This is the job I did before moving to Canada – don’t forget to subscribe!
so what is trade plate driving cuz I had no idea before I started this [Music] [Applause] [Music] job okay guys welcome to another video my name is Jen I am a trade plate driver in the UK I am 29 years old about to turn 30 on Wednesday and I’ve been doing this job for about 4 months now so I’m still relatively new to the game but I feel like I’ve been doing it long enough where I kind of have a really good understanding of how this job goes how it works so what is trade plate driving if you don’t know a trade plate driver collects and delivers Vehicles it could be anything from Luxury Cars Land Rovers uh Teslas all these different types of cars to Vans Transit Vans and Tipper trucks we basically operate all over the country I’m based in the northwest of England in Manchester I often get jobs assigned to me to go up to Scotland across to Wales I’ve been to Darlington Liverpool leads Birmingham I’ve done a couple of jobs down south in London but I frequ that was a stone that that van just flung up just all over the country it’s a very interesting job so we are recommended to arrive at our first delivery destination by 8:30 but no later than 9 like me for example I’m headed to Glasgow I’ve been on the road since about 4:00 a.m. got up at 3:00 we have an hour and 17 minutes to go and we’re predicted to arrive at 8:31 you might think I’m crazy getting up at 3:00 in the morning uh to be in Scotland for so early the earlier we start typically typically the earlier you will get to finish you get to explore your own country so there’s times I feel like right now a tourist in my own country like I’m not from Scotland but like technically it’s part of the UK so like yeah oh I’m going past the starbu Don’t Stop Don’t Stop Don’t Stop Don’t Stop I just I’m trying not to spend money okay it’s gone I’m proud of myself I didn’t stop so I’m doing a delivery to Scotland going to another place in Scotland picking up a car and driving it back to my house ready to do what’s called a carryover so your last job of the day keep it overnight and then take it first in the morning to the delivery and then head on to your next collection and so on so forth that’s how it kind of keeps cycling through so that you’re not left at the end of the day dead ended which basically means that you do not have a vehicle to travel home in and not only do you have to travel home on public transport you also have to get public transport in the morning to your next collection so we have just hit some traffic it’s inevitable in this job you are going to contend with lots of of traffic to be fair it’s moving at like a decent pace like I’m going 22 M hour which is faster than zero I mean it still says we’re going to get there at 8:31 so I’m not particularly concerned but like when you see a big red squiggle come up on the map it’s like uh okay this is fine I’m just trying to navigate through this traffic now and then we will not be too far away from our delivery destination I’m just really annoyed that I missed filming the welcome to Scotland sign cuz it’s like a big Scottish flag and it says welcome to Scotland and I didn’t remember to film it so just use your imagination like I say very nervous about this next collection cuz it is all electric and I’m just not excited to stand around watching it charge so we’ll see how our day goes [Music] so we are about to drop off the DS but before we do I need to find a jet wash Anna you can have a laugh at me trying to wash a car by myself let’s wash this [Music] [Applause] [Music] car all right that is the jet wash done let’s deliver this car okay so we are in Inver Clyde now um we’ve just driven past this beautiful lock I couldn’t get a video cuz obvious I have to concentrate on driving about 5 minutes away I’ve got to give the car over unfortunately it’s rather cozy in here it’s nice and warm and then I have to Brave the elements and go out on public transport in the rain and head to Edinburgh we made it we’re here okay so we delivered the car the customer was happy and now we are heading to the bus station and I’ve checked how to get to Glasgow sorry how to get to Edinburgh from here and it’s two long buses so it’s like a two-minute walk down here and let’s hope the bus is on [Music] [Applause] time oh my God that was like one of the comfiest coach rides I’ve ever had and now we’re just walking to the depot to get the car so not really looking forward to this journey onest cuz I did ring ahead of time to see if it would be charged and the lady informed me that they only charge them with a 50 m range so I already wasn’t really looking forward to charging it once but like yeah it’s going to be a little bit of a an annoying Journey back but anyway here we go we made it let’s see what the situation with the car is okay so we have the car it’s a Jaguar it’s beautiful but it is fully electric and there is only a 48 mile range on it it I’ve only been driving about 6 minutes and it’s already gone down from 50 so we found a BP pulse luckily 5 minutes away it’s at this beautiful Hotel and Spa so I might even go in and get some lunch whilst it’s charging um cuz it’s now well 11:22 brunch brunch so I’m hoping it gives me a decent charge I’m going to stop talking and start charging cuz it’s just adding to the journey but yeah let’s see how we get [Music] on okay the vehicle is connected up oh and we’re charging finally okay the car is on charge so I’m going to go for a coffee see you in half an [Music] hour okay I had to put the car on another charge because it finished the first charge was like please remove the charger and then I had to put it back on again but it wouldn’t let me do it straight away so I had to wait a