I am convinced that if a nuclear war wipes out civilisation, among the few things that survive will be coach brokers. A new one appears in my inbox weekly. They all guarantee to be the one that gets the best rates and the best work.
Their websites are always impressive. Usually they advertise brand new executive coaches in any size or specification required. All are in plain white and they have no indication of who they belong to.
Brokers’ websites tend to be user friendly. A quote can be requested in a few minutes. After that, hirers sit back and wait for their chosen £350,000 coach to turn up with a driver who knows exactly where he is going and who will do a stellar job.
Not always gold
Except all that glitters isn’t gold. I hear stories of operators not being paid. Customers expecting a shiny new coach are greeted by a 1992 Volvo B10M. It goes on.
Three years ago, my local council outsourced swimming runs to coach brokers. Gone was old-fashioned tendering. It was replaced by two sharp-suited chaps who offered me the work I had been doing previously at the same rate for the following year.
Happy with the money I was getting, we shook hands. But as a cynic, I couldn’t escape the feeling that should we ever disagree on rates and another operator was to take the work on, I may never get the opportunity to tender again.
Fast forward two years. I was offered the same work again at the same rate we agreed. Obviously, my broker friends still got paid the same and didn’t pay any more for fuel than they did in 2016.
But that wasn’t the stinger. They had an extra run that I could use the same vehicle on. Instead of the driver spending some valuable time with his phone at the baths, he could go eight miles, bring in other children and take them back after the first class had finished.
I would be compensated for that to the tune of £15. No price increase for three years and an extra job on top. Take it or leave it. Suddenly it wasn’t so sweet.
Crossing a line
I have many ‘red lines’. Some are flexible, but nobody tells me how much to charge. I will leave, and have left, all my coaches on the yard before that will happen.
We no longer do the contract above. That is fine. But I can’t help thinking that we and all the other local operators should have the chance to tender on the open market next year, just like the good old days.
It cuts both ways, though. During July, when demand far exceeded supply, we did some work for a different broker at very short notice. The rates were eye-watering. The broker had obviously made promises that needed to be kept.
Every time discussions on a price reduction were requested, the rate crept up. At 1700hrs it looked like 37 solicitors and barristers would be stuck on Dartmoor with no hope of returning to the hotel bar. 30 minutes later the money was in my account. The crisis was averted.
Coach brokers are a fact of life, but I can’t help feeling that they are not always a trusted friend. Their job is to screw the price down. Ours is to reciprocate and get the money upfront when the boot is on the other foot. If we all know the rules of the game, that is fair.
