I Have Been A #DadTaxi For 21 Years 

I have often driven behind cars and seen that sign in the back window that says ‘Dads Taxi’ and I usually chuckle to myself, then quickly realise, that’s me!

I’m a father of five children, and I dread to think how much I’ve spent over the years ferrying my children to school, clubs and to football matches because my three older children all played for a local club and the matches were played over a wide area and of course I watched all the games. As well as those activities, there were also the many parties they all went to and I’m still doing that with my five year old twins, picking up teenagers from clubs late at night was a constant job for me.

So when Confused.com recently approached me to take part in their #dadtaxi campaign using the Taxi meter app I thought this could reduce me to a blubbering wreck finding out how much money it costs to ferry my kids around.

The app is really easy to use. On every journey you simply press start and when you reach your destination press stop. If you have to stop for a while during the journey you can pause the meter and then start it up as soon as you get going again.

I decided to spread it out over five days and every time the kids were in the car I would turn on the meter. The results absolutely staggered me at how much money I could earn, if only I could charge my children for their lifts to here, there and everywhere.

Day 1

This was a few lifts for my 19 year old daughter and I could have earned £10.60.

Day 2

I took my five year old twins to school and picked them up. My earnings today were £8.40.

Day 3

Today I also took my five year old twins back and forth to school, and my 18 year old son needed a lift to school for an exam and also he was also out in the night and asked for lift to town. This would have been a good day of earnings. £21.60.

Day 4

I took my five year old twins to school and picked them up. Then after school they had a birthday party to attend. My earnings today were £13.80.

Day 5

Today I did the school run as usual and also had to pick my 21 year old daughter up from the garage as her car was in for a service and she needed a lift to work. I also picked up my son from school. My earnings today were a whopping £24.60

So over five days I could have earned £79.00, which averaged out at £15.80 per day. Now this is the bit that staggered me. Over 365 days I could have earned on average a huge £5,694. That’s massive, which is multiplied by 21 years of me being a #dadtaxi. It is a life changing amount of money £119,754.

I really think it’s time I gave all my children invoices to claw some of this money back, haha! Not going to happen!

Confused. Com did a survey recently on how much time dads spend driving their children here, there and everywhere and results were very startling.

Dads spend 1 hour 40 minutes and cover 40 miles a week driving their kids around on average.

Dads have travelled as long as 2 hours 3 minutes on average in one trip – the equivalent of a £66.91 fare.

More than one in 20 (6%) dads admitted to charging their child petrol money

To celebrate Father’s Day, Confused.com is inviting you to show your appreciation to dads for their hard work and taxi services with the chance to win a driving experience at Silverstone. All you have to do is share  the reason why your dad deserves to win with Confused.com on Twitter or Instagram (terms and conditions apply) – using the hashtag #DadTaxi – to be in with a chance of winning.

Why don’t you try the Taxi Meter App and see how much you can earn when ferrying your kids around. I guarantee you will be surprised at how much you could earn.

This is a collaborative post.