GAH - Dealerships and buying 2nd hand

They are in demand and demanding high prices - even for the old shape.

Try Knaresborough Toyota (01423 867456) and see what they can offer. Ask for Lee if he's in and tell him you spoke to the Harrogate cabbie. He's spot on and I'm sure he'll try and do some deal for you, though I believe they can't allow too much off the new price. But if you don't ask you don't get!

I looked at three dealers and they were the best and most helpful (in my opinion). In fact that's one of the reasons I bought the car as dealer backup is important for me in my job.

 

Interesting, you're using the Prius as a cab?

How long and km (or miles)?

Any comments from customers?

Comments from the 'honorable' competition?

Best feature(s) as a cab?

Things that could be better?

Modifications to make it a cab?

Local cab regulations that might have had an impact?

Thanks,
Bob Wilson

 

Hi Bob

Yes I use my Prius as a cab and have done for the last 5500 miles since I collected the car towards the end of October 2009. The 2010 Prius was only released here around August/September so is still quite a rarity. In fact a Prius as a cab around my area is even rarer for either the 2004-2009 or the 2010 models - I have only seen one 2007 model in the next city.

I'll apologise now as I tend to waffle, but will give you the reasons for my choice. Been a cabbie since 2002 and have previously stuck to diesel cars as they have an economy saving of about 20% over petrol/gas cars. Our fuel prices are currently around $6.00 a US gallon so every mpg counts. Most of my work (about 90%) is stop start city driving and short journeys and I do about 35,000 to 40,000 miles per annum. Around town I averaged 26-31 mpg out of the previous diesels and so far I get between 43 & 52 mpg (UK gallons). It might be low to some other Prius owners but I don't hang around I also checked the web as I was concerned over reliabilty issues in the long run and I noticed they have Prius cabs in New York, Vancouver and they have them all over Australia and they seem to have no problems.

Before I chose the Prius I did my homework on the way business is changing due to the recession, fuel costs, tax issues etc. I was originally looking at the usual taxi candidates - Ford Mondeo diesel, Skoda Superb diesel, Passat diesel & Toyota Avensis diesel. In fact I liked the idea of the Prius but thought it might be too querky or too small to be a cab. To cut a long story short, I looked at the Prius whilst at the Toyota dealers, went for a test drive and that was it - I was smitten.

Well, to try n answer your quetions now;

Customer comments - They pretty much all love it. Hybrids are quite rare here, especially outside London. I am continually getting asked if I have to plug it in and what do I do if the battery runs out. Toyotas advertising really haven't got the hybrid message across to the UK public IMHO.

Honourable competition - lol honerable? A lot of them are interested, ask me questions all the time. I think they're using me as a Guinea Pig, see if I have any problems etc. Fuel costs have risen here by about 20% in the last year, yet our taxi rates are set by the local authority and went up about 1% last year. I think if I do ok by June time 2010 there might be a few more cabbies taking the plunge. In fact if I stop at airports dropping customers off I get a handful of taxi drivers crowd round to check it out.

Best feature as a cab? Has to be a/c and heating running for long periods without the engine running or petrol being consumed. Also, the rear leg room is great for the size of car.

Things that could be better - Has to be a bigger boot/trunk. I only just get by at the moment. Two big suitcases and I'm ok, three and I'm struggling. Three normal cases are ok and it's ideal for supermarket shopping pickups due to the hidden compartment in the boot/trunk floor. Also, could do with being a little wider.

Modifications to make it a cab - Installation of a taxi meter, two way radio and despatch computer system connected via radio. No problems encountered by the installer as it just hooks into the 12v system. Whether it affects 12v battery life in the long run remains to be seen!

Local cab regulations? Well we have vehicle age restrictions, so it was ok being brand new. There are also minimum rear seat widths which it made by about half an inch! I took the taxi inspector out for a drive and he loved it. I think he would have made an exception for the Prius even if it hadn't complied due to the low fuel consumption and low smog levels - esp as most cabs here are diesel.

All in all it has been very well received by all and so far it has exceeded my expectations. I have cut my fuel bills virtually in half, which considering I paid £6,900 last tax year on diesel, that's some saving! In fact the savings will be enough to pay for the car over 5 years. Petrol is now cheaper here than diesel so there are small savings there too. The latest diesel cars here all have the diesel particle filters to stop smog and that's great. Trouble is, as some of my fellow drivers are finding, is that some cars (and it appears to be manufacturer dependent) are having terrible trouble with these particle filters clogging up and failing due to constant town driving. Try a search on google and you will see what I mean.

Well, I've probably waffled on long enough. Hope I answered your questions but if you have any further queries, then feel free to ask me.

 

In Adelaide it is illegal to use a Prius for a taxi! Go figure!

Reason: - All taxis must be at least 6 cylinder cars. And the South Australian government claims to be Australia's greenest. However, 99% of Adelaide taxis run on LPG.

 

That is madness! But we have similar ridiculous laws here too. In London you can't have a Prius as a Taxi Cab you can hail - only a London Black Cab. You can have a Prius in London as a 'mini-cab' or privately hired cab. The taxi rules in London state that a rank taxi must have enough headroom for a gentleman to sit down with enough room for his top hat! Quaint but completely out dated and restrictive for the type of vehicles used.

Luckily my local authority are quite reasonable and just have an 8 year restriction in place along with a width restriction to enable 3 passengers in the rear. The Prius only just makes it. We do have 6 monthly MOT tests which fully test the vehicle for safety and emissions.

 

Eventually got some pics of the old girl;




Upto 6000 miles now already and still pleased, despite the odd annoying problem.