About this episode
Derrick Edwards runs Premier Transit in Mobile, Alabama, a six vehicle operation he launched in March 2022 with two ambulatory cars, his own Audi SUV and his wife's Audi A4, after leaving a six figure insurance adjuster job. He walks through wrapping every van, washing all six inside and out at the end of each shift, and approaching nursing homes without ever asking for a contract, offering instead a non-binding service agreement and a promise to stand in the gap when the incumbent provider fails. He also covers local rate research, industry secrecy, and moving roughly 100 trips a week off spreadsheets.
Key takeaways
- Edwards never asks a facility for a contract. He offers a non-binding service agreement that fixes invoicing terms and payment timing, and lets both sides revisit rates after twelve months.
- All six vehicles get washed, vacuumed and disinfected at the end of every shift, roughly fifteen minutes of work, using monthly car wash passes the last driver runs through.
- His only marketing is wrapped vehicles carrying the logo, phone number and website. A van covering 100 to 200 miles in a day works as a rotating billboard, and calls follow.
- A national brand opening three locations in Mobile found Premier Transit by googling wheelchair transportation. Edwards says almost nobody else in his area has any Google presence at all.
- To learn local rates, Edwards phoned competing companies posing as a customer needing a wheelchair trip. He says new operators who undercut give brokers cover to push rates down.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:30 Derrick's background
- 3:03 Learning about NEMT
- 5:01 Starting the business
- 6:00 Choosing vehicles
- 7:30 Brokers and private pay facilities
- 8:40 Branding and marketing
- 11:47 Caring for vehicles
- 13:00 Approaching facilities
- 15:30 Arrangement with facilities
- 18:50 Collaborating with others
- 20:19 Conducting research
- 22:45 Getting Bambi software
- 27:53 Conclusion
