Fleet compliance reminders for taxi and private hire

Hackney carriages · TfL PHV · Uber · Bolt · local firms · multi-vehicle PHV operators

A taxi or private hire vehicle without a current MOT, current road tax and a current hire-and-reward insurance policy is illegal and can put the licence at risk. The licensing authority will not wait. Fleetkeep is a simple reminder service for every vehicle on your operator licence: MOT, tax, insurance and service dates, all on one screen, with email reminders 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before each is due.

The compliance stack for a UK PHV

A licensed taxi or private hire vehicle is regulated more tightly than any normal car. The four compliance items below are usually enforced through the licensing authority's annual or six-monthly inspection, but a lapse between inspections is still a lapse:

• MOT. Many UK licensing authorities require an MOT more frequently than the standard 12-month cycle once the vehicle is in service, typically every six months. Always confirm the exact frequency with your licensing authority. Some councils require an MOT plus a separate council compliance test on top.
• Vehicle Excise Duty (road tax). Same rules as any other vehicle. A lapse triggers an automatic DVLA letter and, if it persists, a £1,000 fine plus clamping. ANPR cameras catch untaxed vehicles within days on London's road network.
• Hire and reward insurance. Standard Social Domestic & Pleasure cover is void the moment you accept a fare. PHV-specific policies (often called "taxi insurance" or "hire and reward") cover paid passenger work. Lapsing or being miscategorised invalidates the policy.
• Service. Not a regulatory requirement, but a worn brake or a gearbox failure between MOTs takes the vehicle off the road and your driver out of work. Most operators run a 12-month or 12,000-mile service interval; some run 6-monthly given high mileage.

Why PHV operators specifically need a tracker

• The MOT cycle is often faster. If your authority runs a six-monthly cycle, that's two MOTs per year per vehicle, exactly the kind of date you forget. Even on annual MOT cycles, the licensing authority's separate compliance test usually runs every 6 months.
• Multi-vehicle operators run mixed makes. A licensed firm with five vehicles on the road usually has them at different mileages, different ages, and different MOT cycles. Without a single screen, the older one slips.
• The licensing authority does not chase you. If your MOT lapses, TfL or the council suspend the licence. They don't email you a week before. They suspend, and your driver loses the day until it's resolved.
• Insurance renewal is annual but the policy is fragile. Hire-and-reward cover frequently moves brokers when the renewal price spikes. Without a 30-day warning, you're shopping with a week to go and accepting whatever quote lands.

The cost of a single suspension

• Lost day on the road for the suspended vehicle: a typical PHV in a UK city earns £150 to £300 net per day. Multi-day suspensions multiply.
• Council re-inspection fee if you've missed the renewal window: typically £50 to £150 depending on authority.
• Fast MOT booking premium (last-minute slot): £20 to £40 over a planned booking.
• Lost driver income: if your driver is self-employed and the vehicle is yours, you lose the day and they do too.
• Potential platform deactivation: Uber and Bolt require valid licensing documents to be uploaded; expired ones suspend the account automatically.

How Fleetkeep handles a PHV fleet

Sign in with Google, paste registrations of every licensed vehicle (one at a time or as a CSV upload up to 50 vehicles). We pull MOT and tax data from DVLA's published services. You add what DVLA doesn't hold:

• A label per vehicle. Driver name, fleet number, plate prefix, whatever helps you find the vehicle quickly.
• Insurance renewal date. The day your hire-and-reward policy expires.
• Service interval. 12 months or 6 months, depending on mileage.

We email you 60, 30, 14 and 7 days before every MOT, tax, insurance and service date across every vehicle. The dashboard shows red for items due in 7 days, amber for 30, green for everything else. You can add verified reminder recipients so reminders go to two inboxes.

Worked example: a 5-vehicle TfL PHV operator

You operate five private hire vehicles licensed by an authority that runs a six-monthly MOT cycle. Each vehicle then needs two MOTs per year, an annual tax renewal, an annual hire-and-reward insurance renewal, and a 12-month service. That is:

• MOT: 5 vehicles × 2 per year = 10 MOTs.
• Tax: 5 vehicles × 1 per year = 5 tax renewals.
• Insurance: 5 vehicles × 1 per year = 5 insurance renewals.
• Service: 5 vehicles × 1 per year = 5 services.

That's 25 dates per year, each requiring a phone call or a booking. Without a tracking system, one slips. With Fleetkeep, all 25 are on one screen, sorted by what's next, and 75 emails per year (30/14/7 day reminder per renewal) make sure none lands you with a suspended licence.

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