Amber Cars

Moving to Autocab is the best thing we’ve ever done

Overview

Amber Cars is a 100-car fleet based in Northampton. Around 6 years ago, the 23-year-old firm was taken over by David Sherwood and has experienced rapid growth thanks to the Autocab system.

Problem

When David joined the business in 2015, the firm was running on an old ambulance dispatch system, which was out of date and lacking innovation. With a “impossible to teach” system, the firm looked to find a new dispatch provider which would allow them to grow their fleet in Northampton.

Solution

After contacting a number of dispatch providers and seeing a demo of the system with an operator in Corby, Amber Cars made the switch to Autocab. David said:

“Moving to Autocab was the best thing we’ve ever done. We had a look at a few dispatch providers and theirs was the best one.

“The ambulance system was so difficult to navigate, and it didn’t have an app, which we really wanted. With Autocab the automation is great, and system is really easy to use.”

Amber Cars have also been part of the Local Cab rollout in 2021; a partnership which allows riders using the Uber to connect directly with local taxi and private hire operators.

Local Cab

Since their go live in September, Amber Cars have seen some positive results with Local Cab. Like many in the industry, they have struggled with driver shortages, but Uber has allowed them to fill any quiet periods without overwhelming their fleet:

“We were reluctant to go live with Local Cab at first, but we thought, if you can’t beat them, join them, and it’s worked really well.

“The fact that the system only uses drivers when they’re clear is a god send. The lack of drivers has been a struggle so it’s just handy that they have these jobs when it’s a little quieter.

“Generally speaking, drivers are happy with it. Some are still uncertain, but I think it’ll just take some time. The jobs are like other account work we get from iGo aggregators and that’s how we view it too.”

Results

So far, Amber have had an extremely positive experience with the system. Since joining Autocab, the company have grown from a 30-car firm to 100 cars; a move which David credits to the technology:

“With the old system we just couldn’t grow our business, but Autocab has allowed us to do this.

“We’ve had a really good experience so far and out of Northampton (and away from our direct competitors) I would definitely recommend Autocab!”