My father started out minicabbing 24 years ago and only in the last 10 years could he really be classed as a chauffeur. It took him that long to build up a good reliable client base.

I also look after accounts about a dozen chauffeurs that operate out of Heathrow airport.

Now, while I do admire your spirit, to be honest I don't think chauffeuring right from the off will be the best way to go, its a big commitment, a lot to take on especially when you have little to no experience of the work.

First off, lets look at the type of clientele your aiming for, its basically going to be high net worth individuals, and company executives. Now these are the sort of people who will want you when they want you to be there. They will probably want a chauffeur they can call upon and rely upon 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Right from the off if your doing this as a weekend after work only deal your going to knock out a large number of your potential clients. They are not going to use you regularly if they can't call you during the week and ask you to run them from a-b if your going to be working. So I don't think this is something you can do on your todd. Your going to need to sign yourself up with an agency who don't mind throwing you the odd job here and there, but even then your going to be restricting yourself, but at least it will mean you wont have to be chasing work up for yourself and you have an agency providing you work when your available.

Second of all lets look at your choice of vehicle. Pretty much every chauffeur I know use Mercedes Viano people carriers, including my father. The reason being is that most of his business work is picking up people from airports and taking them to their hotels, which means luggage, and quite often he picks up parties of 2 or 3 or more people, the Viano is the only car that allows him to pick up 2 or more people with luggage for a business trips. Also his high end networth customers usually have families, who want running too and from the airport which means 3+ people and luggage. You may find yourself being a bit restricted by getting yourself anything smaller. But the Viano is still pretty comfortable, loads of space, my Dads one even has a refrigerated cool box in it.

Third the legalities. You can apply for a carriage license from your local council, there are some strict guidelines to meet, but I know for one thing, a carriage license from a council in Somerset will not automatically mean you can operate outside of that county. For example you could drive a customer into London, but you couldn't pick anyone up from London, it also means you have to pay the congestion charge unless you also obtain a license from the TFL. There are associated costs to this including a more stringent MOT test too.

Fourthly, your area, how much have you looked into your area? Are there lots of high end individuals who could use your services? Are there many companies in your area that could do the same? How can you penetrate your market if for example they already have a company they use who could potentially do it cheaper and be more available than you? I don't know what area of Somerset you live or what the market it like there, but this is probably the most important thing your going to look at.

Fifthly, do you know anyone in your area in that line of work? If you do, can they refer you business? Give you advice? Have you spoken to anyone about this at all?

And lastly, the finances, how much will buying a vehicle to use cost you? How much work will you need to do to meet your commitments? How much is your insurance going to cost? (I know my father pays quite a lot for his Chauffeurs insurance) are you going to have enough money to cover the purchase of this car, the running of it and your insurance? Also bearing in mind your going to be paying more tax on any money you earn doing this because its a second job. Ultimately, if you put all that money into that car will you make a return on it?

My recommendation, get yourself a smart ish Diesel car that has plenty of space and you can run people about in with luggage that will not cost you the earth to buy and run and then get registered with a local cab office. Yes its not a glamorous as a chauffeur, but its where my father started 24 years ago and now all he does are company executives, retired rich people and the odd foreign dignatory (He has a ex US ambassador on his books, Take That, Jenson Button, Footballers, TV stars, and he has had the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in his car too!) Plus signing up to an Agency will let you see if you actually enjoy the work before committing yourself too much.

Hope this helps.