Do you know if a taxi driver would make a good chauffeur? There are many people who do ‘driving’ roles, who consider becoming a private chauffeur. A taxi driver is one of them, but also couriers, for example. The answer is not just ‘yes’ or ‘no’, as being a private chauffeur is so much more than just driving people around. It is not suited for everyone, even if you are the best taxi driver. But there are things you can consider that could help you to become a great private chauffeur. Find out everything here!
Why a Chauffeur Isn’t a Taxi Driver
When you are wondering whether a taxi driver would make a good chauffeur, we need to first understand the differences. If you have only ever driven a taxi before, you might struggle to settle in as a chauffeur. Simply because it is a different style of work. There will also be more expected from you.
More Than Just Transportation
A big difference between a chauffeur and a taxi driver is that a chauffeur is there to build up a bond with the person they are driving. You are most likely only working for one, maybe several households or people. But you never have the amount of variety as a taxi driver would have. So you are there to offer a service, more than just transporting someone from A to B.
Service & Special Touches
A chauffeur knows what type of music someone likes to listen to, during a trip. Or when they do not need any background music at all. They will have someone’s favourite bottled water chilled and ready in the car, or any snacks they know the person likes. As a chauffeur, you are providing a luxury travel experience. So all the special touches make a big difference. You will open the car doors, and close them again. You will handle any luggage, and make conversation when they want to. You are there to give the most comfortable travel experience, whatever that may mean.
Driving Style
The driving style of a chauffeur will be different from a taxi driver too. Chauffeurs have something called the ‘hot coffee’ test. This means you should be able to drive smoothly in such a way, that your passenger can drink a hot cup of coffee in the back seat without it spilling anywhere. Now, this does not mean you should drive very slowly! The technique is to still remain at the right speed, but drive steadily for the most comfortable driving experience.
What Are The Similarities
This may seem obvious – but a taxi driver and a chauffeur are similar in more ways than you may think. Of course, as just discussed above, there are many differences. But if you are looking at whether a taxidriver would make a good chauffeur, the similarities are important to consider too.
Road & Traffic Knowledge
Firstly, a taxidriver has excellent knowledge of roads and traffic. This is a crucial skill to have as a chauffeur. Your task still is to get your passenger to their aimed destination at the right time, without the journey taking too long. So knowing the roads is crucial. Knowing traffic, spots that can get busy on certain days, and back roads, all of that counts. So knowing this as a taxi driver will help you enormously, when you apply for jobs as a chauffeur!
The Social Experience
Everyone knows a taxi driver loves a chat! It is a very social profession, and being a chauffeur can definitely be like that too. You need to understand what type of person you have in your car, and what kind of experience they want. Are they looking for a fun, lighthearted chat? Do they need to make lots of serious phone calls and require peace and quiet? Or perhaps they might be best-suited listening to the news, or some music. Taxi drivers understand these dynamics like no other, and this skill will be perfectly applicable to chauffeur roles too.
How a Taxi Driver Can Become a Chauffeur
If you are a taxi driver looking to become a chauffeur, what you will need to look at is the service aspect. Working for a private household or principal is different from driving many different people around, and clients will be looking for you to be able to offer this level of service. What you can do to understand and achieve this, is take the right training courses.
The Right Training
You can go as extensive as a Butler training course, for example. This will give you are really solid, extensive training into how to provide the highest level of service in the car, and beyond, Etiquette training can be suited too, especially for having the right types of conversations with people from all different walks of life, backgrounds and nationalities. Combining these skills with your taxi driving skills will get you set up solidly for private chauffeuring roles!
How can Polo & Tweed help you?
If you are looking to transform your career from taxi driver to chauffeur, we can help! Polo & Tweed can help you find the right roles, and set you up with training courses too. Our training academy offers in-person and online training courses in Butler training, etiquette training and much more. And when you are ready to apply for jobs, you can register on our books here, or have a look at all our live vacancies here, where you can apply directly too!