Blog
Honest guides for cab sellers.
No SEO filler. Real numbers, real processes, written by the team that actually buys cabs. If you're researching a sale, start here.
All posts
More from the desk
- BirminghamULEZ & emissions
Birmingham's 2026 taxi emissions rule: what it means for your cab
Birmingham's licensing rules tightened on 1 January 2026. Every taxi and private hire vehicle the council licenses now has to be Ultra-Low-Emission or Zero-Emission-Capable as a minimum. If your older diesel cab no longer qualifies, here is what the rule actually says, and the honest options in front of you.
6 minRead - HackneyPHV
Hackney vs PHV resale: how the licensed-trade market actually splits
Hackney vs PHV resale gets asked a lot in the licensed trade, and most articles treat the two as variants of the same market when they are not. Different vehicles, different buyers, different onward routes, different price dynamics. This guide explains how the trade actually splits, which side typically pays more for what kind of vehicle, and what that means for your offer in 2026.
9 minRead - SeasonalityTiming
When is the best time of year to sell a cab? 2026 seasonality, honestly
When is the best time of year to sell a cab? It is one of the most-asked questions in the licensed trade, and one car-buying sites tend to overstate. The honest answer for taxis and PHVs in 2026: seasonality matters less than most sites suggest, and the factors that actually move your offer (plate validity, battery health, service-history continuity) matter far more than the calendar. This guide covers the real seasonality the trade does have, what does not move, and the practical takeaway for an owner-driver deciding when to act.
8 minRead - ValuationProcess
What does a real valuer actually ask? The 12 questions behind a firm cab offer
What does a real valuer actually ask? It's one of the questions drivers Google most when they're comparing a specialist offer against the instant-quote sites. The honest answer is that most of it happens out of sight: we run the questions against data already in the system before we even call you back. This guide walks through the 12 questions a real valuer answers about every reg that comes in, so you know what to expect, what to prepare, and why a specialist offer takes 2 hours rather than 2 seconds.
9 minRead - PhotosProcess
Should I send photos of my cab before sale? What helps, what hurts, what to skip
Should I send photos of my cab before sale? It's a small question that shapes the offer more than drivers expect. The honest answer is yes, but specific photos, taken honestly, not the kerb-stand-back set most sites want. This guide walks through the 8 photos that genuinely help a specialist valuer firm up your offer, the ones that don't move the needle, and the common photo mistakes that produce worse offers than the no-photos baseline.
7 minRead - Toyota PriusToyota Corolla
PCO Prius vs Corolla Hybrid resale 2026: head-to-head buyer guide
PCO Prius vs Corolla Hybrid is the head-to-head most new private-hire drivers weigh up in 2026. The Prius is the historical workhorse with a decade-plus of trade familiarity; the Corolla Hybrid is the rising entry, increasingly seen as the more modern choice. Both Toyota, both hybrid, both ULEZ-compliant. So why are their resale curves slightly different in shape, and which one actually holds value better for an owner-driver looking 3 to 5 years ahead? This guide is the trade view, not the forum view.
10 minRead - FinanceSettlement
Settlement letter from your lender: what to ask for when selling a financed cab
Selling a financed cab almost always requires a written settlement figure from your lender, and getting that document right is one of the most common stress points in the sale process. Drivers know they need to clear the finance; they often do not know exactly what to ask the lender for, when to ask, how the settlement figure is calculated, or what trap to avoid. This guide is the short practical version. It is written for HP (Hire Purchase) and PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) agreements, which are the dominant cab-finance products in the UK; lease arrangements (true rental) are mentioned briefly at the end because they work differently.
8 minRead - MOTSell process
How long after MOT can I sell my cab? Timing, advisories, and what buyers actually care about
How long after MOT can I sell my cab? Short answer: any point, even on the day of the test. The more useful answer is whether the timing actually moves the offer. Most articles muddle three separate things: legal timing, what buyers prefer, and whether it pays to do another MOT cycle before sale. This guide separates them and gives the 2026 trade view on what genuinely affects the price.
9 minRead - PCOTfL
PCO licence renewal vs selling: how to decide in 2026
PCO renewal vs selling is the single most-Googled fork decision in the London private-hire trade. The driver is usually six to eight weeks out from a renewal date, the cab is six to nine years old with healthy mileage, and the choice is between paying for another 12-month cycle (TfL fees, MOT, service, possibly a new tyre set, possibly a battery health check) or cashing out now while the live plate still has trade value. This guide is the honest framework owner-drivers actually use to decide, with the variables that genuinely shift the answer in 2026 and the few that look load-bearing but are not.
11 minRead - LEVCTX
LEVC TX battery degradation: when is the right time to sell?
LEVC TX battery degradation gets asked a lot in the London Hackney trade, and the usual answers either dismiss the concern ("the range-extender means battery health doesn't matter") or overstate it ("replace before 100,000 miles"). The reality in 2026, now the first wave of TX cabs have hit 7 to 8 years of service, is more useful than either for a driver weighing up whether to sell or keep. This guide is what the trade actually sees, how degradation behaves on the TX specifically, and a practical framework for timing a sale.
