Trade plate driver

Glee82

Hi everyone I'm an assistant manager for a well known company in the UK! I am really interested in a change and have been offered a job as a trade plate driver. Just want people's views on this type of job? I've never done anything like this before 

Glee82

Can anyone help with this please 

lincroft1710

Unfortunately, there may be no-one on the forum who knows exactly what the job involves other than making your way to a car compound and driving a car to its required destination.

DCFC79

lincroft1710 said:

Unfortunately, there may be no-one on the forum who knows exactly what the job involves other than making your way to a car compound and driving a car to its required destination.

I cant see the job being any different to this.

unforeseen

lincroft1710 said:

Unfortunately, there may be no-one on the forum who knows exactly what the job involves other than making your way to a car compound and driving a car to its required destination.

The hard part being to get back home at minimum cost. 
Especially now, gone are the days when you could stand at the side of the road flashing your trade plates hoping somebody will stop and give you a lift

DCFC79

unforeseen said:

lincroft1710 said:

Unfortunately, there may be no-one on the forum who knows exactly what the job involves other than making your way to a car compound and driving a car to its required destination.

The hard part being to get back home at minimum cost. 
Especially now, gone are the days when you could stand at the side of the road flashing your trade plates hoping somebody will stop and give you a lift

Now thats a big issue, unless the employer has a way to get the driver back home.
Would another driver not be sent to then drive home plus the passenger.

prowla

DCFC79 said:

unforeseen said:

lincroft1710 said:

Unfortunately, there may be no-one on the forum who knows exactly what the job involves other than making your way to a car compound and driving a car to its required destination.

The hard part being to get back home at minimum cost. 
Especially now, gone are the days when you could stand at the side of the road flashing your trade plates hoping somebody will stop and give you a lift

Now thats a big issue, unless the employer has a way to get the driver back home.
Would another driver not be sent to then drive home plus the passenger.

Yes, probably not.

Dox

Main issues are getting to the place from which you need to collect the vehicle, or getting home again after you've taken it where it needs to go. Check what provision (if any) there is for taxi fares etc if public transport isn't available - you could well have to stump up for this yourself, and if you live in Devon and you've just left a car in Glasgow, that's not going to be cheap. Hours can be extremely long and deadlines tight. No guarantee of any minimum amount of work if you're self employed, or on a zero hours contract. Pay not great. 

Plus points are you get to drive a wide range of vehicles, often brand new and often top of the range. If you enjoy driving, this gives you lots of that and considerable freedom while you're actually on the road. You may get to see large parts of the country you've not seen before, which is either a plus or a minus, depending on where that is!

MinuteNoodles

Dox said:

 If you enjoy driving, this gives you lots of that and considerable freedom while you're actually on the road. 

It doesn't because of the deadlines and the fact that the vehicles barely have enough fuel to get from start to end - it's not uncommon to see a plater sat at the side of the road with the vehicle they're delivering having run out of fuel. 
Ideally you'd invest in a LGV licence too to deliver lorries and coaches because any mouth breather with an ordinary car driving licence can do cars.

TadleyBaggie

I just had a lease car delivered from Manchester to Hampshire yesterday, I asked the driver how he was getting back nowadays and it seems train is the preferred option. I advised him how to get to the nearest station (Basingstoke) and off he went. 

coffeehound

Have you looked at the company and job reviews on sites like glassdoor and Indeed?  They don't make for happy reading.  Difficult to get reimbursement for travel costs, and very low pay, apparently.  However, some say they enjoy being out and about and driving some nice cars.