3 Important Factors To Consider Before Hiring a Taxi Driver For Cab Business
If you’re a transportation company looking for a taxi driver, you might be dealing with an increased demand for transportation in your city. A taxi driver can help you keep more vehicles in service and reduce dispatcher downtime.
This industry requires customer service and safety, that’s why you should be aware of the factors that affect your success and failure in this venture.
You might think that hiring a cab driver may not seem like such an important decision. That time could indeed be better spent on other aspects of running a business. However, every decision you make has an impact on the outcome. Before hiring taxi drivers, check out these three important factors to ensure your business is headed in the right direction.
In this post, we’re going to discuss important factors that you should know before hiring taxi drivers for cab business. But before that, let’s start with the basics!
Why Should You Hire Taxi Drivers?
In today’s economy, plenty of people are finding themselves in need of a taxi every day. Whether you’re stuck in traffic and can’t make it back to your office in time or you’ve forgotten to take an important item back to your home, there’s no doubt that getting picked up by your local taxi service can be an incredible — and sometimes life-saving — convenience.
Everything is going back to normal these days(flights, tourism, work, schools, etc). That is why hiring taxi drivers to join your business is a smart move.
Adding drivers to your team can help your business, including improving productivity and profitability. Here are some benefits of hiring new taxi drivers:
- Increase the number of taxis that are available for your customers
- Encourage friendly competition among your existing drivers to increase their sales
- Reduce the amount of time it takes to dispatch drivers, which will make your customers happier for the prompt service
Factors To Consider Before Hiring a Taxi Driver
Hiring drivers for your cab business is an important decision. You want to make sure that you hire the best possible people and that they can provide high-quality service. If you’re considering hiring a driver, here are three things you should keep in mind:
Run a Thorough Background Check
One of the most important factors to consider before hiring a taxi driver is getting a background check done. This is to ensure the safety of both your passengers and your taxi business.
There are a lot of companies offer comprehensive pre-employment screenings for taxi service providers. You should look into them before making any final decisions on whether someone is qualified enough to drive or not.
You can thoroughly cross-check and verify their records by asking for a criminal records search together with a background check. Criminal background checks are an essential part of the hiring process.
Why? Because they will help ensure that the driver isn’t associated with any sort of illegal activity and is trustworthy enough to keep your customer safe, as well as to ensure that your company property is safe in the hands of drivers.
These types of searches will let you know if a the applicant has committed any crimes, which can be your basis to determine if you should hire a candidate, especially if the results are related to road or traffic violations, or even felonies.
Conduct a Drivers License Search
Next, confirm that the driver’s license is valid and not expired. The name on the driver’s license should match their real name, as well as being from the state with jurisdiction over your cab business.
You can do this by hiring a professional investigator to find a Driver’s License Number so you can verify the information submitted is correct and to assist in cross-referencing driving records received from the DMV.
You should consider this to verify the accuracy of personal information submitted by a taxi driver applicant to your business and, if the submitted information is incorrect, to obtain correct information for the applicant.
Ask for a Vehicle Owner Search
In the taxi industry, there are a few types of taxi drivers. There are four types, actually:
- Owner-operators – purchase a taxi, lease their taxi out to other drivers, set their own rules, and schedule
- Independent subletters – lease a cab from a specific taxi company and pay to use it to represent that company
- Taxi leasers – leasers contract with a taxi company to use their cab
- Rideshare drivers – use their vehicles to provide transportation for customers, they are freelance or contact employees
Does the applicant have their own vehicle? If you prefer hiring taxi drivers with their own personal vehicle, you should consider running a vehicle owner search to verify that the vehicle they will use to work for you is registered to them. After all, you will need the details of their vehicle to add them to your private hire fleet insurance, if they are not insured on their own.
If you are in states that permit searching vehicle owners by plate numbers, checking the plate number will return results such as the registered vehicle owner’s name and address. A reverse license plate search can be useful when trying to find out more about a car or its owner.
Other Important Characteristics You Should Look For on an Applicant
When your driver has these qualities, you can ensure that your customers experience a more enjoyable experience. Here are other qualities you should look for in a taxi driver:
Responsible
You want to feel sure that the person driving your vehicle is a responsible person who will obey the rules of the road and traffic limits, practice car safety, and maintain a clean vehicle.
Local Knowledge
It’s important to find a taxi driver who knows the area well and can help passengers get to their destination quickly. Nothing frustrates a customer more than a taxi driver that doesn’t have a strong knowledge of traffic routes in the area.
Punctual and Honest
Every taxi cab driver should operate a service that is both honest and punctual. This means getting to the passenger’s destination on time and avoiding potentially unnecessary routes. The taxi driver should also NOT take advantage of passengers or increase their fees.
Cleanliness And Hygiene
A taxi cab is a driver’s office. So the vehicle needs to be clean and hygienic because a dirty cab reflects poorly on the driver’s professionalism, and more importantly, on the company’s reputation.
Hospitable
Good taxi drivers offer polite greetings to their passengers and help them with any bags or luggage. If a passenger needs physical assistance when entering or exiting the car, a good driver will be ready to lend a hand.
Hopefully this guide will help you make the best choice. You are not only picking the right candidates for your business but also the best for your customers.
As an employer, you are responsible for the people you hire.
As an employer, you are responsible for the people you hire. You need to make sure that they have all the necessary skills and experience to perform their job effectively.
You’re responsible for your passengers’ safety too! While taxi drivers are required by law to carry a commercial driver’s license (CDL), this doesn’t mean that having one makes them safe drivers. Some CDL holders may not have a clean driving record, so it will be up to you as an employer to ensure that these types of drivers don’t make it onto your team’s fleet.
This is an important task that should not be taken lightly or quickly. Take your time until you finally match your business with the right taxi drivers who possess the qualifications and skills mentioned in this blog.
Conclusion
If you are planning to start a cab business, make sure you get yourself a qualified and experienced professional driver who will provide comfortable transportation for your customers.
In this way, you not only ensure that your customers get the best service but also provide them with comfort and make them feel special whenever they ride in one of your company cabs.
With these factors in mind, you will have a better handle on the situation in order to make a decision that’s right for you and your business. To help minimize the risk of hiring a bad taxi driver, you should thoroughly check his or her background and credentials. Doing this can ensure that the right candidate gets hired, which will save you time and money, and increase your workload efficiency.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to us to discuss the points we have made in this article. Searchbug has been in the industry for more than 25 years, and our investigator-assisted services such as Background Check, Drivers License Search, and Vehicle Owner Search have helped both businesses and individuals with our intelligent data and quick turnaround time.
Visit www.searchbug.com today and chat with us if you have any questions in mind.
