Freedom Companion Driving Services
timing is EVERYTHING

How many New Zealanders are aged 65 and over? You might be surprised to learn that there are already 580,000 and that figure is projected to grow rapidly to 1.4 million. Never before has there been such demand for senior services, and that’s why the Freedom Companion Driving franchise has been launched.

Freedom franchisees provide a highly-personalised service to people unable to drive themselves. Unlike a taxi, Freedom drivers will escort passengers to the doctor, take notes for family members and even pop in to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions. They carry out airport pick-ups, take people to social events and go out of their way to make life easy for their customers. ‘It’s like having an affordable chauffeur,’ says Andrew Nichols who, with his wife Natalie, founded the company. ‘And it’s not limited to the over-65s; we also provide services such as school runs, collecting children for working parents and dropping them wherever they need to go.’

Andrew has a strong franchising background, having previously grown one of the largest home services companies in New Zealand. ‘We started to explore this market after spending a lot of time driving relatives and sick friends to appointments and realised what a huge need there was for a personalised driving service. Freedom is based on extensive research into some of the best systems overseas, but is totally Kiwi, although we have also opened an ofice in Australia.’

According to Natalie, ‘Response to the service has been incredible. Demand is so high we’ve appointed a New Zealand master franchisee and, with the first franchisees on board, we now have opportunities throughout New Zealand. We are looking for caring people who want to give back to the community and help others to maintain their independence. They may be from a caring profession such as health, teaching or child care, or might have done voluntary work. This is about helping people – as well as creating a worthwhile business of your own.’

The franchise is planned to be both easy and profitable to operate. ‘You choose your own working hours and arrange your own day,’ Andrew says. ‘Every franchisee completes a comprehensive training programme covering customer service, booking and scheduling and business management. Freedom also provides sophisticated support with a 24 hour contact centre and the ability for franchisees to access all of their customer information online from a home computer or smart phone.

‘Customers pay you directly and Freedom charges only a small flat fee so you are not penalised for growing your business. You can even add extra vehicles in your exclusive territory. The investment required is just $23,000+gst, which includes training, marketing material, uniforms, equipment and vehicle signwriting, etc. Return depends on how and when you choose to work, but if you’re looking for a business with enormous growth potential that is also about putting a smile on people’s faces, this is it!’

This advertorial is taken from Franchise New Zealand magazine Volume 20 Issue 4

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