Plain-English definitions of cab-trade jargon.

An Environment Agency-licensed depot that legally dismantles end-of-life vehicles. Issues the Certificate of Destruction (CoD) and notifies the DVLA on your behalf. We only use ATF-partnered scrap routes, never grey-market dismantlers.

The Environment Agency document that legally proves a vehicle has been scrapped at an ATF. The DVLA accepts this as the trigger to end your road tax liability and remove the vehicle from your name.

The UK government body that maintains the vehicle register and issues V5C logbooks. Every legitimate cab sale ends with a DVLA notification of change of keeper, we handle that for you on collection day.

The UK government body that runs the MOT scheme and licenses MOT testing stations. Our free Cab Health Check pulls every MOT test on record from the official DVSA MOT history.

The UK bank-transfer scheme that settles between most banks within minutes (often seconds). We use it for every same-day cab sale, the money usually clears before the keys hand over. Limit of £1m per transfer per day, which covers any single cab we buy.

When you sell a cab that still has outstanding hire-purchase or PCP finance, the buyer pays the finance company directly to clear the lien, then pays the remainder to you. We settle finance directly with your lender on the day, you don't need to settle first.

The UK term for a licensed black cab that can be flagged down on the street or hailed at a rank. London Hackneys are TfL-licensed and almost always LEVC TX or older LTI TX-series. Outside London, councils issue Hackney licences with their own livery rules.

The Coventry-based manufacturer of the TX, the range-extended electric London black cab that replaced the diesel TX4 in 2017. The TX is now the default new-build Hackney across London and most major UK cities.

A note on your MOT certificate about a defect that doesn't fail the test but is worth fixing. Recurring advisories (same item flagged year after year) hint at deferred maintenance, we look at the pattern, not just the latest result. Our Cab Health Check flags every advisory across the vehicle's full MOT history.

The legacy name (now folded into TfL) for the licensing of London private-hire vehicles. The phrase "PCO cab" still refers to a TfL-licensed minicab, typically a Toyota Prius, Auris, Corolla or Skoda Octavia. Drivers and dealers use "PCO" daily; we use it on landing pages but rarely in body prose.

Any UK minicab or chauffeur car licensed to pre-booked passengers (you can't flag a PHV in the street, it must be booked through an operator). PCO is the London-specific PHV licence.

The end-of-vehicle-life process of removing the council/TfL licence plate and yellow signage from a retiring cab before it sells to a non-trade buyer. Most councils require the seller to plate-strip; we handle it for free as part of every cab purchase.

The London government body that licenses Hackney carriages and PHVs across Greater London. Sets the ULEZ rules, runs the PCO testing regime, and maintains the public driver/vehicle database used in cab background checks.

TfL's emissions surcharge zone covering all of Greater London (since August 2023). Non-compliant vehicles pay £12.50 per day to drive inside the boundary. Petrol cars need Euro 4 (~2005+), diesel cars need Euro 6 (~2015+); most modern PCO cabs are compliant.

The DVLA-issued document that proves who the registered keeper of a vehicle is. Required for every sale, without it the buyer can't transfer the vehicle into their name. We accept V5Cs in any condition (creased, torn, lost-and-replaced) as long as the details match the DVLA record.

HMRC's second-hand-goods rule that lets dealers charge VAT only on the profit margin of a re-sold vehicle, not the full sale price. Means we can pay you more for a cab than a non-margin-scheme buyer because our resale tax position is more efficient. Standard across the licensed used-car trade.

A van or MPV converted with a wheelchair ramp, lift, or low-floor entry. The conversion typically adds £8,000-£12,000 to the trade value vs an un-converted base vehicle. Generalist buyers price WAVs as base vehicles; we have an NHS Trust + care provider buyer network that pays for the conversion.