Don’t forget to consider the cost of taxi insurance
When you want to start a business as a taxi driver, you have to include the cost of taxi insurance in your budget. Even though you might already have or had a car insurance for your other vehicle, the insurance for a taxi is completely different and of course more expensive. Indeed, you must not only be insured to protect your vehicle and yourself, but also to protect your customers in the case of an accident. There are similarities with a normal car insurance though, it is that you have different options that will have an influence on the cost of taxi insurance.
First, you have to consider under which type of taxi insurance you fall, private hire insurance or public hire insurance. The distinction is very simple, the first concerns what is usually called minicabs, the other one is for straightaway pick up cars such as black cabs. Because your business depends directly from the possibility for you to drive your car, you want to have it back on road as soon as possible after a breakdown, an accident, a fire or criminal damage, or any other incident that will stop you from working.
The cost of taxi insurance will then be driven by how many options you will take on your contract. You will at least need a public liability to protect you if anything happens to your passengers. This will help you dealing with the judicial side of the claim. You might also want to add third party fire and theft, breakdown and assistance as well as loss of income in your policy.
It is not a surprise that the cost of taxi insurance is higher than normal car insurance because of the higher risk a taxi represents for the insurers. But you can still find good deals if you get many quotes to compare. With the internet, it is easy and quick to get taxi insurance quotes from which you can choose. There are often deals if you buy a policy on the internet and this will lower the cost of taxi insurance. But remember that a cheap taxi insurance might not always cover you efficiently.