Buying a second hand Private Hire Vehicle

For those starting out in the minicab trade we usually recommend that you rent a minicab before you buy one so that you get used to the new job and to reduce the upfront costs that come with getting PCO licensed. Any vehicle you do use will need to be a licenced Private Hire Vehicle (PHV).

If you have a private hire vehicle for sale or are looking to buy one please visit this site which offers used cars for sale.

Once you have gained more knowledge and experience and are glad with your choice to become a private hire driver in London you may decide to either use your own car or buy a new one. From January 2012 new rules were bought into place which imposed vehicle age restrictions and these are:

• Vehicles can be no older than 10 years from January 2012.
• From April 2012 all vehicles that are new to licensing must be no older than 5 years.
• All newly licensed PHVs must meet the Euro 4 standards as a minimum.

So be aware of the above because if you are buying a car which already has a PHV licence then it will only have a certain amount of life left in it as a minicab if it is approaching it’s 10th birthday. E.g a car on an ’05 plate could only be licensed until 2015.

If you’re buying a car that doesn’t have a current PHV licence then please make sure it’s less than 5 years old and also that it meets the minimum Euro 4 emissions standards.

With the above rules, currently in 2013, it makes sense to buy a second hand car that already has a PHV licence and is registered with the PCO and has held the registration since before 2012. This will allow you you buy a cheaper car and allow you to re-register the car until it is 10 years old. However, purchasing a brand new car will give you the full 10 years use as a Private Hire Vehicle (so long as you get it licensed every year). You will no doubt clock up a fair bit of mileage so the resale value of a new vehicle will decrease dramatically. Logically, all older vehicles will be phased out and all PHV’s will fall in the new desired age bracket of being no more than a max of 10 years old.