wedding car hire company new business

[ptf]

Hi all, thinking of starting a wedding car hire company witha couple of mercs, spoken to council and discussed licences (none required) but next step,is what insurance is required. As the car will only be weddings what do I need. thanks

 

[Chauffeur Centre]

Hello and welcome

You will need Hire and Reward insurance.

btw where are you based?

Regards

Simon

 

[silklink]

I wonder if you will need specific liability insurance, or is all that a part of the Hire and Reward scheme suggested by SimplaeSimonSays?

Also, what if - say you were booked for a wedding and on that day one of your cars lets you down or is involved in the accident. Do you or your customers need to insure against that to be able to go-get a car (quickly) from elsewhere?

 

[ptf]

I think that would be down to the bride and groom, as long as I specified it in terms etc. but I was not sure on the insurance. Obviously i need some form of Public liabilty

 

[Marzipan]

Word of mouth is invaluable for a wedding car business and saying it's the bride & groom's problem to sort themselves out on their big day if your car/s break down or something is the quickest way to put yourself out of business. Time to rethink your customer service strategy methinks!

 

[ptf]

Obviously I would not just say this, and we would do everything we could to sort any unfortunate incident, and it would all be worded in a nice way that in rare cases the worst could happen, and the customers would need to be aware of this as in my experience possible problems must be made clear to customers and you cant promise something you have not got, ie a spare car

 

[Chauffeur Centre]

As far as i know Hire and Reward insurance covers Pulic Liability Insurance.

What kind of Mercs are you thinking of? Classics or new?

If new/latest mercs, you can use a chauffeur firm like myself, or a firm closer to you, to use as back up.

It is a very competitive business, aswell as other wedding car hire firms, you are up against chauffeur and limo firms that can provide all sort of vehicles.

Aswell as using your own cars, I would advice you to set up an account with a chauffeur firm, so you can having access to a larger fleet if need be!

Some of the weddings I have done needed 10 or more cars, some wanted coaches aswell for the guests

Hope this helps

If you have anymore questions, just fire away!

Simon

 

[ptf]

thanks simon, to be honest this will only start as a part time operation as have my flooring business to keep running, but would love to build up with my very enthusiastic wife. It would be newish models, of mercs to start with, and have thougth about offering chauffer work as my dad is a private hire driver and the company he works for have a lot of big contracts and always ask for a good vehicle, but everyday cabs are not quite right in some cases, but our council (Crawley) say that wedding cars are exempt from any licensing but chauffer work is not which is fair enough, but then you have to have a plate on the rear, roof sign, and door decals, they did say that they would consider an exemption on the roof sign and possibly door decals, the plate could be replaced with a disc in the front and back window, but only in very rare circumstances and you had to prove that nearly all work was outside the borough, but most of the pickups would start in crawley.
Also whats the best way to source a car, looking as S and E class, although I think S would be best for obvious reasons. Looked at buying but what about leasing. And realisticly would you recommend this option of wedding cars only as an eventual money maker.
Thanks, Paul

 

[Chauffeur Centre]

Yes, unfortunetly cabs and chauffeured cars fall under the rules and regulations.

My cars are licensed by the public carriage office (PCO) in london. Therefore there are no plates on my cars. Decal and signs on cars are not allowed with PCO cars, except an "optional" operators logo on rear window.

The only way to tell my cars from all other private cars, is we have a small green badge on front and rear windows. For our chauffeur cars, limo tints and a sunstrip for the frront will almost make these badges invisible.

In know you are in crawley, but maybe you can register with the PCO.

If you planning to do chauffeur work, you will need an operators license, to take bookings legally

Hope this helps

Simon

 

[ptf]

made some progress today and have got an insurance quote from footman james and it seemed a good deal. Next to look at is the car itself, thinking s class but in your experience what is the best colour for wedding hire silver or dark and I was thinking of one car to start is this a good idea. As for advertising etc, what would be the best without wasting too much money. Obviously a good website and i presume wedding fairs with some quality cards and leaflets, and maybe approaching wedding dress shops etc.

 

[vgbear]

HI

I would approach all the wedding suppliers in your area such as florists, cake makers etc and ask if you could leave some leaflets and possibly ask for a link on there website and you could do the same.

Wedding fairs are a must, and if you cannot always attend try teaming up with someone and ask if you can put your leaflets with theirs and you will do the same at a different event.

I make wedding invitations and at the last one I attended i teamed up with a photographer where we each put each others leaflets in a bag together and split the bags.

Also your local parish magazine and free paper are invaluable for putting adverts in, In the trade forum there is a whole thread about parish magazines.

Also word of mouth is the best tool. Once you have those first couple of bookings and do them well, people will pass your details on without even asking.

I have found this for the last couple of invitations I have done. They have asked me if it is ok to pass my details on to friends.

If there is anything else just ask.