily be able to find out which service stations are offering the lowest price per litre of diesel or petrol. Wherever possible make sure that you use one or more of them. Needless to say, avoid having to fill up with fuel at motorway service stations.

Why not compare the cost of purchasing an electric taxi with a petrol or diesel fuelled taxi with the potential savings of running such vehicles. Can the higher cost of buying an electric taxi be offset by fuel savings making such a purchase financially viable.

Driving

Don’t pull away at great speed trying to get from 0 to 60mph in 5 seconds as this uses more fuel than if you pull away gradually. Do not put your brakes on at the last moment as you come to a halt at say a T- junction – slow down gradually if possible thus saving wear and tear on your brake pads and discs and reducing trye wear.

Make sure that you always keep within the speed limit thus avoiding getting a speeding fine.

Confirm pre-booked appointments

If you, for instance, have an airport transfer booking to get someone to the airport that was booked well in advance make sure that you phone the customer to confirm the booking either the day before or on the day of the pick up.

Use your sat-nav

We appreciate that you will know a lot of the pick-up locations but what you may not know about is if there are any traffic holdups on route. This is where the likes of an up to date sat nav could prove invaluable as it could highlight any potential hold-ups such as road works and suggest an alternative route that may save you having to sit with your engine running in a traffic jam using much needed fuel.

Maintaining your taxi

Although having your taxi or private hire vehicle serviced on a regular basis involves an expense you may have preferred not to commit to, in the long run it may end up proving of financial benefit. This is because a vehicle that is not properly maintained could develop other mechanical problems that would not otherwise have occurred had the vehicle been serviced regularly.

There are no doubt many other ways that your taxi business could cut costs but we hope that the above has been of some benefit.