The benefits of taxi insurance for the sole taxi owner, or a company with many cabs and drivers, cannot be underestimated, providing that you have the exact cover you need and the specific cover suitable for your business. In order to determine if you have the right level of cover, you really need to get your current policy out and have a good look at it.

Revising your existing policy is often necessary because you may have had the same policy for a number of years, simply renewing the same policy over and over again, and many things may have changed during this time. There could be changes to your individual circumstances, you may have increased the number of taxis in your fleet, or there could be more comprehensive cover available to you that you are currently unaware of.

Just as your circumstances change from year to year, so do the insurance products offered by insurance firms, even if you do decide to stay with the same provider. Once you have your current policy in your hands, look at the level of excess you will need to pay if you have to make a claim, look at the specific level of cover you have and what it will cover you for, look at the number of taxis you currently have listed against the policy. Although this may be time consuming and there may be some fine print to get through, it is the only way to determine if your current policy is still adequate for your taxi business needs. While you are looking at the details closely, it might be a good idea to make a list of the cover you think is suitable and a list of some changes you need to make. This will give you a basis to work from when you are discussing your needs further with an insurance broker.

You can also use the lists you have created to compare a number of insurance carriers against your current policy, to see how it stacks up. You may find you can get a more comprehensive taxi insurance cover from a different carrier offering a different policy, and you may even find that you are paying higher premiums that you need to be. Cheap taxi insurance is available and offered through a number of insurance providers, but you will need to read the policy details carefully. Having cheap taxi insurance is a great way to save money each month, but not when it doesn’t cover you adequately, when you need to make a claim.

If you work for yourself and own your own individual taxi, then chance are, you are the primary breadwinner in your family. You need to think about protecting your business and your family by having the appropriate level of taxi insurance cover. If you have a fleet of taxis and many drivers, you are required to protect yourself, your employees and your vehicles. Large businesses may benefit from obtaining cheap taxi insurance, although your priority really should be the level of cover that you receive.

Gone are the days when black cabs could only be seen on the streets of London. Export of the iconic London taxi is thriving, and a recent addition has just been made to Norway’s growing collection.

Cultures are synonymous with the iconic images that represent them. From a distance, cities are remembered for the repetitive images they bombard us with. London: phone boxes, double-decker buses, black cabs – memorable both for the uniqueness of their design and the abundance of their presence. They are everywhere, and etch a permanent mark upon our memories.

Ideal

Audun Asphjell has imported a classic London taxi to his home city of Trondheim, where he has started a chauffeur service, offering customers an authentic experience of exclusive urban travel. The taxi is a version of the classic Austin FX4, one of the most enduring designs in British motor history.

The FX4 first appeared in 1958, and remained in production, albeit in modified form, until 1997. Asphjell owns a 1996 model Fairway Driver, a variation on the FX4, which was introduced in 1993 with a Nissan diesel engine, manufactured by London Taxi International. His is one of only a few thousand built for use on European roads, with the steering wheel on the left.

Asphjell’s decision to import a black cab arose through a combination of creative entrepreneurship and a lifelong interest in old, classic cars. Three years ago, he was an unemployed journalist, considering his options and in need of a more secure means of making a living. He started driving taxis to earn some money, and soon realised that it would be much more profitable for him to own a vehicle of his own.

Asphjell, an independent and creative individual, saw this as an opportunity to try something adventurous.

“I like to do things a bit differently and not follow the mainstream”, he told me.

Initially, he considered importing an old American car, before realising that a black cab, with its iconic status and unrivalled reputation for reliability, would be ideal.

Once this business was up and running, providing him with enough of an income to set out on his original venture, Asphjell began the search for a black cab. Because of his interest in old cars, he had heard about London Taxi International, the Coventry based manufacturer, and knew which model to look for.

The vehicle he bought, which had previously been used as a taxi in Düsseldorf, had driven 330,000km when he bought it, which, he says, is not much at all. Black cabs have an extremely long life expectancy. Asphjell told me that there are taxis that have passed the one million mile mark.

“Mine has just started,” he tells people. “It is a very solid car, one of the most solid cars ever built.”

Distinctive

Asphjell believes that the design of the black cab significantly improves the passengers’ experience, compared to a journey in a normal taxi. One of the most distinctive features is the screen that divides the passenger compartment from the driver’s seat. Having driven normal taxis for years, Asphjell can see that “people relax more when they sit in the back of this car. They can talk more freely. In a normal taxi, they suddenly have a stranger in their company, and it puts a restraint on their conversation.”

Asphjell’s chauffeur service has been going for two months now, and business looks promising. Most of his Saturdays are booked up with weddings, which have, so far, provided most of his business. He is even considering the possibility of purchasing another vehicle in order to be able to cater for more weddings, which tend to fall on the same day. He is sensibly cautious, however, and wants to see how things work out during the first year before seriously considering expanding.