12 minRead - ULEZEmissions
ULEZ non-compliant cab value 2026: what your pre-Euro-6 diesel is actually worth
Search "ULEZ non-compliant cab value" and you mostly land on instant-quote sites that score the vehicle as near-scrap, or forum threads from 2019 to 2021 that no longer reflect the trade. The 2026 picture is better than that. A pre-Euro-6 diesel PHV or hackney that cannot legally work in central London still has three viable resale routes that pay competitive money, the trade values these vehicles by where they go next rather than by ULEZ status alone, and the gap between specialist and generalist offers is wider here than in almost any other category. Here is what the cab actually trades for in 2026, and why.
10 minRead - TfLHackney
TfL black cab age limit 2026: what every London Hackney driver needs to know
The TfL age-limit rules for the London Hackney fleet are among the most-asked licensing questions in the trade, and among the worst-explained. Most articles either repeat the headline 15-year figure without context, or wander into PHV rules (a different regime), or quote the position as it stood in 2018 before the conversion-grant and emissions-zone updates. This guide is what 2026 actually looks like for a working London Hackney driver: the dates that matter, the routes drivers take when the limit hits, and the sell-or-keep maths.
12 minRead - VATHMRC
VAT margin scheme for cab sales: what drivers actually need to know in 2026
VAT margin scheme is one of those background topics most drivers never need to learn about, until they sell a cab and the buyer mentions it on the offer email. The phrase "VAT margin scheme" then sits unexplained, sometimes followed by a quoted figure that includes or excludes VAT in a way the driver cannot immediately verify, and the sale moves forward with the driver hoping the number works out. This guide explains what the VAT margin scheme actually does for a UK cab or PHV sale in 2026, when it applies, when it does not, and what receipt you should expect from a properly-VAT-registered buyer. Written for drivers, not accountants.
9 minRead - Plate stripTfL
Plate-strip cost UK 2026: TfL deplating, council surrender, and the V5C admin nobody warns you about
Plate-strip is one of the most-asked questions in licensed-trade resale, and one of the worst-explained. Drivers hear the term, get conflicting numbers from forecourt dealers and forum posts, and rarely find out the real-world cost until they are mid-sale. This guide pulls together what plate-strip actually means in 2026, what TfL deplating costs through London Taxi & Private Hire (LTPH), what council surrender costs outside London, what a specialist buyer typically charges, and where the logbook (V5C) transfer fits in. Numbers are 2026 trade reality, not headline list prices.
11 minRead - Toyota PriusPCO
How much is my PCO Toyota Prius worth in 2026? (a real-world price guide)
The Toyota Prius is the workhorse of London private hire and has been for over a decade. It is also one of the most-Googled cars in the country, usually by drivers trying to work out whether the offer on the table is reasonable. The honest answer is: it depends, and anyone who quotes you a single fixed figure without asking questions is either guessing or hoping. What follows is a real-world guide to PCO Prius values in 2026, written in ranges because ranges are what the market actually does, with the levers that push your specific car towards the top or the bottom of each band.
10 minRead - LEVCblack cab
LEVC TX vs TXE resale value: what your black cab is worth in 2026
The LEVC TX and TXE share a silhouette, a turning circle and a London Conditions of Fitness lineage, but their resale stories are now wildly different. The diesel TX, last built in 2017, has aged into a working tool with a clear ceiling on its second-hand value. The TXE, on the road since 2018 in range-extender form, is still the only purpose-built taxi that complies with the latest Ultra Low Emission Zone rules without a charge. If you are weighing up when to sell, or simply curious what your plate is worth in 2026, this guide walks through the numbers, the drivetrain differences and the trims that move the needle.
10 minRead - black cabretirement
Selling your black cab after retirement: the cleanest exit
Hanging up the badge after twenty, thirty or forty years on the road is not a small thing. The cab has paid the mortgage, the school fees and probably more than a few unplanned dentist bills. When the decision is finally made, the last thing anyone wants is a fortnight of admin to close it down properly. This guide walks through every step of selling a black cab after retirement, in the order it needs doing, so the exit is clean and the money actually lands in your account rather than disappearing into avoidable mistakes.
9 minRead - documentsadmin
Documents you need to sell a taxi in the UK (the actual checklist)
Selling a taxi is mostly a paperwork exercise dressed up as a car sale. The cab itself does the talking on price, but the documents decide whether the deal closes today, drags on for a fortnight, or quietly falls apart at the worst possible moment. We buy taxis, PHVs and black cabs every working day at SellYourCab.co.uk, and roughly nine in ten delays we see come down to one missing or mismatched bit of paper. This guide is the checklist we wish every driver had taped inside the glovebox before they rang us on 0207 8717 671. Bring the lot and you can be paid and on the train home the same afternoon. Miss one item and we can usually still buy the cab, but the offer takes a small dent, and nobody enjoys that conversation.
8 minRead - financePCP
Selling a PCO car with outstanding finance: a plain-English walkthrough
Most PCO drivers we speak to have finance on the car. That is the trade, Toyota Access on a Prius, HP on a Skoda Octavia, a PCP on a Mercedes E-Class, and there is nothing unusual or embarrassing about it. What is unusual is how rarely anyone explains, in plain English, what actually happens to that finance when you sell. Our /finance-settlement page covers the basics. This guide goes deeper: worked examples in both directions, exactly how to get a settlement quote from the big UK lenders, what the Consumer Credit Act 1974 actually entitles you to, when voluntary termination beats selling, and the pitfalls that catch out even experienced cabbies. Read it once and you will know more than 90% of forecourts, and roughly the same as the better brokers. Then ring 0207 8717 671 and we will do the heavy lifting.
11 minRead