Hi,

Hello

You have maybe heard this a million times, but I am thinking of coming over to New York to try my hand at being an NYC cabbie.

Good luck

I have been in the Hackney Taxi Industry in the UK for many many years...so its not as if I am a greenhorn to the actual business of taxi driving..

It's structured differently here. There, pass THE Knowledge, buy a car, you are in business. Here, pass a much easier test, then you either lease a car and a medallion from a garage on a daily or weekly basis, or lease the medallion and buy the car, or buy the medallion and the car. If you plan to do it short term, lease medallion and car is best, longer term say 3-5 years lease medallion buy car is best, long term then buy medallion buy car is the best. The only value in this business is the medallion, so eventually you want to get one if you plan to stay long term.

What I wanted to know was, what is the earning potential like over there ?.. In the UK we are being kicked to death on all fronts, with the cost of fuel going through the roof and a large increase in the number of runners, which is a real pain. Plus we are sitting around doing something very close to nothing all day now.. The earning potential here has fallen out of bed in a big way.. On a Saturday night , it used to be fairly Gauranteed that you would take £300 for the night, but now..nowhere near..

Hard to say, it really depends upon how you operate the business. If you work leasing daily on the day shift, you make peanuts. If you lease weekly and work nights its more, if you own or lease the medallion and don't have to come running back to the garage to change shift its the most. Think $100-$130 day shift, $200 night, and if you own the medallion and its paid off, and you are willing to work it hard, you can pocket all the lease fees and make over 100k. But owning a medallion takes a while

Anyway any advice would be welcome..as I say it is something I wanna do , and now I have myself an American wife I think it is a good time to do it .

If you plan to do it, plan to try to buy a medallion as soon as possible. Its a very good long term investment.

Reagrds..mr cab

Tally Ho!

Antolin,

Mr. Cab:

Firstly , Thanks for the information, I have now got an idea of the route I would like to take.

You are welcome anytime.

I have looked at the information on this site regarding the purchase of Medallions, and at the moment if I am realistic the outright purchase of one is a little beyond my means , and I would think that I am not alone in that

They are expensive, usually you need about 10% down to get one, then you pay over time. It usually works out to about the same payment, give or take a few dollars, as to what you would pay weekly to lease the medallion and buy the car..

Your comments got me to thinking though, is there a lease purchase system for medallions ?.

There used to be, when medallions went begging,a deal where you would agree to pay for like 3 years, and then some of that would be used to buy the medallion. Forgetaboutit now though.

If I got my own cab , which is the route I am thinking of , how would the medallion work on that ? .

You buy the cab, and lease the medallion.....if you can find one to lease. This time of the year is the busyiest, so medallions are hard to find. The medallion would run you around $800/wk maybe more, the car around 900.month, and you pay off the car after 3 years. The remaining two years the only payment would be the medallion, plus ALL the repairs and expenses of maintaining a vehicle. You are allowed to get a second driver to drive the other shift. This is the second best alternative if you plan to be in the business a while- because you have more control over your shifts and expenses.

Again , thanks for the information you have provided, look forward to being out there soon

Save up for the medallion. Long term, it is an excellent investment.

Seeya soon,

Antolin