little bit and now it’s nearly done but it’s saying I won’t get home till 5:00 still so I’m sort of like a bit stressed because it’s already going to take me 3 hours and 40 minutes to get home and I’m probably going to need to charge the car again before I actually get back so it’s going to be a very long day but yeah there’s worse places to have to wait there’s lots of mist in the air so my hair is just crazy let’s see where we’re up to oh 91% come on charge faster so the car is 92% charged so we’ve got another 29 minutes to go before it’s fully charged however it’s giving me a 190 M range the journey home’s almost 300 miles so this is one of those days I love my job I love my job okay we are on the road we are fully charged well we were fully charged since filming has gone down like 5% so it’s saying that we have a 28 M range and it’s telling me that the journey home is 225 mil now right now we’re climbing uphill I’m going 66 M hour uh in eco mode so I’m hoping that we finish climbing soon because I do know that the roads back down to the Northwest are downhill which should help to conserve battery so at the minute we’re on 207 mile range now with 224 miles to go but I am hoping we can maximize that once the hill stop and the incline stops and we start going down cuz then the car will start to charge itself a little bit just quite concerned cuz these Hills are very Steep and we’ve been going uphill since we left so a little bit concerned about that up and we just crested the hill to find another Hill yeah not loving this so far but I am determined that we are not going to charge this car until I get home because there’s a Morrison’s right across the road from where I live and I can charge it there and enjoy being at home and just walk back and forth ideally so I want to try and make it home charge it when I’m back so I can just chill and relax and then drive it to the delivery first thing please keep your fingers crossed for me I have no music on no climate control no heat of any kind so I am freezing no music so it’s going to be a long 3 hour and 25 minute Journey not not my favorite job not going to lie I love the car is it really worth the headache of knowing is it going to charge is it not going to charge I have to wait like no honestly give me a Fiat Panda that I can take to a petrol station please these cars are not built for long distances so anyway that’s enough of me moaning let’s try and make it [Music] home oh my gosh we’re going downhill yeah we’re in charge mode oh yeah we’re in charge mod oh there’s another Hill you know what I’m freezing and I’m going to have to charge the car anyway most likely cuz we are still going uphill so s I’m going to put the heated steering wheel on as well let’s just enjoy ourselves on this arduous Journey oh I can feel it game one M it’s so nice and toasty it’s just been one of those days oh there we have another person going into normal speed it’s fine it’s fine you know what we are not contributing to greenhouse gases or emissions so don’t I just feel great right now I’m sorry everybody I don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer I really don’t it’s just been a long day and it’s only Monday I have made the executive decision to stop off at this services in Greta because they have a bit a BP pulse here and I’ve had a good experience with the BP pulse so far a few moments later well that was a very short Liv stop at the services there were four charging ports and all of them were full it’s a good idea to try and find a charging station sooner rather than later we’re only down to just below half the battery but quite often either they’ll be full and you can’t use them they’ll be out of service and you can’t use them or they just do not exist on the map so you can’t use them woo so I literally just drove past another trade driver driving the same vehicle as me a jagu ipace and he was going like 50 m an hour and I just overtook him and looked at him out the window and was like bro I feel you I feel the pain well we’re coming up on another surfaces now so I’m hoping that there is an available charging station let’s find out shall we oh my gosh he’s literally turned off to the same Services as me I’m in front of him so I’m hoping if there is any EV charger I can get to it first yes there’s one available yeah yes is he parking up okay we’re plugged in it’s charging again so I’m going to go for a coffee we have just finished charging it for another 2 hours it felt like an eternity we have just shy of 200 M on the clock and we have 111 M to go so we should make it home and we are finally going downhill finally so we should make it back then tomorrow I have like an hour hours drive to the destination so whether or not I’m going to have to put it on charge again tonight ready for the morning I don’t know but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it we’re heading home I should be home in an hour and 42 minutes I should get back at4 to 7 which is not ideal cuz in a petrol car I would have been home at 4: but you know we move so thank you guys for watching joining me keeping me company on the Saga that was charging this bloody car so I’m probably going to leave it there please feel free to like comment subscribe if you’d like to hear me answer any particular questions you may have then please drop them in the comments down below I hope you enjoyed this video and I will see you guys on the next one [Music]
25 Comments
Don't how or why your video came onto my you tube but kind of glad it did . I'm a hgv driver in South Essex and was wondering how these trade plates jobs pay . Years ago we used to pick up tradies hitching a lift but unfortunately what with truck cameras , company policies on passengers …. we can't now .
