Twelve quid off a taxi fare sounds like a good idea – check out our site to find out how that saving can be a great loss. Until you lose four hundred dollars in rescheduling charges and a half day’s work. Penny-wise has a particular odour. It’s familiar to all frequent travellers from Norwich.
The cost calculation that people don’t make is the total cost. Not just the price – the price and the risk premium. There’s always a small chance of failure with a taxi booking. Cancellation. Late arrival. Wrong vehicle. Driver who took the job from the other side of town and is now following a truck on the A11. For non-critical trips, that’s OK. For picking up clients or taking people to the airport or anything else with a non-negotiable time, it’s not.
Chauffeur services price in reliability. That’s the real reason why they’re more expensive. You’re not paying for leather upholstery. You’re paying for a driver who planned your trip before you did, who won’t cancel because they have a better offer and who will be there when they said they would be there. That’s worth paying for. The price reflects it.
Norwich’s commercial sector ensures there is a market for this service. Insurance sector professionals. UEA academics travelling to conferences in Europe. Logistics managers who work between Norfolk and mainland distribution centres. They aren’t people who can absorb transport variability. They have fixed rails. A chauffeur fits those rails precisely.
The social market is parallel and legitimate. Norfolk has wonderful party destinations – Georgian mansions, Victorian mills, estuary hideaways. To get guests there, and back home, you need a driver who takes the task seriously.
“It’s not a treat,” said a regular traveller to Norwich, a bit impatiently. “It’s the sensible way to travel.”
Blunt. Accurate. The sort of thing you say once you’ve argued with yourself and made up your mind.
Norwich chauffeur hire isn’t competing against low price. It’s competing against the uncertainty of whether or not you’re going to get a lift. For regular travellers, that’s all that counts.