Welcome Home !!!

DC · Veteran Member

Newbies driving cab fulltime soon. Appreciates help on some questions?

fairfare · Senior Guru

hi DC

welcome to our taxiuncle forum...rest be assured if you continue to participate in this forum in no time you'll have lots of cabby friends from here...we are a bunch of friendly cabbies (young & old) & we do meet to lim kopi & talk **** or learn from each other...principle objective is to unite cabbies instead of being a loose sand like so many out there

as to your questions...have patience our sonata or silvercabsbros will response soon

have a pleasant stay here...after you got your cab then you may log in your stats in 'reception' smile

btw...how you came to know our site? idea

taxiuncle · Senior Guru

i was one who in the same situation like you 6 months ago. i was between a
sonata or skoda. in the end, i choosethe blueover silver becos of the GPS
and call-booking. also, cheaper diesel, more diesel kiosk to choose n easier
to get a relief driver if you need one.

i dont know if the rule has changed but for me, the penalty for breaking the
contract is $500 fine.

the next collection date for new sonata is 10/7/08. if you are collecting on
the same date as i mentioned, you may meet our member camrylimo. wink

our another member bryan should be thenext person to answer your
query on why blue over silver cos he was once a silverbird now a blue bird. biggrin

one man's meat is another man's poison. if you are intended to drive alone
and planned to rest on sunday, a silver may suit you with the 2 sunday rental
free package.

well, hope you get the right choice n feel free to raise your question here.

enjoy your stay. smile

DC · Veteran Member

fairfare wrote:

hi DC

welcome to our taxiuncle forum...rest be assured if you continue to participate in this forum in no time you'll have lots of cabby friends from here...we are a bunch of friendly cabbies (young & old) & we do meet to lim kopi & talk **** or learn from each other...principle objective is to unite cabbies instead of being a loose sand like so many out there

as to your questions...have patience our sonata or silvercabsbros will response soon

have a pleasant stay here...after you got your cab then you may log in your stats in 'reception'

btw...how you came to know our site?

Hello fairfare,
Thks for the warm welcome. I got to know this site thru MCF where there have been alot of discussion on taxi driving. Imho, i guess alot of ppl is very bias against cab driver due to some unpleasant encounters on the road but then i do believe these "taxi drivers" are a minority and the majority are still law abidding guys trying to make a decent living in our little island country. I have been driving for ard 10 years and so far have encounter some nice cab drivers, including 1 who help to jumpstart my car when my battery suddenly died..haha.

DC

DC · Veteran Member

Hey Taixuncle,
Glad to hear some feedback from you regarding the blue vs silver. So u actually start driving a cab 6 months back, a career change for you too?
I have not been calling up Premier recruitment centre so i not too familiar with their perks. Huh..2 sundays every month sounds good but then comfort still got the cheaper diesel/ease of maintenance/GPS booking on their side, so i think this could easily tip the scale. I think i will call up premier recruitment centre on monday to find out more on their perks. The truth is i'm still leaning towards comfort cos they got the biggest fleet so theoritically they should have better perks & benefits.
Anyway, its good u guys form a online community to share info/tips, help to foster unity and also let the outside community understand more about taxi driving, both the good & bad sides.
I will definitely join u guys for coffee session if i decide to go fulltime driving cab. It's definitely good to have a group of like-minded pals to chitchat and gossips about the ever increasing numbers of erp gantry or the rocketing inflation spore is experiencing..haha.

DC

uncle_dan · A Forum Supporter

Bro CamryLimo, u jump over to the "blue" ???
Do u hv to pay any penalty for ur Camry ??

stkee · Guru

Hi DC,
Welcome and hope to see you soon. As for silver or comfort, I was with comfort for 3 year before I switch to silver for 6 month because of the kia magentis, but decided to go back to comfort and got a sonata. Below are some of my views on the 2 company and the vehicle itshelf...

1) Comfort has got the cheapest diesel and most kiosk around the island, more call bookings, established infrastructure and work proceedures.
Current comfort benefits is about $200++ bonus given every 3 to 4 months, for the sonatas, it is 1 year contract and if you break the contract is $500 penalty.
Comfort is currently giving 3 free rental days, but the cash bonuses make up for it.
Call bookings is average about 5 to 6 per days is you work both peak hours, and you have the benefits of able to collect cashless payment, eg. credit cards, nets, coporate vouchers, etc...
Comfort cashless payment will be credited into your account usually on the next working day...