Was thinking is this a part time job I can do on my days off ….. does it pay ? . Have subbed , good vid ❤
Hey how did you get into this work? It’s mad that the jag can not hold its juice either and feel your pain. Electric cars is a no for me I’m sticking with being a dinosaur with a petrol and a diesel
Nice video buddy. We need more of this 😊
Cool Video😎Keep them coming
I've seen a few of these trade plate jobs after falling in a rabit hole.. you're the first one that is with a company that let's you keep the final vehicle overnight so you're not stuck waiting for public transport or finding your own way home. Happy birthday for Wesnesday
Just a bit of advice I got from a friend, charge ups between 25-85% take less time than the last 20% (40-60mins). So it’s better to stop twice. Elon musk explained it best “imagine the battery is an empty car park, whilst there’s lots of spaces, it fills up very quickly, once you get to 80% capacity, cars then have to do a lot more driving around to find the last few spaces and that’s what drags out the last bit of charging)
I was messed about something rotten by Forde Recruitment, put me off for life. Eventually told them to take me off their books but get this…..I started receiving scam job offers from people that could only have got my data from Forde recruitment.
Its a bit cheeky expecting you to get a bus….sounds like a bad deal to me.
Oh wow I loveeee this!! 😍 show us more!!
Great video…More please. Looks like a tricky but enjoyable job.
Hola auntie do you drive barefoot 🦶
A great advert to not buy a electric car after new purchase they all drop like brick's in value that's why company's buy them on lease so they can hand them back great video,
I did trade plate deliveries everything from cars to 50 ton cranes Including trucks. And we only used public transport inside the M25. Going home the same day is not being a trade plater driver. I started Sunday night/Monday morning and finished on Friday unless I could do a pick up from somewhere like Trafford Park. Drivers who did jobs like you have just shown were the lowest paid and missed the best part of the job. Aberdeen drop off to Lockerbie pick up hitching in between is a two drop day. We tried to get four or more a day and help out other drivers. The Aberdeen drop started in Portishead. Although I lived near Rochdale my base office was in Avonmouth. Great to hear about the people still doing the job, but I miss the experience of never being quite sure that you would get to the last vehicle before the place closed 😅
Just subscribed give you some support keep it up it’s hard work at times making videos
I was plating back in 2005-2006, everything was on paper then. I hated the sound of a stone hitting the vehicle screen even by keeping my distance from the back of lorries-we were self employed and contracted by the plating company so any damage had to come out of our wages. The trick with used cars was to mark down that the windscreen already had CV ( chips various)!, so if you got a stone chip it had already been signed for by the sender! The dead end days happened two to three times a month and that wasn't nice because you had to get yourself to your first collection the next day without a vehicle from the previous day. Used to collect from Long Marston, Upper Heyford and some Top Gear test track storage compound up the M1. You learnt where you could hitch from and where not to, 12 hour days were considered normal with my worst being a 19hr day (nearly fell asleep at the wheel coming home)! Blackbush auctions was a nightmare-always the last collection of the day-the cars were running on fumes so you had to try to coast them to the nearest filling station-ran out of petrol one night there-had to hitch to buy a fuel can and fuel-put another 1 1/2 hrs on an already 14 hr day! We used to recieve our collections the night before via fax and the company would aim for us to move upto four vehicles a day, so sometimes we could phone the customers that evening and arrange a cheaky lift. Sometimes we would get a key to key so you already had a vehicle waiting for you at your drop-off point, and pulling your vehicle from a storage compound before they closed whilst you were delivering another vehicle was common, so you knew that you had a set of wheels at the end of the day-whenever that would be! The one thing that was good out of all the difficulties was the sense of adventure-you really had to plan your hitching points, what trains you could use and build up a list of other platers who could help you out. I expect now electric vehicles make their own complications with planning charging stops and the time that those stops would comsume. If I had to I would do it again but probably on a part time basis if that oppurtunity arose, but I don't think I would have the energy now for the long days (and the electric cars would do my head in ! I suppose all platers have to take their share of milkfloat deliveries these days !)
So up at 0300 get to Scotland 🏴 pick up a battery 🔋 and head back to England so 18 hr day really is your pay good on min wage that’s least 220 quid
😂 put music on it runs off the 12v battery not the traction battery, the heater dose hammer range though.
Too much paperwork now.
After watching this i thought i'd google some reviews on this work and boy they're not good. I thought running pubs years ago doing 140hrs a week on your feet all day was bad enough but i certainly wouldn't want this job having now read the reviews. There was nothing good in the reviews bar you get to drive nice cars and see some of the country then it's all down hill. Good luck, maybe your chanel will fly and you'll make your money that way as you won't be making it driving trade plates.
Did this job for IT Fleet a good few years back now. Always had a carry home, and for 95% of the time, it was a job I enjoyed. So glad I didn't have the pain of charging milk floats and hanging around!
Just found your Channell,great content and you came across very well in your thoughts and dealings..Thanks.
Electric cars only should be delivered on a truck and no ur not saving planet all brainwashing crap
Electric cars shouldn't be on road belong in ocean for fishes 😅
May be show a bit of each vehicles you do
Radio don't take batteries but heater does