Wedding Car Hire Business

[WeddingAlan]

Hi all,

It's my first post here, been lurking for a while!

I am in the process of setting up a wedding car hire company based in central Scotland. I am looking for a little bit of advice on what is required, I know that I need insurance that covers hire and reward but I can't work out if I need a special licence to carry the paying passengers. Do I need something from the local council authority?

I've read lots of conflicting information online and can't seem to make sense of it.

I toyed with the idea of providing airport transfer services with the cars also but again, I'm unsure of what licence is required, would this be considered a type of taxi? Or is chaffeur drive different?

A steer in the right direction would be much appreciated.

Thank you,
Alan

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

What cars are you using?
I can't imagine a typical wedding car being used for airport transfers.

 

[WeddingAlan]

Ah, I should have given a little more info. The cars are not your typical wedding cars, my angle is I'm using supercars (Ferrari / Porsche / Lamborghini etc) and high end luxury cars (Bentley / Rolls royce etc).

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

I see.
The Ferrari, Porsche etc are not suitable for airport runs.

The Bentley and RR ARE typical wedding cars but as long as they are modern era wouldn't look out of place as airport transfers.

I'm fairly sure you are legally speaking operating in the same way a taxi company does and conform to the relevent licensing and insurance.
A customer of mine operates a wedding car business so I shall ask for you.

 

[WeddingAlan]

I see.
A customer of mine operates a wedding car business so I shall ask for you.

That would be excellent, thank you, I really appreciate that... Would be great to hear from someone in the business.

It's a newish Rolls Royce Phantom and a Bentley Flying spur so they would be suitable for airport runs, of course the sports cars wouldnt, my plan is to just use them for the wedding business.

 

[luvbusiness]

That would be excellent, thank you, I really appreciate that... Would be great to hear from someone in the business.

It's a newish Rolls Royce Phantom and a Bentley Flying spur so they would be suitable for airport runs, of course the sports cars wouldnt, my plan is to just use them for the wedding business.

Think your post is starting to lose its credibility.How is a rolls royce phantom and bentley flying spur suitable for airport transfers.

 

[WeddingAlan]

Think your post is starting to lose its credibility.How is a rolls royce phantom and bentley flying spur suitable for airport transfers.

Luvbusiness, I am already involved in a car hire business, the demand for this kind of service in top end luxury cars is there, I'm in the perfect position to gauge this. It's not a high volume business but each transaction is sizeable.

If it makes you feel a bit better, the cars are not mine, I have agreements with the owners of the vehicles. I am not on an ego trip trying to impress strangers like you, I'm trying to make money. I am on this forum because I am looking for advice.

Thank you.
Alan

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

I don't see why a Phantom or Flying Spur couldn't be used for airport transfers, just not sure who would choose that over the usual S Class that most firms use.

 

[luvbusiness]

Sorry but cant see how the numbers add up..Your fixed costs of wear and tear of high end car along with much higher fuel costs from a car that will drink fuel do not add up.
It might be ok to do that type of business in somewhere like London with some of the big payers but not in central Scotland.

Ive looked around at some taxi companies and the money that they clear once the fixed costs of use of car,fuel,inurance and drivers wages have been taken out there isnt a lot left.You have asked for advice and mine is I dont think it is much of a good model.But thats only my opinion.

Maybe you could convince me i,m wrong buy putting some figures here of what you might charge for a journey and then how much you charge for leasing of these high end vehicles.

 

[WeddingAlan]

It might be ok to do that type of business in somewhere like London with some of the big payers but not in central Scotland.

Ive looked around at some taxi companies and the money that they clear once the fixed costs of use of car,fuel,inurance and drivers wages have been taken out there isnt a lot left.You have asked for advice and mine is I dont think it is much of a good model.But thats only my opinion.

Maybe you could convince me i,m wrong buy putting some figures here of what you might charge for a journey and then how much you charge for leasing of these high end vehicles.

I can see how it looks almost like an impossibility to make money with this, but it is possible.

I haven't thought through the airport transfer side of the business, that is simply an idea to further utilise the cars but on the wedding side I've really gone into it in detail.

Due to the current financial situation in the UK at the moment, I have found a large group of people who are more than happy to use their vehicles (the aforementioned ones) for wedding hire. For a few of these people, if they didn't have this deal with me they would need to sell their cars. I have the deals tied up for 6 month periods. The owners are responsible for the up keep of their vehicles, not me. I don't contribute to wear and tear. I will operate a system where I won't utilise one single car too much and spread the load but still keep to the expected income levels for the car owners, they are aware of the mileage the cars will do.

As a rather crude overview:-

Typical wedding using a Ferrari F430 will cost around £600 - £800 for the day dependent upon location and how many runs the car needs to make.

