{"id":47686,"date":"2023-10-20T15:54:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/corporate-cars-to-target-top-end-of-town-via-franchising-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:54:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:54:38","slug":"corporate-cars-to-target-top-end-of-town-via-franchising-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/corporate-cars-to-target-top-end-of-town-via-franchising-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Cars to target top end of town via franchising – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Luxury car service Corporate Cars Australia says it is confident it can compete with US-based competitor Uber, which recently launched in Australia<\/a>, after recruiting its first two franchisees.<\/p>\n

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Corporate Cars Australia, which commenced operations in 2011 as a result of a merger between Citylink Limousines and North Shore Limousines, offers a chauffeur-driven luxury car service.<\/p>\n

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The company recently sold its first two franchises to Jason Wong and Nazih Abdi, both of whom are based in Sydney.  <\/strong><\/p>\n

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Corporate Cars Australian franchisor Craig Wagstaff told StartupSmart<\/i> while the company does operate nationwide, <\/i>60% of its work is in Sydney.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe do about 25,000 transfers a year. About 18,000 of them are in Sydney\u2026 Once we get the model right here in Sydney, we will build up more work in other states,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re really focusing on Melbourne and Brisbane \u2013 that\u2019s probably where the corporate market is.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the moment, we have 10 of our own vehicles and we\u2019re selling them. The company\u2019s keeping two of their own vehicles.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe rest are going to be franchised out\u2026 We have six left at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Wagstaff anticipates the network will expand in line with franchisees\u2019 increasing revenue.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFor the vehicle we have, it does about $150,000-plus per year for revenue\u2026 As we grow, to between $150,000 and $170,000, there will be opportunities for more franchisees,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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With regard to what the company is looking for in a franchisee, Wagstaff says it all comes down to customer service.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe deal with the top end of the market so there\u2019s very little room for error. We really focus on people who are on $200,000-plus a year to billionaires who have their own private jets,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cCustomer service is everything. One minute is too late in our business, on the reliability side of it. If someone wants a car at four o\u2019clock, we can\u2019t tell them it will be there at ten past.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a competitive market. That customer service \u2013 that\u2019s probably what sets us apart. My average chauffeur has been with us for six years and my oldest 14 years.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPeople with good communication skills and customer service [would make ideal franchisees], and they need to be able to drive a vehicle in the correct manner.\u201d<\/p>\n

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According to Wagstaff, it costs between $25,000 and $30,000 in order to purchase a Corporate Cars Australia franchise.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat includes the legal, the recruiting fees and the franchisee cost of training,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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While Wagstaff is confident Corporate Cars can make a larger dent in the market via franchising, he\u2019s well aware of competitors such as Uber, a US-based on-demand car service, which launched in Australia late last year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey are definitely a competitor\u2026 They\u2019re attacking the taxi industry \u2013 it\u2019s cheap \u2013 but they do have the technology and the backing behind them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re going to take a little bit of my business but we do deal with the top end of the market and the top end of the market won\u2019t put up with [the nature of Uber\u2019s service].<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey don\u2019t do pre-bookings so they\u2019re not really touching our market yet because there\u2019s no way our customers will wait on the off chance there\u2019s a car in the area.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAlso, [Uber\u2019s] price does fluctuate, so when it\u2019s peak times you can pay three times the normal amount.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luxury car service Corporate Cars Australia says it is confident it can compete with US-based competitor Uber, which recently launched<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47686"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}