Most of his other custom comes from driving people from ‘vorspiel’ (private parties in people’s homes before going out) to bars and clubs in the city. He wears a traditional chauffeur’s uniform when he drives the cab, complete with a vintage 1950s hat which he bought from a specialist shop in Trondheim.

His work driving the electric taxis has provided financial backup while the black cab service is in its early stages. He understands the importance of not being dependent on the success of a single-vehicle chauffeur service, particularly in such a small city.

In a city the size of Trondheim, which is 150,000 people, it would be difficult to get by with only a limousine service,” he told me.

But it provides welcome variation from his other work, and is proving to be extremely enjoyable, particularly thanks to the enthusiastic reactions he gets from people.

“It’s great fun to drive it,” he says, particularly “when you get such a great response from people.” He likes being “the guy with the coolest taxi in the city”.

Asphjell’s black cab is not the first to arrive on Norwegian soil. London taxis can already be spotted in Oslo, Bergen and Haugesund, and Asphjell’s is the second to be driving around the streets of Trondheim. Since production of the original models stopped in 1997, black cabs have become classic, collectible vehicles, and an industry has inevitably grown to support this market.

Worldwide

London Taxi Exports are the biggest exporters of black cabs, both for the UK and international markets. John Bradley, the manager of the company, shared some of his expert knowledge with me, outlining the interesting history that surrounds one of Britain’s most iconic products.

Started over 15 years ago as London Touring, the company began renting out open-top taxis for tours of the city, but soon realised that “a lot of people actually wanted to buy a taxi and take it home to their country.” They expanded in order to incorporate a wider range of services, including renting the vehicles for promotional purposes. The company, renamed as London Taxi Exports, grew rapidly, quickly becoming the biggest and most successful of its kind.

The company exports black cabs all over the world to an incredibly varied range of customers. Vehicles sold in the UK are “never used as taxis again. They’re used for everything else but,” Bradley explained. They are often sold for commercial purposes, used frequently in advertising campaigns as promotional vehicles. But, a substantial part of the market also consist of individuals, some of them collectors, many of them ordinary people who just like the idea of driving a black cab instead of a normal car.

Overseas, the vehicles are largely used for business purposes, mainly as marketing tools. They are used by airports, airlines, nightclubs, lap-dancing clubs, theme parks and even as exhibits in museums. The company has shipped quite a few vehicles to Scandinavia. When I spoke to Bradley, he had recently shipped two to Finland, and was preparing to ship one to Stockholm, one to Copenhagen, and another to Gothenburg within the coming weeks.

London Taxi Exports stocks “the classic London taxi”, the FX4, in all of its various forms. Since production stopped in 1997, a new model, which looks similar but is in fact “radically different” from its predecessor, is now manufactured in China and shipped to the UK in knockdown form, where it is then assembled.

The company offers an impressive personal service, specialising in custom-made interiors. As a result of this, the vehicles sell for a range of prices. The most basic can be purchased for less than £3,000, while others reach in excess of £20,000. From refined upholstery, to sound systems and cocktail bars, almost any request can be fulfilled. It is this kind of bespoke service which represents the best of traditional British industry, where relationships are developed between customer and salesman, so far removed from the increasingly habitual anonymity of internet consumer culture.

Truly British

London Taxi Exports prides itself on being an exporter of a home grown British product, and Bradley was keen to emphasise the importance of exporting the classic model that was manufactured in the UK.

“People want the classic Fairway, because they see it as London”, he told me. “They’re as popular as telephone boxes and route-master buses. I mean, this is iconic Britain, something which we’re rapidly running out of.”

In a time of recession, the importance of generating local industry should not be underestimated, and he expressed his pride in the valuable work he feels they are doing for British industry.

“We’re exporting for Great Britain. We’re unsung heroes. We’re doing our bit.”

Before our conversation ended, he had a memorable anecdote he wanted to tell me, about an appearance the company had made on the BBC’s 10 o’clock news. Mid-recession, the BBC rang up and asked how business was going, expecting the same bleak response they had been receiving elsewhere. But the company was in fact doing better than ever, and were featured on the evening news as a rare example of a company unaffected by the economic downturn.

“Ever since the recession hit our poor beloved country, about 18 months ago, we haven’t even noticed it. We’ve never stopped. We’ve been busier than ever.”

The company now ships an average of two to four vehicles every week, often more; when I spoke to Bradley they had 100 vehicles in stock.

Since the original models went out of production, and due to the increasing popularity of the vehicles for purchase, they are disappearing fast.

“There’s not that many of them left in London now,” Bradley told me. “They are going the way of the old MGB or the old Austin Healey’s. These taxis are the last of the great British cars and people are rapidly realising that they are worth collecting and holding on to. They’ve acquired cult status. They’ve become the last classic car of Great Britain.”

Jess Chandler - The Foreigner - 26th June 2010