For people who like driving and the open road, there are many attractions in the idea of becoming a professional chauffeur. To add to those attractions, you only have to consider the perhaps sad fact of life that for most of us, the only way we will ever be able to drive some of the most prestigious limousines is if we are acting as a chauffeur for someone else. This can be an interesting and lucrative career and if you are contemplating moving into it, here are a few tips as to what you will need.

  1. Maturity. That’s usually considered to be both in terms of your attitude to life and your age. Comparatively, few if any private clients or limousine hire companies will take on very young chauffeurs, as they may not be considered to have sufficient driving experience to handle luxury vehicles. Keep in mind also that some insurance policies for luxury vehicles may have minimum ages set at 25, 30 or 35 years of age.
  2. A clean driving license and record. It may be difficult to persuade an employer to take you seriously if you have a history of motoring or other convictions.
  3. An impeccable professional appearance. In some situations, your employer may require you to wear some form of uniform or livery though that is becoming less commonplace. More realistically, they may expect you to dress immaculately and to take extreme pride in your personal appearance. Scruffiness, an unkempt appearance, and issues of personal hygiene will be totally unacceptable.
  4. A complete commitment to personal discipline. Your employer, whether they are an individual or a limousine hire company, will not tolerate anything less than a 100% work ethic and associated reliability. Oversleeping, forgetting to put something into your diary, not allowing sufficient time to get to a destination – all these things and others like them won’t be tolerated in this business.
  5. An orientation to service. People will be paying significant amounts of money to you and your employer to provide them with impeccable service. So, you will need to be the sort of individual who doesn’t mind opening doors for people and referring to your clients as “sir” and “madam” unless they invite you to do otherwise. If you are someone who finds this demeaning and offensively subservient (actually, it isn’t) then you will not make a chauffeur.
  6. Possibly your own limousine. Some luxury car hire companies employ drivers with their own vehicles providing they meet their demanding minimum acceptance criteria – many of which will be similar to those above. If you are applying as a chauffeur to drive somebody else’s vehicles, expect selection standards to be even higher.
  7. A lover of prestigious motor vehicles and a commitment to their appearance and performance. Different limo hire companies may have different expectations in terms of your involvement in things such as cleaning and maintenance but you will be expected to keep your vehicle in absolutely spotless condition internally and externally plus perhaps participate in some of its routine servicing operations.

As is the case in many industries, securing your first position can be difficult because you will lack a visible track record as an experienced driver. So, make applications and be realistic initially about the salary level you can command and the nature of the vehicles you may be asked to drive at the outset.