2) Silver has got lots of perks and benefits to attrach new drivers, so please consider them thouroughly...
For the silver magentis, they offered a benefit package of 2 alternate weekends free rental per month, provided no outstanding rental payment for the previous month, and $600 no-claim bonus yearly.
Their contract period is 1 year.
And if you want to take bookings, you are required to sign their walkie talkie services at $29 per month for 1 year contract...
If you break the contract it will be $500 for cab and $250 for the walkie talkie service.
My 6 month with silver I only manage an average of 1 to 2 bookings per day if you are lucky.
Silver also can collect credit card payment , but if is manual method where you need to call the bank to verified and the amount will only come to you in about 1 month time. Thus, many silver drivers doesn't take credit payment.
One thing that make me leave silver is that their accounting sucks... You have to verified with them every onw and then to make sure that they record you daily rental payment correctly, or you will lose you following months free rental days... It become a pain in the a#@ in the long run...

Enough about the 2 companys... now on to the cars...

The Sonata and the Magentis are both the same if you remove the outside shell or body works... Both have the same 2.0 CRDI CVT diesel engine and 4 speed auto transmission with sports mode.
After driving both vehicles, the magentis has a sportier feel when it comes to driving it as it is a lighter car compare to the sonata, but the sonata feels more stable more refine when comes to driving...
Fuel consumptions both are the same at about 11km/ltr depends on how light is your right foot.
The sonata also sounds quieter in the cabin as compared to the magentis.
The interior trim looks more dull and plastics in the sonatas, whereas, the magentis looks better and slightly more upclass and well built.

I guess thats is all I can remember of for now... bros got anything to add? And hope that it helps... you are always welcome to ask as many questions and the bros here will try to answer them for you...

CamryLimo · A Forum Mentor

Firstly, I make "SMART" terminate me so as not to pay any penalty. The reason given to me was I had 3 accidents in a short span irregardless if its my fault or not and also for being a hard-core client to them.

And to our new member DC, make yourself confortable in here... I also gave up my $3k salary with an IT firm and I'm also fedup with the corporate world and beiong a business minded person (had been into food business before), I decide to give taxi driving a try. I did relief driving first driving a sonata with comfort, then switch over to the new camry taxi with SMART, my conclusion? Driving with Singapore's biggest taxi company among others is still much better compare to the bonus & incentives for hirer.

Getting a new sonata comes with a 1 year contract with $1,000 as a security deposit in case of any 3rd part accident claim. If you breach the contract, there is a penalty fee that you have to pay. Less than 1 year but more than 6 mths, penalty is $500. Less than 6 mths, penalty is more than $500 (cant recall how much). Security deposit will not be forfeited unless you didn't pay the penalty fee.

I have decided to take a used sonata with less than 1 year, so my contract with them is 6 mths or less. Hopefully I can get a relief for night shift :X

taxiuncle · Senior Guru

CamryLimo wrote:

I have decided to take a used sonata with less than 1 year, so my contract with them is 6 mths or less. Hopefully I can get a relief for night shift :X

i got someone staying in the west looking fora cab to drive
atnight. let me know if you need him n i can pass you his contact.

taxiuncle · Senior Guru

DC wrote:

Hey Taixuncle,
Glad to hear some feedback from you regarding the blue vs silver. So u actually start driving a cab 6 months back, a career change for you too?