The expenses from that are as follows:-

Driver - £80
Fuel - £60
Valet - £50
Short Term Insurance (for the day) - £35

So around £225 to service a wedding leaving £375 - £575 ish, I then have a set % that I have agreed and split with the owner.

Generally, people will hire one piece of exotica like the lamborghini and a second car like a Porsche Cayenne or S Class, the secondary car pulls in a handsome profit too.

The input and effort required from me to operate this business is fairly minimal, this single company will never generate huge revenues but the way I work is I prefer to have several smaller businesses which all contribute to good monthly revenue.

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

I wouldn't be interested in giving up my car on a sunny Saturday for a few hundred pounds to let someone else ferry people about at a wedding.
Bearing in mind that a Ferrari or Lambourghini is more highly strung than my car and will suffer more from someone not driving it properly I'm surprised you have managed to make someone think that this is a good deal for their F430 etc.

 

[WeddingAlan]

I'm surprised you have managed to make someone think that this is a good deal for their F430 etc.

I have access to around 20 cars, ranging from S Class to Mercedes McLaren SLR.

You are probably like me and value your car, I love my own car and I wouldn't let anyone else drive it. The highest % of the people I have deals with see the cars as money makers.

For me, this is a great thing

 

[oldeagleeye]

Hi Alan
i am not trying to pick holes in your business plan but have you got any figures on the number of weddings in your area each year and bearing in mind that weddings are a season business are they not what is your target per year.

Be interested to know those numbers as I have a client interested in a.
another area of the wedding business.

In the meantime some numbers that you might find interesting if you don't already have them.

The wedding industry in Britain is worth about £5.5 Billion Pounds a year. While marriages have dropped from the peak just after World War 11 @ around 5 million a year - they seem to have remaine contant at about 250,000 over the last 10 years.

Cars. From what I gather Rollers are naff. Bentley or an old classic similar to a Cord for the bride and a sports car for the groom ( Usually a friends ).

Hope the info helps and look forward to your reply.

Robert

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

Blimey I didn't realise there had been eleven world wars

 

[WeddingAlan]

Hi Robert,

I'm speaking to quite a few castles and other wedding venues, the most impressive figures I've found so far is a castle just outside Edinburgh, they are currently doing 120 weddings per year, they are completely booked up except one space in September.

Its incredibly busy.

Thanks for the info on the wedding business in the UK, pretty big numbers, I was shocked when I first found them.

Cheers,
Alan

 

[PhilWarman]

Check on the "short term insurance" you mention - I believe many will exclude Hire & Reward...

 

[oldeagleeye]

Thanks Alan

My own forecast for our target was right on the nail. Midway bewteen 100 & 150 customers and my client is on a winner.

Rob

TP . That is the usual format for descibing wars in Roma numerals.

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

Nope, World Wars and Rocky movies would use WWII for World War 2.

 

[benjamin_c]

Does anyone else get the sense of DWP or CE here?

 

[*Lexxy*]

Does anyone else get the sense of DWP or CE here?

nope...my spidey senses aren't tingling at all!

 

[WeddingAlan]

Does anyone else get the sense of DWP or CE here?

Am I completely ignorant? Are these well known acronyms? :|

 

[oldeagleeye]

Does anyone else get the sense of DWP or CE here?

Don't think so the OP from Scotland. DWP would never risk going north of the border.

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/f...[URL=http://imageshack.us]ImageShack.us[/URL] Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[oldeagleeye]

Better you don't know Alan. May I ask however if you have a passion for chocolates.

 

[benjamin_c]

hahaha!!!! very good!

 

[WeddingAlan]

Better you don't know Alan. May I ask however if you have a passion for chocolates.

No. You've further confused me.

 

[poliuhgfd]

Hi Alan

I run a Chauffeur sevice & also do weddings if anyone asks me for a little extra cash from time to time & you could make some good money given the cars you have access to but i can see one major problem as the cars dont belong to you.

In my experience, people tend to book the cars well in advance, maybe 12 months or so in which case will be a big problem if you can not guarentee to have use of the vehicles or what if the owners decided to sell them?.

Wedding & funeral cars are the only people carrying vehicles exempt from being licensed by the local authority apart from psv etc but you still need the relevant public liability insurance.

If you intend to do other work apart from weddings, ie airport runs then you would need an operators license, a vehicle license & the drivers would each need to be licensed by the local authority.

It is a grey area regarding airport runs as part of a wedding car service as some insurers view a wedding as a pick up from home to church, then reception & thats it!. I see lots of people offering the airport package but i am quite sure this could be seen as ilegal by some local councils as the section 75 rule 1976 changed a few years ago & most people now are 'plated' even though they will have an exemption from displaying the taxi plate or stickers to their vehicle.

Hope this helps a little to you or anyone interested!.

Dean

 

[m.o.v]

alright people, firstly op well done for looking at a new angle. However I'm struggling to imagine how this will go down with a wedding planner? If you plan on offering a 2 seater to chauffer a newly married couple. 'ok honey, i'll see you later at the reception'. The chauffer might be mistaken for the groom sat beside the bride in wedding pics because the actual groom was hidden in the boot if it has one(no luggage for airport service either). I know you don't intend on using exotics for airpot service but think about the not so decrete image you would portray with a rolls. Might be better to offer a more fun and practical option for both rather than flash for the sake of flash. Trading post i hope my comments aren't too brent like still, only trying. What does your customer think about this idea?

 

[WeddingAlan]

Hi Alan

I run a Chauffeur sevice & also do weddings if anyone asks me for a little extra cash from time to time & you could make some good money given the cars you have access to but i can see one major problem as the cars dont belong to you.

In my experience, people tend to book the cars well in advance, maybe 12 months or so in which case will be a big problem if you can not guarentee to have use of the vehicles or what if the owners decided to sell them?.

Wedding & funeral cars are the only people carrying vehicles exempt from being licensed by the local authority apart from psv etc but you still need the relevant public liability insurance.

If you intend to do other work apart from weddings, ie airport runs then you would need an operators license, a vehicle license & the drivers would each need to be licensed by the local authority.

It is a grey area regarding airport runs as part of a wedding car service as some insurers view a wedding as a pick up from home to church, then reception & thats it!. I see lots of people offering the airport package but i am quite sure this could be seen as ilegal by some local councils as the section 75 rule 1976 changed a few years ago & most people now are 'plated' even though they will have an exemption from displaying the taxi plate or stickers to their vehicle.

Hope this helps a little to you or anyone interested!.

Dean

Hi Dean,

Thanks a lot for the info, that is exactly what I was looking for It seems the easiest way for me to operate is by sticking to weddings initially then later consider applying for the licence to enable me to do airport runs. The idea about the airport runs is really just an add on, my main business is the wedding hires,

I note your point about people booking the cars well in advance, I currently have 6 month contracts with the car owners for them to provide me with their vehicle. Maybe I could try and extend this but my feeling is, if all goes to plan and the car owners see good revenue coming to them they will be keen to keep their car on my list. I've even had one guy who said if I can get his car out enough he would consider buying another car for this purpose. I know it might cause a few problems but I believe it's workable.

Thanks again,
Alan

 

[WeddingAlan]

alright people, firstly op well done for looking at a new angle. However I'm struggling to imagine how this will go down with a wedding planner? If you plan on offering a 2 seater to chauffer a newly married couple. 'ok honey, i'll see you later at the reception'. The chauffer might be mistaken for the groom sat beside the bride in wedding pics because the actual groom was hidden in the boot if it has one(no luggage for airport service either). I know you don't intend on using exotics for airpot service but think about the not so decrete image you would portray with a rolls. Might be better to offer a more fun and practical option for both rather than flash for the sake of flash. Trading post i hope my comments aren't too brent like still, only trying. What does your customer think about this idea?

Well, the exotic 2 seaters are generally for groom and best man transport to the church, then it serves as best man transport to the venue. It would be highly unlikely a groom would want to travel alone to the venue after the ceremony, I'd say that'd be grounds for the first married fight!

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

alright people, firstly op well done for looking at a new angle. However I'm struggling to imagine how this will go down with a wedding planner? If you plan on offering a 2 seater to chauffer a newly married couple. 'ok honey, i'll see you later at the reception'. The chauffer might be mistaken for the groom sat beside the bride in wedding pics because the actual groom was hidden in the boot if it has one(no luggage for airport service either). I know you don't intend on using exotics for airpot service but think about the not so decrete image you would portray with a rolls. Might be better to offer a more fun and practical option for both rather than flash for the sake of flash. Trading post i hope my comments aren't too brent like still, only trying. What does your customer think about this idea?

There is no new angle here, groom arriving by sports car is fairly common.
I'm not sure what the David Brent comment relates to but I'd guess that you must be one of the forums imaginary businessmen who I have upset somewhere along the way by disagreeing when you posted I'll informed nonsense.

OP
My customer doesn't do airport runs as the cars are not suitable and the licensing requirements create too much hassle. As has already been confirmed wedding cars simply require appropriate insurance.