DC

well, it could be a temp one, i dont know, anyway the contract is juz for 1 year.

maybe you should try driving as a relief for a start. driving a taxi
full-time is not as easy as you may see. it can be very tiring and
sometime stressful when youcant made enough for a shift.

you must really think n consider very carefully b4 you sign on the
dotted line.

stkee · Guru

Agreed with the bros here, it is best to drive as a relief to see if you like the kind of lifestyle... it not my advice is to get a old toyota crown with no contract and try it out for yourself... Atleast if you decided it is not your kind of job, there is no panalty to pay. Just need to give them 2 weeks notice and you can move on...

bluenuts · Veteran Guru

Aiyo DC DC DC....don tell the lao chiao on the street tat u used to earn 4k per mth hor, they cfm say why u so stupid, got 4k/mth dowan, come on the street compete with them, sigh...
Anyway, welcome on board.
Whether u are goin to be full time or not, u r still welcome here.
U expect 1-2k per mth driving full time fm mon-sat, 2p.m-3a.m, r u crazy??
U r putting in at least 12hr per day, 6 days a week and you only expect 2k max??
Tats only $8/hr, r u sure tats wat u gave up 4k/mth for????
Not to 4get there's no off/leave, no year end bonus, no CPF, no M.C, all these benefit no longer exist, lost 4ever from the dictionary, r u sure u ok with tat?????
Quote wat a lao chiao told me what his lao chiao told him more than 20yrs ago.
"Work hard, there's no other way. No secret to success in this job, juz PLAIN HARD WORK."
Btw, it's not how much you can earn, it's how much you gona spend tat count.
Oh...one last thing, you die die muz love driving, or at least like driving, if not you can call it a day early.

Drive · Guru

Bluenuts called in as the last thing...I must say it is the First thing to consider when taking in the Taxi driving Profession.

You must LOVE to drive. Hours on end. Drive till your knees hurt, your back stiff and your bladder bursting. Drive till your eyes blurred, your road sense blanked then quickly park by the roadside and grab some shut-eye and continue again..........

Be prepared not to be another statistic of the road...........all for another fare... flag down rate of $2.80 or $3.00 or $3.20.

If you can dont think about the Fare and just enjoy providing "SERVICE" in the "Public'??Transport" arena..then the rewards of earning enuff to feed and house the family is there. But if you want to live in Good Class bungalows and eat Abalone everyday then this proffesion will not support you.

-- Edited by Drive at 11:28, 2008-06-22

8_trigrams · A Forum Supporter

Hi welcome.

My advice is to be a relief first.

I start as a relief to try out. The beginning was fine even though I took a lot of wrong roads and giving rebates to the paxs. But after a few months, it become more and more mentally stress. The same roads, the same working space( your cabin), lone ranger when no paxs, long hours hunting. Now after the farehike, more taxis and less paxs, but fare more. It means if you cannot win other taxis to find enough paxs, fare more also no use. And driving on the road for months, 6 days a week, 12 hours a day is no joke. Your focus must be "on" for 8-12 hours, not like office where you did something wrong, you might able to cover up. There is no 2nd chance on the road. Right now, I'm still driving as a relief and still find it stressful, so no way for me to be a full time as I know I wouldn't be able to take the contract stress. Yes, more benefit, but extra stress.

Cab wise, I start with sonata, then sliver, then back sonata again. Reasons is as mentioned by bros above. I add one more that is when raining, you can at least have bookings coming in. It is hard to find paxs on the road when raining, so cruise for booking. But one more thing I personnally find: slivercab seem faster than sonata.

Alll the best with safe driving.

Bryan · A Forum Mentor

Hi DC,

Firstly welcome to this forum and hope you will find it useful. Just shoot whatever questions here and Im sure there will be someone to give you a answer.

As for comparing silver to the blue, Silver will have at least 2 free sunday every month provided payment is prompt. You must not have any outstanding payment and need to clear before 15th and 30th of the month to entitle the free rental. Im was driving a 3 years old crown so accident free I am paid $70 per month. Other than these there is basically nothing much and the diesel price is not that cheap .

As for the blue company, I can feel that I am earning more because the diesel is cheaper, cashless payment like nets, visa, mastercard, amex, corporate charge card etc. Please do not underestimate their corporate charge card which will help you bring in lots of income too. Next there is the booking call system which bro stkee already mentioned earlier and it will be an average of 6 call per day but if you know how to position yourself in a better position then your call booking may exceed 10 and above.

My reason for leaving the silver company : expensive diesel, no cashless, no booking.

My advise to you will be to join the blue maybe as a relief to see if you like the job or you may like to consider driving a crown to start off first.

-- Edited by Bryan at 12:30, 2008-06-22