 

[m.o.v]

wasn't aware groom and best man arrived in sports cars. I don't see it myself, all of the extra costs involved with a high end car like that(depreciation could be wild if driven too much). will you be cheaper than renting for 24 hours? when you say this is not a new angle, are there already business' making a success of sports car hire with chauffer for weddings?

trading post your correct, have been noticing whilst reading each day on this forum that you have a habit of getting under peoples skin. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

 

[OldWelshGuy]

wasn't aware groom and best man arrived in sports cars. I don't see it myself, all of the extra costs involved with a high end car like that(depreciation could be wild if driven too much). will you be cheaper than renting for 24 hours? when you say this is not a new angle, are there already business' making a success of sports car hire with chauffer for weddings?

trading post your correct, have been noticing whilst reading each day on this forum that you have a habit of getting under peoples skin. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

I have a client in the wedding car business and trust me the issue here is that you don't see it, not that it doesn't apply

The bride has a car, the groom has a car, the bridesmaids often have another car, or the same car isused for both bride and maids (depends on the individual and other influences).

the bride and groom leave in another car.

very common is a limo (stretch or normal such as roller etc) the bride and groom leave together, mostly in the same car that the Bride and her father arrive in.

Also there is no depreciation here, the guy has repeatedly stated that he doesn't own the cars

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

wasn't aware groom and best man arrived in sports cars. I don't see it myself, all of the extra costs involved with a high end car like that(depreciation could be wild if driven too much). will you be cheaper than renting for 24 hours? when you say this is not a new angle, are there already business' making a success of sports car hire with chauffer for weddings?

trading post your correct, have been noticing whilst reading each day on this forum that you have a habit of getting under peoples skin. You must have a lot of time on your hands.

I don't know how profitable these businesses are as it is not something I'm involved with. Not very would be my guess but without sitting down and looking at numbers (which I have no intention of doing) I can't be sure.

The people that seem bothered by my posts tend to be clueless dreamers or people scraping a living but thinking in massive figures.
ACTUAL business people tend to either agree with me or offer a reasonable and opposing opinion which I may or may not see merit in but can respect that it comes from a source with thought and experience rather than a dreamer with no knowledge, experience or indeed business.

 

[m.o.v]

still, my opinion is it won't match up but agree the person that would know best is the one who tries. I'm curious still, are there any successful chauffer driven supercar rentals out there? I think people who do this at a weddings do so via friends vehicles or have a travellers approach to marriage. I will watch this with interest, hope i'm wrong again.

 

[m.o.v]

how much will this service cost on a f430 for best man and groom? At the end of the anything is possible but this is what people will base a lot of the desision on.

 

[oldeagleeye]

M.O.V

May I ask how old you are and what you do for a living because while other members may ask for opinions what they really mean is those as TP said based on experience and if we don't know what your business history is how can we judge the quality of your posts. Details then please.

Alan. If all fails. Buy an old Bentley that looks good even though the engines claped out and park out side the Registry Office. Then charge a fee for the bride getting in one side and out the other so that the family can take pic's of her seemingly arriving in a posh car.

Chap I know in my area been doing it for years nd made a small fortune and hasn't driven a mile - apart from his home and back to the registry office. Nice one eh

 

[Lee Jones Jnr]

http://www.northernferrarihire.com/weddings.htm

 

[WeddingAlan]

M.O.V

Alan. If all fails. Buy an old Bentley that looks good even though the engines claped out and park out side the Registry Office. Then charge a fee for the bride getting in one side and out the other so that the family can take pic's of her seemingly arriving in a posh car.

Chap I know in my area been doing it for years nd made a small fortune and hasn't driven a mile - apart from his home and back to the registry office. Nice one eh

Ha! That's an excellent idea! So simple but I'm sure it would work a treat.

I've been busy... Website almost ready, marketing plan in place. It's getting exciting now, generating a lot of local interest already, can't wait to get it out there.

All the cars and agreements are in place. I have a beautiful white Lamborghini Spider that really is exceptional.

Once things are up and running I'll post a link and let me know what you think.

With the way this company is structured we will only be marginally more expensive than "normal" wedding companies who are using the older Bentleys etc so we are competitive at the lower level too, not just high end (which we also service).

There are a few supercar hire companies offering wedding packages but my company is 100% geared for weddings with supercars, if I were a prospect looking for someone to supply cars for my wedding, i'd trust the guys that do only that, not just as a bolt on service to their existing business.

Alan

 

[DancingWithPoodles]

how much would you pay me if I rent you my S class?

 

[sanjiv]

how much would you pay me if I rent you my S class?

If you have an S Class, why don't you get proper hosting, word your website properly and be able to correctly write down your phone number? Oh and how do you make money from no products? Does Rachel Stevens really eat your chocolate and write a testimonial? Is your pricing for real?